Bilingual Education in the NT

I have had a number of people ask me recently about my thoughts after the 4 Corners program on the ABC focused on Bilingual Education in the NT.

I actually missed the program itself but have recently caught up on it on the program's website. It also contains a number of extended interviews which are interesting and links to a number of reports and papers which highly encourage people to read as they give a fuller picture of what is happening.

http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/special_eds/20090914/language/

Some thoughts:
I dont teach in a bilingual school. I have never taught in a official bilingual school.
Most of the remote indigenous schools in the NT are not bilingual.

The decision to introduce mandatory first 4 hours of English at school in the NT was justified as a step to improving National Literacy and Numeracy Benchmarks for NT indigenous students.
Not just students in bilingual schools, but all schools - the majority of which were already teaching in English for the first 4 hours and still not passing benchmark.

The so called 'policy' was in fact a 'Ministerial Directive' as it was not developed by the Department and presented to the Minister as a new, recommended policy. Neither the Minister at the time, nor the current Minister hold any qualification in Education ( the former was trained in book-keeping, accounting, administration and health economics and the latter is trained as a mechanical engineer) and neither are they experts in language acquisition and the role it plays in learning.

I work with a number of indigenous teachers from bilingual schools. The fact that school leaders and Communities were not consulted about this change has left many indigenous teachers feeling undermined, undervalued and disempowered.

No one seems to be willing to have the conversation about whether the problem might be in the testing itself, or in the countless other factors that prevent indigenous students from improving in schooling overall. We have swallowed the completely political line of 'Literacy and numeracy benchmarks' hook, line and sinker and seemed blinded to the fact that these are a tool of political manipulation - a way for politicians to prove that THEY have done something to 'Close the Gap' for Indigenous people.

Research shows that in order to gain deep levels of knowledge - the kind that you need to get into University for example - you need access to your first language.

If we do not respect and embrace first language as a fundamental learning resource for indigenous children then they will be dramatically short changed in their education and no gap will ever be closed.

buried in ground that remembers you

I have just been to see a beautiful film called Fugitive Pieces. It is the story of a young Jewish boy, Jakob, who is the only member of his family to escape the Nazis. He is rescued by a Greek archaeologist, Athos, who takes him in and raises him. There journey together takes them from Poland to Greece to Canada.

It is a story of grief and loss, of memories and ghosts, of generosity and love and of healing through connection.

"The mystery of wood is not that it burns, but that it floats"

"Make sure you are buried in ground that remembers you"

Language and Culture

I was with a group of impressive Warlpiri women this week who have recently been told by Politicians that they are not allowed to teach their own children in their own language. They were angry and frustrated. Their culture and rituals are fundamental to them and their language is the vehicle for that. They said to each other and to the rest of us who were there "We ask the kardiya (non-indigneous people) Where is your culture? You got no culture!" It was hard to argue with them. When the only rituals I feel these days are singing Happy Birthday to someone, or reciting the Lord's Prayer at funerals I attend. I wonder what meaning these really have for me. My culture does feel empty and I once again am forced to cringe at government acting against indigenous people to diminish the things that mean the most to them.

How dare we! This and the intervention is what future generations will be saying SORRY for.

Obama

It's surprising to me how invested I have been in the US election. I found myself anxiously awaiting the results on Wednesday and then feeling increasingly optimistic as the votes gradually came in. Then it became clear that Obama had won and I was overcome with excitement and relief. I think I was buoyed by the fact that for so long the USA had been stuck in lowest common denominator politics - appealing to the worst aspects of human nature - division, fear, hatred, bigotry; but here was Obama - a voice that was saying something different. A voice that appealed to what is best in human nature - hope, community, optimism, cooperation. I read something the other day which talked about the human instinct to help others. I believe this to be true and have, in the past, been made to feel abnormal because of this belief. What a watershed for millions of Americans to finally collectively say that they too believe in the same spirit. What an historical moment to witness, the moment where a majority of people in a powerful western nation say that they are more interested in the collective rather than looking out for their individual needs.
Obama might not be the Messiah that he is being heralded as in some quarters, but he has been a rallying point. A leader who has dared to suggest that we can be more than we have been in the past.
When the election result was announced a friend sent me a text message say "Phew, that feels better". That sums it up for me. The world just feels better, more possible, more whole, more communal with Obama as US President than has ever been the case in my life time. And i for one am glad to have lived in a time when it has happened.

