Language Teachers’ Narratives of Practice [1 ed.] 9781443866323, 9781443842570

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Language Teachers’ Narratives of Practice

Language Teachers’ Narratives of Practice

Edited by

Lesley Harbon and Robyn Moloney

Language Teachers’ Narratives of Practice, Edited by Lesley Harbon and Robyn Moloney This book first published 2013 Cambridge Scholars Publishing 12 Back Chapman Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2XX, UK

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Copyright © 2013 by Lesley Harbon and Robyn Moloney and contributors All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-4438-4257-5, ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-4257-0

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword .................................................................................................. viii Angela Scarino Preface ...................................................................................................... xiii Lesley Harbon and Robyn Moloney Abbreviations ........................................................................................... xix Chapter One................................................................................................. 1 Introduction: Language Teachers and their Narratives Lesley Harbon and Robyn Moloney Chapter Two .............................................................................................. 16 Learning and Teaching an Australian Aboriginal Language in Western Australia Coleen Sherratt Chapter Three ............................................................................................ 22 Ripples in the Pond Tracey Cameron Chapter Four.............................................................................................. 37 “They Bombed Us”—Teaching Japanese in Country New South Wales: Privilege and Parochialism Mercurius Goldstein Chapter Five .............................................................................................. 48 Teaching in a Primary Immersion Model Kylie Farmer Chapter Six ................................................................................................ 56 Teaching in CLIL Programs: Queensland Teachers’ Stories of Bilingual Education Jen McKendry, Ulla Freihofner and Simone Smala

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Chapter Seven............................................................................................ 66 Intercultural Language Learning for Multi-Focal Vision Melissa Gould-Drakeley Chapter Eight............................................................................................. 74 Different Yet Alike: Intercultural Language Learning Irina Braun Chapter Nine.............................................................................................. 81 Generation Y, Digital Game-Based Learning and the Learning of Additional Languages Andrew Blumbergs Chapter Ten ............................................................................................... 90 Boys and Language Education Curtis Hwang Chapter Eleven ........................................................................................ 100 Teaching Japanese to Gifted and Talented Girls Sally Mizoshiri Chapter Twelve ....................................................................................... 111 Multi-Level Classes and Heritage Learners: Teaching Chinese in Metropolitan Sydney Kylie Ha Chapter Thirteen...................................................................................... 120 One Teacher’s Exploration of the Personal and the Professional Jian Lian Liang with Robyn Moloney Chapter Fourteen ..................................................................................... 128 Audio Video Disco: Listening, Watching and Learning, as a Classics Teacher in Australia Emily Matters Chapter Fifteen ........................................................................................ 140 Collaboration Calling: My Crusade to Make Community Languages Mainstream Mala Mehta with Caroline Mahoney

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Chapter Sixteen ....................................................................................... 148 My Story and the Teaching of Arabic Enaam Darido Chapter Seventeen ................................................................................... 158 Eyes Wide Opened Benjamin Gibb Chapter Eighteen ..................................................................................... 167 An Unfinished Journey: Reflecting on Twenty Years of Teaching and Learning Indonesian Kate Reitzenstein Contributors............................................................................................. 176 Index........................................................................................................ 179

FOREWORD

Over the past twenty years there has been a growing interest in the role of narrative in understanding people’s work and lives, and as a tool in research. Narrative is of such interest because of the recognition that our understanding of the world, the actions we take, the decisions we make, the conclusions we reach and the judgments we make, are constructed and mediated through the narratives we share with others. As such, it can be understood as perhaps the most common of human activities. This volume examines narrative specifically in the context of teachers in languages education. It builds on a long history of narrative research in teacher education, culminating most recently with the wisdom of Ivor Goodson (Goodson 2013). Research in this area is of particular value because of the distinctive role of teachers in building the social fabric of society. For teachers of languages it has a particular resonance. Language teaching is an area of learning that focuses not only on the subject matter qua subject matter, but also on the person, the user of language, the communicator reveals. Using narrative in the professional learning of teachers of languages brings to the fore a set of important relationships that are fundamental to teacher learning in languages education, notably: language, culture and learning as the foundational concepts of the learning area; and the fundamental processes in learning within the learning area — narration, identity-formation and learning. These relationships are crucial in languages education, not only for the learners of languages, but also for the professional learning of teachers of languages. They are crucial because they provide the foundation for articulating a set of goals of language learning. These interrelated goals might be described as learning to communicate with others in a way that brings about the reciprocal exchange of meanings; to develop an understanding of the role of language and culture in communicating and in learning; and to develop an understanding of oneself, or one’s identity, as a communicator and learner. Expressed in this way, the goals highlight that learning in languages education is always ‘peopled’. It is learning in a fundamental way about how people communicate: how they tell their narratives in the context of their situation and their culture, and in so doing, how they re-interpret, re-tell and re-examine their lives.

