that munanga linguist

well it's a new year. I'm feeling fresh. Life isn't bad at all, but for some reason I have total writer's block. I have plenty going through my little head and am still experiencing lots of things but my life and thoughts just refuse to be manifested in the written word. I keep wracking my brain for blogposts. I have ideas but they never materialise into posts. I'm supposed to be writing an article for Batchelor Institute's neat little journal "Ngoonjook". I have plenty of ideas for that too, but so far I've got two half-page begininings of articles. wah! On holidays, I discovered my Year 1,2 and 3 report cards. I was blown away by how little I've changed! My teacher repeatedly commented on how I was a good writer but that it was always hard getting me to write creatively. 25+ years later, and I'm still the same. (Did you know these days teachers aren't allowed to write negative comments on report cards? what the?) So if a...

It's my last day at work before my Christmas break and I feel slack. If you want something to procrastinate, here are some things to look at (thanks to Claire for these links): AIATSIS has launched 'AUSTLANG' - a comprehensive database with every Aboriginal and TSI Language. You can find out basic stuff like where each language is, how many speakers there are, how well it's been documented and by who etc. You can also update the info if you're a clever chicken with more info to add. Have a look at AUSTLANG . Jangari is another clever chicken who has been involved in developing Aboriginal language applications for mobile phones. Having already starred on SBS news, he's now in the Sydney Morning Herald . Good work. Speaking of good work, the lobbying and awareness-raising about the effects of the awful four-hours-of-English-instruction-in-NT-schools policy is beginning to pay. The Education Minister has softened a little and is giving schools a year to ...

The NT Stateline program on ABC did a segment on the bilingual education debate that is just getting hotter and hotter. The transcript is good reading. I'm pleased to say that me and others who are supporting and raising awareness about bilingual education are being heard and maybe even making minor progress. However the Education Minister Marion Scrymgour is still being stubborn and choosing to ignore national and international research that supports bilingual education programs and choosing to deny the rights of remote Indigenous people to determine or influence their own education delivery in their own communities. Shame on her. She doesn't seem to like me and fellow bilingual education supporters one bit. She's gone on the record saying we are misrepresenting her and off the record she calls us the 'bilingual mafia'. I prefer the term 'people that actually know something about bilingual education (even education in general?)'.

Last Tuesday, I heard that crack Helen Hughes talking rubbish on ABC radio about Indigenous Education. I got wild and channeled my energy by making a Facebook group called ' Supporters of Bilingual Education in the Northern Territory '. 9 days later, 1000 people have joined the group! I am quite amazed. Even better is that if you flick through the people that have joined the group, they are from all over the world - Scandinavia, South East Asia, America, Europe, South America, Middle East - I don't know how they came to join the group but I'm glad they have. It is very heartening to see the support, but at the same time disappointing that the NT Govt is out of step with so many others around the world that have no trouble accepting and using Bilingual Education as a good way to deliver education.

Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education is putting together a poster to promote the Batchelor of Arts in Language and Linguistics degree. For the poster, they would like to have as many words for ‘language’ in Australian languages as possible. If you’re feeling generous and can think of some off the top of your head, your help would be appreciated. Here’s what I know off the top of my head… yang (Rembarrnga) matha (Yolngu matha) gun-wok (Mayali/Kunwinjku) jaru (Ngarinyman) liiny (Jaminjung) nanggaya (Alawa) daway (Marra) Any additions appreciated!

Last night Tom Calma gave a talk in Darwin. He clearly put his support behind communities who want bilingual education in their schools and raised questions about rights abuses if communities aren't allowed to continue bilingual education. Marion Scrymgour was there at the talk but is still standing by her awful new policy for 4-hours-of-English-instruction in all NT schools. Today the story went to national media. Here's what The Age printed . To any linguists reading this (and others), please do what you can to support the cause. Don't let bilingual education fall by the wayside and not say anything about it. Educate people that bilingual education is actually aimed at assisting English acquisition (among other things) and that remote Indigenous education is not just a case of more English=better outcomes. Write letters. Talk to your MPs. Especially federal. Comment on blogs and websites. All help appreciated and needed! :-)

Crikey.com has picked up on the NT-Government-kills-off-bilingual-education issue. Check out the article by clicking here . Note in the comments, the same old arguments keep resurfacing about 'they need English to be able to get on in the world'. From reading these comments and comments on other news forums, it seems that lots of people don't get the point of bilingual education. They seem to read 'bilingual' and think 'lack of English' or 'no English'. It is very frustrating that many people are simply overlooking the fact that 'bilingual' means two languages, and that one of the main goals of bilingual education is to improve English acquisition. Grrr... how frustrating... all you have to do is wikipedia 'bilingual education' and it's there plain as day what the point of it is and how good it can be.