The Story of Feliks–Bidialectal Education.

The 10-year histOry leading to publication of “Making the Jump: A Resource Book for Teachers of Aboriginal Students” is chronicled. The book focuses on acceptance of the Aboriginal students’ home language, often a creole or a dialect of English, and the use of that language as a jumping-off point for teaching Standard Australian English (SAE). The book was designed for use in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, but the approach and resources can be applied to other students who speak creole or a non-standard dialect of English. The FELIKS (Fostering English Language in Kimberley Schools) professional development course was developed by a language team within the Catholic Education Office consisting of linguists and English-as-a-Second-Language resource teachers. The course was designed to inform teachers and Aboriginal teacher assistants of the validity of the Aboriginal children’s language and provide ideas on how to approach the teaching of SAE. The projects’ goals and the positive response are described, and the evolution of the book to provide follow-up materials is explained. These included the book, two University of Notre Dame Australia courses, and orientation workshops for new teachers. (MSE) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ******************************************************************************** Paper presented at the ALAA Conference, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, October 1997 THE STORY OF FELIKS BIDIALECTAL EDUCATION This paper tells the ten year story of events which lead to the publication of the award winning book Making the jump: A resource book for teachers of Aboriginal students. In 1998 this book won the Primary Teacher Reference Category of The Australian Awards for Excellence in Educational Publishing. Although designed for Aboriginal students in the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia, it has been shown that the approach and resources can be applied to students who speak creole or nonstandard dialect of English. Rosalind Berry and Joyce Hudson Catholic Education Office Kimberley Region gyA-A) PO Box 1451 Broome WA 6725 PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY Introduction Every year in the Kimberley, new teachers arrive from all over Australia to teach Aboriginal students in Catholic, State and Independent system schools. Some are graduates, some are experienced teachers and some are trained to teach English as a second language. But very few have any understanding of the language situation they are about to face in their classrooms. In fact, many are unaware that their students do not speak Standard Australian English (SAE) as their first language. Our questionand theirshas been ‘Why don’t they have this knowledge?’ Obviously there are some gaps in teacher education. That is why we decided to present this paper at this conference in keeping with the theme of ‘New trends in second language teacher education’. TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Resea ch and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURC ES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) jAhis document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. O Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. ° Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. In September 1997 the Catholic Education Office in Broome launched a resource book for Aboriginal students. It is called Making the jump: A resource book for teachers of Aboriginal students. This book is an attempt to partially fill the gap. The focus is on the acceptance of Aboriginal students’ home language and the use of that language as a jumping off point for teaching Standard Australian English. The trialling, writing, drafting and production of the book began in 1995 but the seeds were sown long before that. Background The Kimberley area is in the far north of Western Australia. In some ways it can be regarded as one of the last frontiers but in recent years there has been a lot of focus on this area. Mining ventures such as the huge Argyle diamond mine and more recently tourism have brought the region to the attention of people across Australia. There are large numbers of Aboriginal people in the Kimberley, many still speaking their traditional languages and practising their cultural activities. However this is rapidly changing as the population of non-Aboriginal people increases and the pressure of the English language is strong. Although many of the Aboriginal people still speak their old languages, the children in general, do not. Rather they speak the new English-based language, Kriol. In the towns many speak a dialect of English, known as Aboriginal English. This affects the work of classroom teachers who have the task of teaching Standard English to the Aboriginal students of the Kimberley. For many years people in general have tried to ignore Kriol and Aboriginal English, hoping that they would go away and be replaced Page 1 2 Printed 11/12/98 Paper presented at the ALAA Conference, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, October 1997 by Standard English. This has not happened and, in fact, the Kriol language has become stronger and spread to new areas. Kriol, as with creoles and pidgins the world over, has been a low status language and those who speak it have been told that it is an inferior language, and that they need to learn to talk ‘properly’ (i.e. use the Standard English dialect). One result of this is that many older people have stopped using the traditional indigenous languages with their children and favoured Kriol hoping to give their children a better start and prepare them for the English speaking school system. It is doubtful whether this has helped; it may even have hindered the children, since their knowledge of the English-based Kriol can itself be a barrier to the learning of Standard English. Linguists have now identified that Kriol is a valid language with its own vocabulary, grammar and sound systems but the speakers of the language and the teachers of the students often need to be convinced of this. Aboriginal English too has had low prestige in the eyes of its speakers and others. Aboriginal English has been defined as the dialects of English which are spoken by Australian Aboriginal people and which differ systematically from SAE. Although many would like to see Kriol and Aboriginal English die out, this does not appear to be at all likely. One reason for this could be the strong identity they provide for their speakers. Whatever the reason, we can expect that the majority of Aboriginal children in the Kimberley will continue to speak either Kriol or Aboriginal English as their first language. It was while working in the Fitzroy Valley in the 1980s that Joyce first became interested in the linguistic needs of the Kriol-speaking children learning SAE in the local schools. In 1987 she and Anthea Taylor, a lecturer at the time with Edith Cowen University, wrote an article for The Aboriginal Child at School. In it they made the following statement, “It is our opinion that until the language situation (involving Standard Australian English and Kriol) and its implications for education are faced, clarified and described accurately, the majority of schools in the Kimberley will not be able to adequately meet the educational needs of Aboriginal children.” (p.6-7) FELIKS Professional Development Course It was to this end that the Fostering English Language in Kimberley Schools (FELIKS) Professional Development Course was developed by the language team of the Catholic Education Office, Broome. This team consisted of linguists and English as a Second Language (ESL) resource teachers. We worked to provide a two day professional development package that would inform teachers and Aboriginal teaching assistants of the validity of the children’s language and give them ideas on how to approach the teaching of SAE. The goals The FELIKS Professional Development Course for Primary Schools aims to enable participants to: understand that the English-based speech of Aboriginal children in the Kimberley is a valid language, develop the practice of ‘focused listening’, identify patterns in the children’s speech, understand how Aboriginal English/Kriol differs from Standard Australian English and how this affects communication, develop suitable classroom activities to ensure that children will learn to codeswitch consciously. Page 2 3 Printed 11/12/98 Paper presented at the ALAA Conference, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, October 1997 FELIKS is NOT: teaching teachers to speak, read or write Kriol or Aboriginal English The response It was somewhat surprising to find just how warmly the information contained in the package was welcomed by a majority of teachers. One of the reasons for this enthusiasm was that they felt it explained many of the difficulties they were experiencing in the classroom. However, Aboriginal adults who attended the professional development days did not always take so kindly to what we were saying as they had to overcome the stigma that had always been attached to the Englishbased languages. At most places where FELIKS was presented the local Aboriginal staff would take a while to be convinced that we were aiming to teach their children to control Standard English. The fear they all had was that we were intending to teach the teachers and children to talk, read and write Kriol. On the other hand, there were instances when the reaction was very different and Aboriginal staff members found the information presented to be personally liberating. They were at last able to acknowledge this linguistic aspect of their heritage instead of being ashamed of it.