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So what are some of the characteristics and roles of narrative that make it so central? Narrative is understood in many different ways, often described simply as ‘story’. This rendition simplifies to some extent its nature and does not necessarily capture its power. Riessman (2008) describes narrative in the following way: … in everyday oral storytelling, a speaker connects events into a sequence that is consequential for later action and for the meanings that the speaker wants listeners to take away from the story. Events perceived by the speaker as important are selected, organised, connected and evaluated as meaningful for a particular audience. (p.3)

This description highlights that episodes or events are connected in time, and they are assembled and told in particular ways. The connections made foreshadow future action. While referencing the past, they matter for the present and for the future. This means that a narrative is not only an account of the personal, lived experience of a person, but through the process of re-interpretation that is integral to narrating, it becomes a starting point for understanding “the social construction of each person’s subjectivity” (Goodson, 2013, p. 30), that is, what it is that makes them see things and act as they do. Sequence is a defining characteristic of narrative but this sequence is not necessarily best understood as a temporal sequence; narrating involves a reordering that enables people to recreate and re-interpret their own and other people’s experience of the past. The narrative permits two vantage points for the tellers. They present their identity both through the events of the narrative and as tellers of the narrative. It is this dual role that permits the re-interpretation process that is important in learning. It means that people can ‘present themselves’ simultaneously at two time scales: in the time of the narrative and at the time of the telling. This permits the teller to retell the events, with the added value, consciously or not, of also having reflected upon and re-appraised them. The narrative account, then, also includes in its expression through language, the benefit of revealing the significance that the events hold for the teller in the here and now and beyond. Importantly, the narrative is not just told for the teller; it is also told in a way that is meaningful for a particular audience. Narratives are not told outside of their cultural context. They include actions, events, episodes and the historical background and the social and cultural circumstances or what Goodson calls ‘the genealogy of context’ (Goodson, 2013, p. 5). Thus, narrative can be seen not as a one-off event but as a continuous process that captures the whole trajectory of the teller’s experience in a constantly evolving context that structures that

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experience and the re-newed appraisal of and significance attached to that experience. Ricoeur is the philosopher who, perhaps more than others, has reflected most substantively on the temporal aspect of narrative. He developed the idea of ‘narrative identity’ to highlight the way in which narrative is essential for understanding human experience. For Ricoeur (1984) narrative is not just a valuable way of representing our experiences in time to ourselves and others. It actually structures the way people interpret experience of and for themselves in time. He states (1991, p.22): We could say that there are two sorts of time in every story told: on the one hand a discrete succession that is open and theoretically indefinite, a series of incidents (for what we can always pose the question: And then? And then?) on the other hand, the story told presents another temporal aspect characterised by the integration, culmination and closure owing to which the story receives a particular configuration. In this sense, composing a story is, from the temporal point of view, drawing a configuration out of a succession.

The value of narrative is that it puts temporal experience into some kind of order that is meaningful at a particular time and in a particular context. It is this configuration or, rather, the process of configuring, which represents a renewal or revised understanding. Gadamer (2004) highlights the importance of history in a different way. He agrees that history is important in relation to the context, as Goodson indicated, but makes the point that the nature of narrative in peoples’ lives depends on their particular history, language and culture. Gadamer views human identities as historical. People cannot understand who they are without understanding how history, and its narrative configurations, constantly influence them through their language and culture. In this way, narrative has the power to inform people’s understanding of themselves: their whole trajectory of experiences and reflections on the trajectory. Events are lived, then interpreted and reinterpreted over time, as people make sense of their own life experiences and life-worlds and reciprocally those of others. People’s preunderstandings are shaped by their histories, language and culture, and inform how they perceive, judge and make meaning. In narrative, then, the present is always linked to a social and cultural past, constructed and represented through language. Events are weighed up, ordered, and re-considered over time to render an ongoing account that might be understood as coherent and meaningful. In the mental archives of each narrator, the processes of remembering, forgetting and re-interpreting

