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We would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet today, the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. We wish to pay respect to the elders, past, present, and future, and any Indigenous Australians present today.

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Indigeneity refers to the identity of an Indigenous person and it is something that needs to be taught in schools. Although it is mandatory, it can often feel very overwhelming for teachers.

The following will explore importance of Indigenous language in the classroom and how you can teach it to your class.

Below there are resources that you can access to help with your planning and teaching. There are also examples of schools who have included Indigeneity into their learning and it has benefited their students.

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"The education authority in each state has required teachers to embed Indigenous perspectives; however, many teachers express concern that they lack the necessary knowledge and skills to implement this."

Harrison, N., & Greenfield, M. (2011). Relationship to place: positioning Aboriginal

knowledge and perspectives in classroom pedagogies. Critical Studies in

Education, 52(1), 65-76.

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If we search the curriculum key words such as 'Aboriginal' it will highlight how mandatory indigeneity is.

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"Before the European settlement there were as many as 250 distinct languages flourished across Australia. Today, less than 20 are considered to be strong.”

Wyn, J. (2009). Touching the future: Building skills for life and work.

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It is important that we not only preserve Indigenous language but also culture. By educating students about Indigeneity, we hope to create more inclusive and positive environments within schools.

In terms of health and education, we know Indigenous Australians are significantly disadvantaged. Indigenous Australians have a life expectancy of approximately 10 years less than their non-Indigenous counterparts and are less likely to complete year 12 studies (The Gap, 2017). Racism in schools has been linked to this schooling outcome, negatively impacting the attendance rate of Indigenous students in schools (Biddle & Priest, 2015). By including Indigeneity into school practice, we hope to overcome this.

Through incorporating local language (i.e. speaking or through books) and authentic cultural experiences (i.e. inviting elders into the school to speak) within the classroom, we hope to decrease discrimination in the classroom (i.e. cultural understanding, cultural representation), ultimately fostering positive relationships between and across various cultural groups within the school.

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Videos that recognise the Indigenous people and culture

https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/search/indigenous
https://www.youtube.com/resultssearch_query=indigenous+australians
Students can watch some documentaries during recess or lunch time

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Indigenous Books for the Classroom

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Artefact
https://parksaustralia.gov.au/kakadu/do/rock-art/nanguluwurr/

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Reaching out to the Aboriginal community to involve your school with the community.
(VAEAI) http://www.vaeai.org.au/_uploads/_ckpg/files/Strategic%20Plan%2009-12-%20final.pdf

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Possible excursions for your school

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Exploring the Indigenous community in Melbourne city
Koori community in Fitzroy

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Indigenous cultural day/week - NAIDOC week

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Local Resources
Gardening classes/botanical walk
https://www.rbg.vic.gov.au/whats-on/aboriginal-heritage-walk

Koorie Heritage Trust
http://koorieheritagetrust.com.au/

Museums Australia
https://australianmuseum.net.au/indigenous-australia

Museums Victoria
https://museumsvictoria.com.au/origins/about.aspx

Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages
http://www.vaclang.org.au/

Victorian Aboriginal Health Service (VAHS)
http://www.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/key-resources/organisations?oid=1296

Walking tours (ProDev)
http://www.ptgaa.org.au/find-a-guide/335/deanstewart/

What Works. The Work Program
http://www.whatworks.edu.au/upload/1251417159008_file_SuccessPrac.pdf

Wurundjeri Tribe Land Council
https://www.wurundjeri.com.au/

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It is estimated that a language is lost every two weeks.  Where 90% of Australia's Indigenous languages are endangered (Grandma's Lingo).

Know your own backyard! What Indigenous names have been included in creating Melbourne. Ie Geelong and Warnabool

1440 min in 24 hours 1 min = 40 years, so white people have only been here for 5 min of the day.

Woiwurrung - Willam is one of those languages.

Here are a few pharses you could teach your children.

Wominjeka - Welcome
Biladunjan warr? - How are you?
Marrambik burndap - I am good
Barrbunin - happy
Marden - sad
Woobedin - sorry
Gunbuni - thirsty
Worbrunin - tired
Balam- balam - butterfly
Marram - kangaroo
Dulum - duck

Grandma's Lingo: https://www.sbs.com.au/mygrandmotherslingo/

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Woolum Bellum KODE school (Latrobe Valley district of Victoria)
This school had a high population of Indigenous students, and after discussion with the Elders of that area they created a CD to help integrate the Ganai language into classrooms. This is the traditional Koori language of that area. The CD was developed with the help of the Elders of that area and had interactive features that helped the students learn. It was found that soon students started benefiting from the program as kids were able to have their own sense of identity and language. They are more confident and proud of who they are and the students started to feel a connection to land. Families also benefited from Ganai language being taught and used in the school. Students would share with their families what they had learnt and soon parents started remembering stories from when they were children.

http://www.whatworks.edu.au/dbAction.do?cmd=displaySitePage1&subcmd=select&id=164

Swan Hill Primary School (Swan Hill, Victoria)
Introduced the Wemba Wemba language to their school in early 2014. This is a program that is taught by a descendent of the Wemba Wemba people to Year 1 students. They are taught songs such as ‘heads, shoulders, knees and toes’ and the ‘hokey pokey’ in the Wemba Wemba language. Teachers would often sit in on classes so they were able to learn the language too in order to use it in the classroom throughout the week in their lessons.

http://www.vaclang.org.au/projects/swan-hill-primary-school.html

Melton West Primary School (Melton, Victoria)
Preps spend 10 weeks where they learn the Woi Wurrung language. They learn greeting phrases as well as colours and counting.

http://www.vaclang.org.au/learning/education/melton-south-primary-school.html

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Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Language

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Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Language

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VACL is an amazing website that provides a huge range of resources that can easily be used in the classroom. With videos, documents, reports, interviews and more it can be a great starting point to introduce Indigeneity into the classroom.

www.vaclang.org.au

Thank you for listening. We hope you enjoyed our presentation and feel less overwhelmed with some useful resources that can be used in your classroom.

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Biddle, N., & Priest, N. (2015, September 11). Racism hits Indigenous students’ attendance and grades. (2017). The Conversation, Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/racism-hits-indigenous-students-attendance-and-grades-48233

Harrison, N., & Greenfield, M. (2011). Relationship to place: positioning Aboriginal knowledge and perspectives in classroom pedagogies. Critical Studies in Education, 52(1), 65-76.

Hutchinson, E. (2017). Melton West Primary School. Vaclang.org.au. Retrieved 26 August 2017, from http://www.vaclang.org.au/learning/education/melton-south-primary-school.html

Hutchinson, E. (2017). Swan Hill Primary School. Vaclang.org.au. Retrieved 26 August 2017, from http://www.vaclang.org.au/projects/swan-hill-primary-school.html

NAIDOC Poster. (2017). NAIDOC. Retrieved 29 August 2017, from http://www.naidoc.org.au/naidoc-poster

The gap: Indigenous disadvantage in Australia. (2017). Retrieved from http://www.australianstogether.org.au/stories/detail/the-gap-indigenous-disadvantage-in-australia

What Works - The Work Program - Improving Outcomes for Indigenous students. (2017). Whatworks.edu.au. Retrieved 26 August 2017, from http://www.whatworks.edu.au/dbAction.do?cmd=displaySitePage1&subcmd=select&id=164

Wyn, J. (2009). Touching the future: Building skills for life and work.