Noongar language teachers gather at Djidi Djidi Aborginal School to share resources, advice and culture

Teachers from schools across Noongar country gathered in the South West to connect and collaborate on their educational resources. Once a term, Noongar language specialists from 15 schools across the State gather for a networking meeting, last week coming together at the Djidi Djidi Aboriginal School. The meetings aim to provide an opportunity for teachers to share ideas, resources and advice with one another on teaching the Noongar language in their schools and how to ensure their students get the most out of their lessons. NLS teacher from Alkimos Primary School Judith Birchall said the meetings benefit teachers and students. “We like to try and get together once a term to share resources, share ideas, and support each other in the curriculum itself,” she said. “It’s usually based around what people are wanting to learn or wanting assistance with, whether it’s assessment ideas or looking at the new scope and sequence that’s recently come out of languages. “We also try and go into the different schools and get the cultural perspective from that school because each area has its own unique kind of cultural perspective going out on a tour around Wardandi land and looking at the beautiful areas.” A self-motivated initiative, she said professional development for NLS teachers was not as readily available as it is for other subjects. “I think we are quite isolated, not only are we very widely spread but there’s no one else really in your school, specialist teachers in general are kind of a solo position,” she said. “Within my school, there are other closer networking opportunities for the art teacher and for the music teacher because they’re everywhere but for Noongar Language teachers, we aren’t in every school therefore it’s harder for us to get together.” Djidi Djidi NLS teacher Charmaine Collard said she was looking forward to showing the other teachers how language is implemented at the school. “I think it’s wonderful that they’ve come to an Aboriginal school to see how the language program is run here and how the students are embracing it,” she said. “(The kids) are just taking it on so well, and they’ve learned so much, and we link the language they’re learning on country so we go out and learn about all the different environments, plants and animals and all of that, and the kids are just making that link which is most important because it’s more authentic and they can understand that a little bit more.”