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operate continuously to form a ‘new’ identity that is always in formation and never finalisable. These characteristic features and description of the role of narrative resonate with contemporary views of learning that recognise not only the need to acquire new knowledge and to participate in communities of users of that knowledge, but that learners, as learners and as people, are always interpreters. Their narrative identities, shaped by their histories, language(s) and culture(s), form the configurations or pre-understandings that influence their judgments. For teachers, it influences their ‘reading’ of learners, of their context, of their own actions and interactions. Narrative provides teachers, as learners, with a natural means through which to interpret their work and that of others, as they construct knowledge about, and make meaning of, their experience through language and the lenses of their own culture. These pre-understandings and their influence may or may not be visible but they are always at work. Teacher learning involves uncovering these pre-understandings. As teachers narrate and re-narrate their teaching and learning experiences, in and through dialogue with others, they begin to explain to others and reveal to themselves (often for the first time) their assumptions, motivations, expectations, judgments and justifications for what they do. It is self-awareness, gained through the power of narrating to others, that provides fertile ground for new learning. In this volume, the narratives told and the process of narrating are diverse, as are the contexts in which the narrators work and live, and the narrators’ life-worlds. They provide valuable accounts of the diverse role that narrative can play in the professional learning of teachers of languages. I hope that in reading these accounts, teachers begin to see the value of narrative and narrating, not as a one-off experience but, rather, as an orientation or stance, (see Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1999; Scarino & Liddicoat, 2009) or as a way of approaching experience and ongoing reflection in their work as teachers and in their lives. Angela Scarino 25 October 2012

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References Cochran-Smith, M. & Lytle, S.L., (1999). The teacher research movement: A decade later. Educational Researcher. 28 (7), 15–25. Gadamer, H-G. (2004). Truth and method. (2nd Rev. Ed.). New York: Continuum. Goodson, I.F. (2013). Developing narrative theory: Life histories and personal representation. London &New York: Routledge. Ricoeur, P. (1984). Time and narrative, (vol.1). (Trans. K. Mclaughlin & D. Pellauer). Chicago: Chicago University Press. —. (1991). Life in quest of narrative. In D. Wood (Ed). On Paul Ricoeur. Narrative and interpretation. London: Routledge. Riessman, C.K. (2008). Narrative methods for the human sciences. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Scarino, A. & Liddicoat, A.J. (2009). Teaching and learning languages: A guide. Melbourne: Curriculum Corporation.

PREFACE

We conceived the idea of this volume towards the end of 2011, as a project which would display and celebrate the diversity of Australian language teachers’ personal and professional experience, the diverse contexts in which they teach, and the pedagogy they develop in those contexts. As we both began our professional careers as trained language teachers for secondary schools, we, like our colleagues in the chapters following, understood the nature of the teacher’s role in language teaching. Yet it was not until we opened up the possibility for our colleagues to share their personal and professional stories, that we realised the extent to which personal narrative and pedagogy are related. We asked seventeen language teachers, at various points in their career, to write up their personal and professional narratives, around a particular targeted issue. When the first narratives arrived, the richness of the material amazed us. In our case, it is our own personal backgrounds, loaded with stories of “other” languages and cultures, that shaped our decisions to move into language teacher education. In that role, it is our desire to prepare up-todate and relevant curriculum grounded both in real practice and in research evidence, for our pre- and in-service colleagues, which has been our inspiration to contribute this book to the literature. In fairness to our contributing colleagues, we offer our own short narratives which have shaped our development as teachers and teacher educators. Our stories, like the chapters which follow, are personal journeys in languages and cultures education. Lesley’s story is rich with instances of friendships and activities that have brought her into contact with languages other than her mother tongue, English. I grew up in Arcadia, in Sydney’s rural northern outskirts, in the 1960s. My father’s family, the Fagan family, had settled there in the late 1800s. One great-great uncle planted orange orchards on his farm, and my great-great grandparents planted summer fruit trees. The rolling hills surrounding the Fagan homestead in Galston, a property called “Netherby”, was also suited to dairy cattle, and the orange orchards were eventually pulled down. But my grandparents and parents kept growing summer fruit, and our farm produced peaches and plums which were sold to the Sydney Markets. In the 1960s the district was essentially a mono-cultural and mono-lingual

