President's Message
President’s Pen 28th May 2017
Last week’s speaker was Susan Cole, Susan is a teacher and historian who graduated from Adelaide and New England Universities, majoring in English and History. Her academic career has included researching, coordinating and teaching Foundation Courses for Indigenous tertiary students at the Universities of Adelaide and South Australia. She has also engaged with curriculum development and teaching in England, Vietnam and South Africa. She is a member of SPELD, the Australian College of Educators and the Association of Professional Historians.
Susan spoke about the need to provide specific programs to help Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to learn English. They already use their own version of English, which is a direct translation of their first language, which is one of their traditional Aboriginal languages. However, this form of English does not differentiate between tenses and does not align with the grammatical and sentence structure of academic English. This has resulted in their stating “can’t speak proper, can’t write proper’, perpetuating their feeling that they are not up to the standard of the rest of the community.
Students range in age from 17 to 70 and learn in a tutorial, collaborative style rather than the more formal style used in schools. One of challenges they also face is ‘assumed knowledge’. Our education system at times assumes prior knowledge of Shakespeare, or other famous authors and therefore when famous quotes or reference to literary works are mentioned, they have no idea what it means.
Susan stated that despite the challenges of learning a new language, the students have performed very well and most have progressed on to further academic study.
The Wirltu Yarlu Aboriginal Education [Wilto Yerlo] program run by the University of Adelaide is an attempt to assist Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to improve their English and enable them to enroll in further education and enhance their employment opportunities.
In the language of the Kaurna people, Wirltu Yarlu means "Sea Eagle". Wirltu Yarlu is the totem of Gladys Elphick. Previously spelt Wilto Yerlo, the correct Kaurna spelling is Wirltu Yarlu.Wilto Yerlo is “A place where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people can soar to new heights.” This is an extract from the Wiritu Yarlu Facebook page.
President’s thought for the week: “Sometimes not speaking says more than all the words in the world.” Colleen Hoover