Aboriginal literacy project is good news in any language (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

Aboriginal literacy project is good news in any language

Christopher Kremmer
November 13, 2006
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/aboriginal-literacy-project-is-good-news-in-any-language/2006/11/12/1163266413098.html#

A SYDNEY charity is claiming an educational breakthrough that could save
Aboriginal languages from extinction, and simultaneously boost English
literacy in indigenous communities.

At a forum in Sydney today the Australian Literacy and Numeracy
Foundation will brief corporate donors on the results of a pilot
project in the Northern Territory that they say is helping some
Aborigines to write in their own languages for the first time.

The foundation believes the widespread inability of indigenous
Australians to read and write in their own languages hampers their
efforts to learn English, without which education, work and social
opportunities are severely restricted.

Of the 250-odd Aboriginal languages spoken when Europeans first settled
in Australia, about 55 have vanished, with one dying out every two
years.

While linguists have extensively catalogued indigenous languages, there
has been less success in developing techniques for teaching them at the
primary school level.

At Tennant Creek, in the Northern Territory, the foundation has been
working to bridge the gap, "mapping" the sounds of the local Warumungu
language in the Roman (English) alphabet, and using story boards and
other methods to develop basic education modules for reading and
writing the language.

Peter Henwood, who has worked at Tennant Creek Language Centre for the
past 15 years, said he had been impressed by the progress.

"The foundation's method has proven extremely popular in the primary
school here. For too long Aboriginal languages have been approached by
linguists as some kind of historical artefact, but this method makes
them usable in a way that has the potential to transform literacy
education in indigenous communities," he said.

It is hoped that some among the first batch of 60 students attending the
course will go on to become language teachers.

The foundation's co-founder, Mary-Ruth Mendel, a speech and language
pathologist, described first language literacy as the missing link in
efforts to improve social and economic outcomes in indigenous
communities.

"What's missing for our indigenous kids is early learning experience in
their mother tongue. If we can give them that they'll be well on the
way to acquiring English language skills that will help them get
through school and do all the things that they want to do."

The Northern Territory Government in recent years phased out bilingual
education, a move strongly criticised by educators.

To launch its project the foundation was provided with initial funding
of $300,000 by Coca-Cola Amatil. Ms Mendel said the project's mix of
government-funded schools, corporate philanthropy, the foundation's
expertise and strong involvement of indigenous people had the potential
to empower some of the country's most disadvantaged people.

"Reading and writing are the currency of learning at school. If you have
a glitch in either, you become marginalised. Literacy is right at the
top of what indigenous families want for their children and
themselves."