- G'day, I'm here to talk to you
about an important issue
that affects many of our Indigenous students.
I'm sure you know that EAL/D
refers to learners who have Standard Australian English
as an additional language or dialect.
These learners need extra support
because learning another language can be tricky.
And learning the curriculum in another language
can be really tricky.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students
who are EAL/D learners
may speak a variety of languages
other than Standard Australian English.
It may be a traditional language, a creole,
or one of many, many Aboriginal English dialects.
These students and their families
may not even consider themselves EAL/D learners,
so it is not surprising then that many
are invisible language learners in our classrooms.
Before colonisation, Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander people in Queensland alone
spoke more than 100 different languages.
After colonisation, many Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander people
were forcibly relocated to reserves.
Speaking in their traditional language was often banned,
so people developed varieties of pidgin English,
mixtures of traditional language and English to communicate.
Over time these became the rich languages of the communities
which although sometimes contain many English words
are in fact quite different to Standard Australian English.
Because of this history,
many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
don't speak Standard Australian English
as their first language
or second or even third.
And for some kids, school might be
their first exposure to it.
So across the state,
our students come to school with many different languages.
In the past, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
were made to feel ashamed of their language.
Aboriginal English and creoles
were sometimes described as bad English
and widely disrespected.
Today, we understand the value of these languages.
To best support Indigenous EAL/D students
we need to work together
to ensure they aren't invisible.
And are proud of their languages
and confident classroom learners.
To do this,
we need to recognise and value their languages.
Next, we engage Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander learners
by explicitly teaching Standard Australian English.
And finally we support students'
connection to their heritage
by learning about their culture and languages.
We call this three way strong.
To enact this approach
we must identify our Indigenous EAL/D learners,
either during enrolment or in the classroom
when we notice differences
in the way the student is speaking, reading, or writing.
Identifying Indigenous EAL/D students is not always easy
because kids are great at code-switching
or changing their speech to suit their audience.
Building strong classroom rapport
can help teachers tune into
the different language backgrounds of their students.
Bandscales help us understand
our students' language strengths
and what they need to learn next.
Bandscales also allow us to monitor
students' language development over time.
So that we can provide targeted language instruction
and celebrate their success.
Remember, learning a language is not easy,
and our students are being required to learn
Standard Australian English
at the same time they're learning the curriculum.
It takes time, it takes skillful teaching.
And for young students,
it involves more than just traditional methods
of good first teaching.
So, the three key messages for schools are:
One, acknowledge the fact
that many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students
throughout Queensland,
do not speak Standard Australian English
at home or in their community.
Two, use Bandscale to help identify EAL/D students
and to monitor their progress in learning English.
And three, successfully engage students
by explicitly teaching Standard Australian English.
If you do, you'll create confident code-switchers
who rapidly develop the language they need
to succeed at school
while remaining proud users of their home language.
Let's make sure every student is succeeding.