Indigenous languages won=?UTF-8?Q?=E2=80=99t_?=survive if kids are learning only English (fwd link)

[Phil Cash Cash]

20 August 2014, 9.17pm BST

*Indigenous languages won’t survive if kids are learning only English*

*AUTHOR **Jane Simpson *


The question of what language(s) to teach Indigenous students, what
languages to teach them in, and how to go about it has been generating a
little political heat (but not quite so much light) of late…

Indigenous languages won’t survive if Indigenous kids don’t have the
opportunity to speak their native languages at school. AAP
<http://multimedia.aapnewswire.com.au/Search.aspx?search=indigenous+children>

The question of what language(s) to teach Indigenous students, what
languages to teach them in, and how to go about it has been generating a
little political heat (but not quite so much light) of late.

On *ABC’s Q&A* <http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s4040700.htm> earlier
this month, Yalmay Yunupingu – the widow of Yothu Yindi front man Mandawuy
Yunupingu – asked a pointed question about how the teaching of Indigenous
languages will be funded given that *Article 14*
<https://www.humanrights.gov.au/publications/un-declaration-rights-indigenous-peoples-1>
of the United Nation’s Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People
states that Indigenous children have the right to education in their own
language. And a recent piece in *The Conversation*
<https://theconversation.com/biggest-loser-policy-on-literacy-will-not-deliver-long-term-gains-28649>
by Stewart Riddle sparked *controversy*
<http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/education/remote-kids-need-english-to-prosper/story-fn59nlz9-1226984855832>
after he said it could be argued that the emphasis placed on English
literacy was no better than discredited historical attempts to make
Aboriginal kids more “white”.

Access full article below:

http://theconversation.com/indigenous-languages-wont-survive-if-kids-are-learning-only-english-30311
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