that munanga linguist

Well I'm off to Batchelor for the week to deliver another workshop. Except I'm totally unprepared for this one due to spending 2.5 days at Timber Creek and 1 day at Mataranka last week. Luckily I'm a clever chicken and will hopefully be able to think up some fun stuff and 'effective training activities' for my students to do. :-) I have five students doing Cert 1 in Own Language Work and their languages are Mayali, Rembarrnga and Dalabon. Hope it goes well! Wish me luck... It better go well, otherwise I'll be spewing come Thursday that I'm not in Katherine playing Netball. Actually, I'll be spewing about that regardless. I have an unhealthy passion for netball. To the point where I'm ready to singlehandedly put together an NT mens side so that I can start playing in the national competitions! heheheh.... When I'm totally over this linguist gig, I'm retiring to become a full-time tennis nerd and netball nerd. Now there's a career a...

In the tradition of the Simpsons episode that featured the "hooray for everything" group, I'm saying "hooray for Timber Creek". I've been here in Timber Creek for 2 days for an Indigenous Language and Culture workshop organised by the Education Department. (There's still a few of them there who still care about Indigenous Language and Culture!). The best part is that it's lots of new stuff for me. Being in Timber Creek is new for me. Being around people from places west of Katherine is new for me. And at the workshop, I've met people from Kalkarindji, Yarralin, Bulla, Pigeon Hole and Lajamanu - some places I've never been to. And there were people who speak languages that I've never really heard before or much of which was new and exciting for a language nerd like me - Jaminjung and Ngarinyman I've heard a little bit, but I've heard lots more the past two days and there was a Bilinarra speaker, Gurindji and Warlpiri speakers...