An Experiment in Teaching Eastern Arrernte in Central Australia

Extract

Alice Springs, the major regional centre in Central Australia, has a population of about 19,000, with about 25 to 30 per cent Aboriginal or of Aboriginal descent.

There are two high schools in Alice Springs, the largest being the Alice Springs High School with about 700 students, the majority of whom (including the Aboriginal students), have English as their first language. The school teaches to matriculation level and has traditionally offered a number of languages – including French, German, Indonesian and Italian.

The school population would have little knowledge of Aboriginal languages and the associated culture. At the time the Eastern Arrernte course was proposed the one time elective, Aboriginal Studies, was no longer offered due to lack of availability of staff, and lack of interest and expertise among existing staff. So, here was a senior high school, in the centre of country where Aboriginal cultures and languages are thriving, which offered little to enlighten its students about the life-style of a people they saw and heard daily in the streets and fringe camps of Alice Springs.

Central Australia is rich in Aboriginal languages and over the years there have been many discussions and two attempts to teach Aboriginal languages. One involved the teaching of a ‘Top End’ language, Gupapuyngu, chosen because some teaching materials had been prepared and because the teacher involved had worked in Arnhem Land. The other was one of the Western Desert languages, Pitjantjatjara, a language traditionally spoken south-west of Alice Springs. In both cases, when the teachers involved left, the programs closed.