small things

I was in my front yard this morning planting up some new garden beds. A number of neighbours walked past. Many of them said hello. A father walked past with his daughter walking next to him and son riding a bike along side. They said hello. I said hello back. The daughter made a comment to her father in their language. She was looking intently at the work i was doing in my garden. About half an hour they returned from their walk to the store. The daughter was carrying a plant.

The stock market explained

Once upon a time in a village, a man appeared and announced to the
villagers that he would buy monkeys for $10 each.
The villagers, seeing that there were many monkeys around, went into
the forest and started catching them. The man bought thousands at $10and, as supply started to diminish, the villagers stopped their effort.
He further announced that he would now buy monkeys at $20 for each.
This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching
monkeys again. Soon the supply diminished even further and people
started going back to their farms.
The offer increased to $25 each, and
the supply of monkeys became so small that it was an effort to even
find a monkey, let alone catch it! The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at $50! However, since he had to go to the city on some business, his assistant would now buy on behalf of him.

In the absence of the man, the assistant told the villagers. 'Look at
all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has collected.
I will sell them to you at $35, and when the man returns from the
city, you can sell them to him for $50 each.'
The villagers rounded up all their savings and bought all the monkeys.
They never saw the man nor his assistant again, only monkeys everywhere!
Now you have a better understanding of how Wall Street works.

Lawn Sale

I had a lawn sale this morning. For those of you who live elsewhere in Australia, that's a garage sale. For those who live in parts of the world where that is an unknown concept the idea is that you clean out your house and shed, finding items you no longer need or want, place them in your garage or on your lawn on a saturday morning and strangers come around and buy them from you.
It's a strange idea, but one that I love.
There were a few benefits to doing this for me:
I got rid of some stuff that had been hanging around since I moved into my house
I made a bit of extra cash
I got to experience the crazy world of the lawn sale
I have basically decided there are three types of lawn salers:

1. Hard core - these people have week's that revolve around their lawn sales. They read the paper with a fine tooth comb on a Friday to examine exactly how many lawn sales are on offer the following morning and they chart a course between them that will maximise the bargains they desire. They are the ones who turn up before the advertised starting time in the hope that they will beat or undercut all of the other hare core salers. They offer you advice on how a lawn sale really should be run and they spend a maximum of 5 minutes on your lawn before they are off to their next appointment. many of them carry around a tin containing a quantity of coins and small notes specifically ear marked for lawn sale purchases. I got paid $10 for something this morning all in 10c and 20c pieces!

2. The specific purpose lawn salers - these people come in search of a specific item or object. They come in and scan what's on offer. If they see the item they want they grab it, if not they ask directly. Often they will see the item they were seeking with a SOLD sign already written on it and look at you pleadingly, hoping you will go back on your agreement with the previous purchaser and do them a deal instead.The specific items asked for this morning were most furniture - shelves, chests of drawers, wardrobes, beds ad mattresses. But i also had a surprising number of requests for pot plants. I'm thinking of doing some propagating before my next lawn sale!

3. The lazy bones - these are the johnny-come-lately lawn salers who have good intentions about going lawn saling on a Saturday morning and then have a big night on Friday night and decide that a sleep in is more important than bargains. They still go out and do over the lawn sales but not until about 3 hours after everyone else has swept through. When they arrive they ask sheepishly "Is this all that's left?" "Yes" you reply and they smirk and shrug their shoulders. "It's our own fault I suppose. maybe we'll try to get up earlier next Saturday!"