Promoting Co-Operation in Indigenous Language Learning

Australian and New Caledonian teachers share their experiences, struggles and successes of working in indigenous language classrooms.

Educators in Australia and New Caledonia are joining forces to increase the number of people who speak an indigenous language.

Earlier this year, a delegation from New Caledonia visited schools in Australia to learn more about the experience of teaching indigenous languages.

“We were interested in observing what was the situation in Australia and how they take care and teach Indigenous language in the Australian system and also explain what we were doing in New Caledonia,” says Yves Jacquier, Head of International Co-operation at the New Caledonia Vice Rectorate for Education.

He describes the trip as “really helpful and hopeful” and is interested in developing language exchanges and competitions with Australian schools that have included Indigenous languages in their curriculum.

New Caledonian delegates at Kaurna Plains School. New Caledonian delegates at Kaurna Plains School.

Despite their geographical proximity, Kanak languages and Australian Indigenous languages are not a part of the same language group: Kanak languages are a part of the Oceania language group from the Austronesian language family, whereas Australian Indigenous languages mostly come from their own Australian language family.

Yet, both groups feel they have something they can learn from each other.

“The challenges they [the New Caledonians] face in enhancing the teaching of Kanak language, whilst different to those in Australia, have many parallels and thus we had many shared learning experiences,” says Rob Shepherd, principal of Le Fevre High School in South Australia, one of the schools the New Caledonian delegates visited.

Mr Shepherd will join a group of representatives who will speak at the Kanak Languages and Culture Seminar at the University of New Caledonia in November.

He anticipates that they will learn a lot about teaching methodologies and the experiences of their New Caledonian counterparts.

“One of the key issues I see in working with Indigenous communities is the feeling of solidarity that communities gain from sharing their experiences, struggles and successes,” says Mr Shepherd. “This is one of the key objectives for us in attending.”

Le Fevre High School teacher Vincent ‘Jack’ Buckskin teaching Kaurna. Le Fevre High School teacher Vincent ‘Jack’ Buckskin teaching Kaurna.

Le Fevre High School teaches the Kaurna language, which was recently revived after years of no one speaking it fluently.

Mr Shepherd, who learned the language as a sign of solidarity, believes learning the Kaurna language is an important way for students to reclaim their cultural identity and stories.

“The key motivation for students learning the language is the connection to their culture and identity,” he says.

Before European settlement in Australia, it is estimated that approximately 500 dialects of as many as 250 languages were spoken by Indigenous Australians. Now, there are are only around 100, some with fewer than 100 speakers.

In New Caledonia, there were approximately 35 languages and dialects spoken by the indigenous Kanak population before Europeans arrived. These days, that number is 28.

Under the Noumea Accord, the 1998 political agreement struck between New Caledonia and France, the Kanak Language Academy was set up to establish rules for using Kanak languages and to promote their usage.

Since the accord, institutions in New Caledonia have been working hard to improve the status of Kanak languages “but it’s not enough,” according to Danielle Guanere, Head of the Service for Kanak Language Teaching, who was a part of the delegation to Australia.

Mr Jacquier adds that one of the things they learned on the trip was how indigenous language education can have benefits outside the language classroom.

“For children who have difficulties at school, they [the teachers] focus on language and culture to get them to be proud of their identity and keep them in the school system,” he says.

However Mr Jacquier also felt there were some things Australia could learn from New Caledonia. He observed that many Indigenous language students aren’t speaking those languages at home whereas in New Caledonia, Kanak languages are more widely spoken in the community.

“The fact that Kanak languages are acknowledged today as equal to the French language, it’s also important for the people in the way they live and consider the language, which is not the case in Australia – yet,” he says.

Kanak languages being taught at a primary level in New Caledonia. Kanak languages being taught at a primary level in New Caledonia.

Ms Guanere also observed that in New Caledonia there appears to be a higher priority towards Kanak languages, compared to in Australia where she felt the call for inclusion wasn’t as united.

Of particular interest to the New Caledonian delegation was the wide range of people attending Indigenous language classes in South Australia, including people who worked in Indigenous communities, people from cross-cultural relationships who wanted their children to grow up speaking an Indigenous language, and those from non-Indigenous backgrounds who thought it was important to speak an Indigenous language.

“They were teaching living language, Pitjinjara, to non-Aboriginal people. That was really interesting to see all these Australian people mostly from European origins,” says Mr Jacquier. “[Whereas] it’s mainly Kanak people that learn Kanak languages.”

‘[There is] more interest in Kanak culture than there is, for example, in Kanak language,” Ms Guanere says.

However despite the lack of interest, some Kanak words have crept into daily French in New Caledonia: ‘Wanamatcha,’ used to convey surprise or fear, and ‘bozu’ (from bonjour) for ‘hello.’ Both come from the Drehu language of the Loyalty Islands people.

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