Closing the Gap Part 2 – A Yolŋu petition and an Ivory tower.
In Yirrkala on the 23rd July 2008, the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and his cabinet were presented with a petition by a dozen key Yolŋu Indigenous leaders. The petition requested that the Federal Government begin the process of negotiation with Aboriginal people in order to recognise and protect Aboriginal rights in the constitution. How did Mr Rudd respond?…
The socially awkward and the extrovert in other cultures
Have you ever noticed how it seems that other people just seem to know what they’re doing when it comes to relating to other people? I believe that no one really does know what to do, and that how we…
Closing the Gap Part 1 – Symptoms & Causes
The Federal Government has embarked on a process they call “Closing the Gap”. It recognises that there is a gap between the outcome for Indigenous people and rest of Australia in key social indicators. Indigenous people and their communities face poor health outcome, poor job prospects and poor educational outcome compared to the rest of Australia. As Australians attempt so help to rectify such social problem we must distinguish the symptoms from causes, and ultimately find a way to treat the cause/s. Let me illustrate the difference between a symptom and cause using a parable.
Cross cultural issues confound Australian justice systems.
An interesting report called “An absence of mutual respect” was released at the beginning of June by our friends at ARDS which gives great insight into the difficulties faced by English second language Aboriginal people. It is a report on…
English only Education Part 2 – Transfering meaning
For an Indigenous person on a community where English a second or even sixth language all their peers will difficulties in understanding and learning certain English words. When a person in such a community does hear a new English word they can not easily learn the meaning. Because their parents and peers do not use it, do not know it or they may use a local assumed meaning, which can be very wrong.
English only Education, Part 1- Vocabulary & Word deafness
An English only classroom can mask the problems of not utilising first language knowledge and concepts to teach English. It is important to understand how education or training can be going wrong, as a result of neglecting language use, without an English only speaker even knowing it. I will discuss these problems over a series of posts, starting with something I call word deafness that prevents individual ESL students easily acquiring new vocabulary.
Local Languages and Effective education
Australia values indigenous languages as shown in our public art, but in practice it is easy to have excuses. There are a number of concerns about learning Aboriginal languages, and using local languages in education, that become blockages that prevent personnel individually or corporately from putting time into learning to use Aboriginal languages. I will briefly respond to these common concerns.
Introducing the Why Warriors, Cultural Worlds, Web log.
We shall be regularly publishing short articles on how to work more effectively across the cultural and linguistic barrier that exists between the mainstream social/cultural systems and the cultural worlds of the Aboriginal peoples of Australia. We believe that it…
A Foreign Australia – Working in Aborignal Communities
If you are working with, for, or planning to enter an Aboriginal community in Australia the first thing you must do is begin to think like you are about to enter an overseas country. Of course physically these Aboriginal communities…
