One language for 'children of different colours' (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

One language for 'children of different colours'

[photo inset - Getting to know you: Wesley grade 3 pupils Harry Fortune
and Stephanie Fung, both 9, with Bayulu Community School pupils Hayden
Smith and Edmond Smiler, both 11. Photo: Penny Stephens]

By Chee Chee Leung, Education Reporter
November 17, 2005
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/one-language-for-children-of-different-colours/2005/11/16/1132016861347.html?oneclick=true#

THERE are nearly twice as many students attending Wesley College as
there are people living in the largely Aboriginal town of Fitzroy
Crossing in Western Australia.

But these two communities, almost at opposite ends of the country, have
joined forces in a bid to preserve an endangered indigenous language.

In a trial project to be announced tonight, Wesley College will spend a
term next year teaching the Bunuba language and culture to its grade 4
pupils.

It is believed to be the first time the language will be taught to
schoolchildren outside the indigenous communities of Western Australia.

June Oscar, chairwoman of the Kimberley Language Resource Centre, said
there were only about 60 older people who could speak the language
fluently.

"If we don't know our language, we don't know our country, we don't know
how we live," said Ms Oscar, a Bunuba speaker.

"It's a great and fantastic opportunity for both our community and the
Wesley community.

"With an understanding of the language, a whole new world is able to be
understood."

Grade 3 student Stephanie Fung is one Wesley pupil looking forward to
the Bunuba classes.

"It's fun when you learn different languages," the nine-year-old said.
"You learn about how they live and what they do."

Wesley College is among a number of independent schools — including
Scotch College and Carey Baptist Grammar School in Melbourne's east —
that have pursued relationships with Aboriginal communities.

The Bunuba language initiative at Wesley is part of a broader
partnership between the independent school and the Fitzroy Valley
community of the Kimberley region.

The town of Fitzroy Crossing, within the Fitzroy Valley, is about 2600
kilometres north-east of Perth.

Wesley pupils and teachers visited the town in August, and a group of
Fitzroy Crossing pupils have been in Melbourne since Sunday.

"It's nice and cold — too cold," said Edmond Smiler, of the Bayulu
Community School.

The 11-year-old also noticed that there were many children "of different
colours" at Wesley.

"You make friends out of them," he said.

REACHING OUT SCHOOL PROJECTS
? Carey Baptist Grammar School has developed a relationship with the
Robinson River School, in a remote Aboriginal community in the Northern
Territory. Student exchanges that started this year are expected to
continue, and teacher secondments are under consideration.

? Trinity Grammar School offers four scholarships a year for indigenous
students, in partnership with Melbourne University. Among the
recipients for next year are two boys from the Northern Territory.

? Scotch College offers two scholarships each year to students from the
Tiwi Islands, north of Darwin, where boys spend a term as boarders at
the school. So far six students from the Tiwi Islands have attended
Scotch under this program.

? Wesley College has established a partnership with the Fitzroy Valley
community in Western Australia, which includes student and teacher
exchanges, and plans to develop a curriculum to teach Aboriginal
languages.