Do you have a Language Team?
Planning and running a Victorian Aboriginal Language (VAL) program is a team effort and will require the involvement of people beyond the school.
The preference of Aboriginal communities across Victoria is for language to be taught by an Aboriginal person, endorsed by Traditional Owners, to demonstrate Aboriginal ownership and authority in the local Aboriginal language and the importance of the relationship between the language, Country and the local Aboriginal community. They can help students explore language in relation to history, culture, connections with Country and Aboriginal ways of knowing, doing and being.
The Language Team will preferably include an Aboriginal language teacher or assistant who will deliver the program in the classroom, and as needed:
- an Aboriginal language authority or custodian from the local Aboriginal community
- other Aboriginal people with knowledge of the language and/or culture
- a linguist or Aboriginal language researcher with expertise in the reclamation of Aboriginal languages and
- a qualified language teacher, if available.
The Language Team can be further supported by a
Koorie Education Coordinator (KEC) and/or a Koorie Engagement Support Officer (KESO), and a
Local Aboriginal Education Consultative Group (LAECG) representative.
Why do you need a Language Team?
Victorian Aboriginal languages are all revival languages and need a Language Team to support the program’s language instruction, resource creation and classroom implementation.
Both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people have an important part to play in the development and delivery of an Aboriginal language program. To be successful, there must be respect and trust between those involved, and everyone in both the school and the local Aboriginal community must be supportive. For Aboriginal people, language, Country and the local Aboriginal community are interconnected in a deeply spiritual way and this special relationship shapes their culture and relationships in every aspect of life.
Boonwurrung Elder Fay Stewart-Muir puts it this way:
‘Our languages and culture are one, they can't be separated. Languages describe our world around us in so many ways. We must be strong in our revival of our languages that have been sleeping languages for many, many years. We must pass on the language knowledge to the next generations, so that our languages stay vibrant and strong.’
What does the Language Team do?
The Aboriginal members of the school’s Language Team will assist staff and students in learning about language and Aboriginal ways of ‘knowing, being, doing, valuing and learning’ (Yunkaporta, 2010). This Aboriginal language pedagogy will strengthen and complement common language teaching methods such as repetition, and systematic building of vocabulary and language structures. The Language Team will work together to develop students’ understanding of the relationship between the language, Country and the local Aboriginal community.
Members of the Language Team work together to develop language resources, and to work out the best ways to teach the local Aboriginal language to the class. It is recommended that the Language Team members would meet weekly or fortnightly during the initial year of the program. If there is more than one school teaching the same or neighbouring language on that Country, they could potentially join together and form one Language Team. The Language Team members:
- work together as learners who are helping revive the language
- participate in lesson planning
- develop and create a range of teaching resources for the language program
- plan for visits from Aboriginal community members, and ensure that Traditional Owners and Community visitors are well-briefed prior to their visit
- plan to spend time outdoors, both at school and on Country, with Elders and other cultural experts and educators
- discuss the creation and endorsement of new language terms and phrases with Traditional Owners or their delegates, share resources and pass language back to the local Aboriginal community as much as possible
- where appropriate, involve parents and/or local Aboriginal community members with an interest in the language, and any others who may wish to be involved and support the teaching of Aboriginal languages and culture
- make sure the Language Team and students share any language resources they develop (such as games, songs or flashcards) with local Aboriginal community members.
Do you have local language resources?
The Language Team needs to gather as many local Aboriginal language resources as possible.
Local language resources may include input from current Elders and other members of the local Aboriginal community, as well as historical written, audio and video recordings.
For more details, see
About Victorian Aboriginal languages.
Do you have teaching resources?
Knowledge and skills that need to be taught and learnt are mapped out in the
VAL F–10 curriculum.
You will also need a range of teaching resources, many of which will have to be created in consultation with and with the permission of local Aboriginal communities.
Aboriginal people are the best equipped and the most appropriate people to teach Indigenous knowledge and languages. Therefore, wherever possible you should seek to involve your local Koorie community and Traditional Owners in your Aboriginal language programs. Respectful engagement also extends to visits, excursions to Country or Place, and use of cultural material as part of the teaching and learning program.
For more details, see
External links.