Developing Community Languages Resources: Community Languages Skills in the Illawarra

Project Leader: Dr Ken Cruickshank, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Education, University of Wollongong

Project description

Community issue being addressed and University goals

Community Language Schools are non-profit groups run by parents and community members which aim to develop young children’s knowledge and fluency in their heritage language and culture. One of the main issues facing the Schools in Australia is the lack of resources. Resources from the countries of origin are generally too difficult and often not interesting enough. These materials are written for native speakers and not for children learning the language in Australia. There are very few Australian-made resources. This often means that children lose interest. At the age of 8 or 9, children start thinking more about their identity – is it ‘Australian or the country where my family originated from?’ Many children question the value of learning their home language and often adopt Australian identity in line with friends at day school. For many, this rejection of their language and culture increases until they leave school. It is then that they realise what they have lost.

The project involved the development and sharing of skills, resources and expertise between Community Language Schools and the University of Wollongong, Faculty of Education staff and students. The project included workshops and development of a wide range of literacy resources.

The materials were developed to meet the needs of the schools and to extend the availability of quality teaching resources.

This project was assisted by funding under UOW’s Community Engagement Grants Scheme.

Activity Description (sequence of actions)

Faculty of Education staff and students led a series of workshops for community school teachers in August 2006 to discuss issues relating to their teaching practices. Comparisons were made between teaching approaches used in day schools.

Parents and teachers from each community language group identified a set of books which they would like to base the development of teaching resources on (September 2006). Each set of books were translated/recast into the various community languages (at different levels of difficulty for different age groups). These translations were printed on cards and attached to a base set of books.

Faculty of Education students were partnered with community members to develop and trial appropriate resources, in turn providing expertise in using the materials appropriately in the classroom.

For each language group, a set of ten books and related materials were published and distributed; with copies made available in the University library and community centres. A website was developed by AICLS to allow for a wider sharing of the resources developed.

A presentation event was held in February 2008 at the Wollongong Art Gallery to celebrate the project’s achievements and raise the profile of the community languages schools and showcase their achievements and importance. It was officially opened by Hon. Linda Burney, Minister for Fair Trading, Youth and Volunteering and Stefan Romaniw OAM, Executive Director, Languages Australia. The NSW Community Schools Board held their meeting at the Art Gallery before the start of the event.

Governance and Management Structures

The project was headed by Dr Ken Cruickshank and Dr Lisa Kervin from the Faculty of Education who supervised the students and organised workshops for the teachers from the Community Languages Schools. 

An informal committee made up of the two academics above, a representative from the Illawarra Association of Community Languages Schools and a representative of UOW’s Office of Community & Partnerships oversaw the project and organised the Presentation Event.

Constituencies Served

Over 600 children from 24 community language schools in the Illawarra Region; teachers, parents and community members; Association of Illawarra Community Language Schools, which is funded by the NSW Department of Education.

The nine Schools directly involved were:

• CoAsIt Italian Language School
• Cook Island Maori School
• Cringila Arabic School
• Illawarra Turkish School
• Macedonian Language School
• Serbian Language School
• Skola Maltija (Maltese)
• South Coast Chinese School
• Wollongong Mandarin School

Expectations/Benefits of project

To Community

Development of skill, expertise and confidence of community language school teachers in using literature-based teaching approaches in the classroom.

The production of a set of extensive resources in nine community languages. These materials could help the establishment of new community language schools in the Illawarra, and potentially be distributed across Australia and overseas.

To the University

Closer links between ethnic community groups, schools and the university. The project has the potential to encourage community language teachers to enrol in undergraduate and postgraduate study. It also provides university students the opportunity to develop cross-cultural and language skills and understandings of education.

Responsibility/Roles of each partner

The University funded the project, which involved 24 undergraduate education students. The students had to attend classes and meet with teachers over the year to develop a set of resources for each school.  Two to three education students were attached to work with each school. This was part of their subject requirement: in addition to developing the resources, they wrote up a case study on the community languages schools.

Community language school teachers and parents participated in a series of 10 workshops.

A steering committee of representatives from each school and from the University managed the project and the materials production.