Boom and then Bust: Lessons Learnt from My Time Teaching in Three Bilingual Schools in the Northern Territory

Abstract

Gale’s paper reflects on her time teaching in three bilingual Aboriginal schools in the Northern Territory; at Milingimbi and Yirrkala in Arnhem Land with the Yolŋu (people), and at Willowra in the centre with the Warlpiri Yapa (people). This period of reflection is from the ‘boom years’ of bilingual education, when the first languages of Aboriginal students were taught and respected, and Aboriginal staff played key roles in schools, and students experienced successes in the classroom. Gale outlines ten lessons she learnt from her time working as a teacher and teacher linguist, from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s, alongside Aboriginal staff team members in schools. She concludes by asking whether the current government education policies in the NT, which no longer actively support and promote Aboriginal languages and bilingual education, will result in a similar language loss situation found in the southern states, where few Aboriginal languages are being passed on to the younger generation as viable first languages.