Picture dictionaries to boost Aboriginal language teaching (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

Picture dictionaries to boost Aboriginal language teaching

Posted Tue Jul 3, 2007 7:31am AEST
http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/07/03/1968104.htm?section=justin

Teachers at the Anangu Lands Education Conference in Alice Springs are being
urged to use picture dictionaries to help Aboriginal students learn in their
native language.

A total of five picture dictionaries for different Indigenous languages in
central Australia are planned.

Paul Eckert is presenting a workshop at the conference on how teachers can
use the book in their classrooms.

"Many of the schools have already pre-bought quite a number of copies - I
think Pitjantatjara people themselves will be quite able to purchase them
for their homes," he said.

One thousand copies of the first edition have been printed and 50 have so
far been pre-purchased by schools.

Teachers at the conference were told that Aborginal children will learn more
easily if taught in their own languages.

"They really should be developing their intellectual skills in their mother
tongue first, and then transfering that across to English and other
languages" Mr Eckert said.

"I think Aboriginal people when they're forced really to do their thinking
and intellectual development in a language that they don't understand very
well, that's one of the reasons why Aboriginal people are finding it so
difficult to really get the skills they need in English."

Tags: indigenous, education, schools,