Starting Out at Yuendumu School—Teaching in Our Own Language

Abstract

In this chapter two long-standing educators and literacy workers at Yuendumu school share their views about the Warlpiri-English bilingual program and the use of Warlpiri language in education and in everyday life. They explore the ongoing role of language and cultural knowledge in the life. Tess considers the Warlpiri program as an important conduit for passing on knowledge about language and Jukurrpa. This Central Australian Aboriginal term is often referred to as the ‘Dreaming’ in Aboriginal English, when ancestral beings travelled, shaping and changing the world. It links people to plants, animals and paces, guiding them in the proper ways of interacting with different relationship and kinship groups and so is a guide to Aboriginal people in many places. Wendy Baarda came to live in Yuendumu in 1973 and worked as a teacher, teacher linguist and literacy worker at Yuendumu. Now retired, she still works at the school in the literacy production centre with Tess Ross, and in the classroom for Warlpiri singing. She recalls the development of the Warlpiri program at Yuendumu, paying tribute to important Warlpiri teachers and the dedication of linguists and literacy workers in producing the hundreds of Warlpiri books and materials. Over the years the bilingual program at Yuendumu and in all schools has been threatened and suppressed, but Warlpiri people have remained determined to keep teaching their children Warlpiri language and culture.