Bilingual Program
Our bilingual program is based on a number of principles. The first is an ethical one, based on a people’s inalienable human right to use and maintain the language, heritage and culture into which they were born. (United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, December 10, 1948). The second is a sociological principle: Language is a primary symbol in cultural transmission. In order for a people to transmit their culture to their children and to be able to maintain their identity, the use of their language must be allowed its rightful place. The third principle is an educational one, supported by considerable research, which states that the best medium for initially educating a child is in his or her own first language. Learning first in the vernacular allows the learner to move ‘from the known to the unknown’. Most school learning is achieved through verbal means—either spoken or written—and unless children understand what they hear and read, they will learn relatively little. With regard to reading, specifically, one of the fundamental assumptions in the teaching of reading is that children learn to read in the language that they speak best, so they can concentrate on decoding the written symbols associated with meanings that they can readily understand. The final principle is a sociopolitical one: school and community should be indissolubly linked. A bilingual program helps a school to value a local community’s knowledge and history.
The Murrinhpatha literacy program is culture rich and, building children’s oral proficiency in their first language, aims to develop their skills in reading and writing so that they will be able to express themselves and be proud of their heritage. In using language familiar to the children and allowing them to become literate first in the language they speak, we endeavour to ensure that their education is firmly grounded in their own language and culture and they will have a much better chance of building a bridge to English, to Western understandings and thereby strengthen their ability to cope with the complexities of life. It is designed to be a way of achieving the academic goals of education without destroying their right to be a people with their own unique language and way of living.
While we want our children to experience school as a place where they can build on what they already know and feel good about themselves as indigenous children, we also aim to develop proficiency in oral English as a second language. This prepares them for the Accelerated Literacy program which follows.
Da kanhi-re mani kurran-ka murrinh ngarra pigunu-re pumpanngerren lurruth ngalla da matha. Murrinh nhini-ka marda pumangnganart pumpan pumayitnu puru.[Kardu wurnangat piyemperr da murntak warra i kardu numi da bamnhingkardurdungime da Dec 10, 1948-te.] Kardu mamay kanhi kanam-ka mamay nekingime-wa. Murrinhpatha thurranngerrenngime kardu wurnangat da kanhi thanamngime-yu. Ku tithe tithe-ka lurruth ngalla da matha wangu Murrinhpatha-yu narramut nuru, nanhthi-ka bere thamam thurran pana da mangini murrinh niyith-niyith da murntak, ku ngakumarl thudanpunthethith thanam i da ngarra pigunu, nanhthi mangini wirrirr ngarra kathu yibirrirr i nanhthi pana pipa warda pamam pibim-ya nhini nhinhi-ka bere ngatha wangu manta thanirra kardu ngarra mamay ngarra wurlk kamaki-yu nhini kardu mamay-ka the warda mabathnu purru i mere warda ngatha puyekumnu purru kardu ngarra ngalla warda purdiruturtnu-yu.
Ngankungime-ka ngumamkawathangime nanhthi buk murrinhpatha-re ngarramkarililngime mangini da, ku, mi i nanhthi kardu mamay-nu pubangkardunu ngarra panardurdi the warda ngatha mabathnu. Da-ka bere ngatha perrkenku kirrangintha Murrinhpatha i English. Kardu ngarra purdirurturtnu-ka murrinh perrkenku warda purrungerrennu nhini-yu.
Kardu mamay-ka nanhthi ngarra pigunu-ka the panthin pumpan mu mangini neki wangu ku tithe pumanmanpi kardu mamay lurruth ngalla purrunu. Da kanhi-ka da mere dhekdhek da neki da matha wangu panpinnhingkayith purru kardu mamay-yu, nhini pigunu-ka nanhthi warda pumayithnu warda purru ngarra mukmuk pigunu da ngarra kanhi thangunu thurdininthethithdha thurruni-yu. Kardu mamay ngarra Year 3-ka murrinh perrkenku pudanpunthethith panam English i Murrinhpatha. Ngarra Year 4 i kardu ngalla ngalla kurran nhini wangu-ka murrinh English AL da matha pudanpunthethith panam-yu, mu ngankungime-ka lurruth ngalla ngupankangime-ka bere ngatha murrinhpatha-yu pudunthethith kuru.