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Preface Anglo community. Later there were Italian and Chinese families who moved to the district and planted market gardens. My mother was a member of the local Country Womens Association (CWA) at Galston. Before I began school, I would attend the weekly meetings with her. When Australia’s troops were fighting in Vietnam, the Galston CWA ladies cooked fruitcakes, secured them in baking tins, sewed calico cloth covers for the tins, and posted them to the Australian fighting forces. My earliest memory of “other”, is the excitement in our household when a postcard from Vietnam arrived, addressed to me—a 4 year old— thanking us for sending the cake. My great-great grandmother on my mother’s side had established the first school at Arcadia in her front parlour, along Arcadia Road. In 1965 I was the fourth generation on my mother’s side of the family to attend Arcadia Public School. Our school wasn’t very large, but by the mid-1960s there was an Aboriginal family, a Chinese family and a couple of Italian families attending, alongside the Anglo majority. There might have been 50 children in total enrolled from Kindergarten to Year 6 in those years. My first experience with a language other than English—Italian—was to practise pronouncing all the Italian names of the different foods in my friend, Eleanora’s, lunchbox. This we would do while sitting in the fork of the tree at the front of the school. These moments in my early childhood built more experiences of “other”, and from then on, there were more and more, particularly through school projects for social studies, and learning to sing songs from other world cultures with ABC Radio’s Let’s Join In, the schools radio programs. Other experiences of world languages and cultures continued to punctuate my life. A great aunt went away to live in South Africa. My great aunts Fagan used the word “Java” as the euphemism for the bathroom. More and more children from different countries enrolled at school, and their uncanny ability to converse with each other and with their parents in another language intrigued me. My fascination with Indonesian began from secondary school. I continued loving and learning the language from my first year of secondary school, right through to my study at Sydney University in the late 1970s where I began learning German as well. In 1975 I made my first trip to Bali and Java. As the youngest member of a Scout and Guides Goodwill Tour to Indonesia for three weeks in May of that year, I was the only one with some ability to speak Indonesian. I was only 14 years of age and because I really needed to communicate with new Indonesian friends, I had to develop strategies to communicate which went way beyond those for which my Emanuels and Turner Indonesian For Schools Book 1 textbook had prepared me.

Language Teachers’ Narratives of Practice My life has been punctuated by so many opportunities to experience life through the “lens” of other languages and cultures. There was the time in 1983 when, as the languages teacher at Tennant Creek High School, I received a phone call asking me to assist Northern Territory police with a busload of German tourists. There was also another time in 1986 when, as the accompanying Lecturer in Indonesian for the what is now University of Southern Queensland’s Study Tour to Bali and Java, I communicated in Indonesian with Balinese bus drivers and in German with Dutch tourists. More recently I needed a specific proficiency in Indonesian to express my sincere feelings of gratitude to the Indonesian friends and strangers who helped as my husband and I recovered from being in the J.W. Marriott Hotel when the bomb exploded on 17th July 2009. I have taught Indonesian at primary level at Parkes Public School in the Central West of New South Wales, at secondary level at Tennant Creek High School in the Northern Territory, and at tertiary level at The University of Southern Queensland. I edited Pelangi magazine, published out of the University of Southern Queensland Press for 15 years, and I have recently joined two other Indonesian teachers, Michelle Kohler and AnneMarie Morgan, to co-write Cengage’s new Indonesian textbook series, “Dari Kami Ke Kita”. My husband and I hosted an AFS Exchange Student from Kudus, Central Java, for one year in 1992. For an intensive 12 months, our home was a living language laboratory, as our exchange daughter, Adim Dwi Putranti, learned idiomatic Australian English from us, and in return taught us more about Indonesian language and Javanese culture. What an honour to have suggested the name for her firstborn son and to visit her in Indonesia each year. I truly believe that I have a different identity in my mother tongue English to my Indonesian “self”. My life is totally tangled—in a good way—in the webs woven by international friendships and collaborations. Not an hour of my waking life goes by without some kind of “moment” or “consideration” in another language or culture. I am a “baby boomer” who has learned to know and need “other” in her life through the experiences and opportunities afforded by working in and through other languages and cultures. My husband and I have two daughters, and they, like other Generation Y-ers, expect to keep travelling and meeting various languages and cultures throughout their lives. They appreciate a life punctuated with “other”: in fact I believe “other” equals “regular” for them.

Robyn’s story is similarly rich with tales of languages and cultures. I grew up in Sydney suburb in a 1950s household which identified itself strongly as Angloceltic Australia. My maiden name however, Le Quesne, hails from the Channel Islands. To have a name which was difficult to

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Preface pronounce, in the 1950s marked one as slightly different. I think in retrospect it had some connection with my great affinity with French studies, with German as a companion language, at North Sydney Girls High School. The teaching was largely grammar translation, but my friends and I still remember with great affection the intellectual culture and European life conveyed in the moving poems and short stories we studied in the senior years, equal in adolescent impact to senior English texts. University study of French and German followed, graduating as a young teacher with knowledge of literature but woefully poor oral fluency. Following my first teaching years, in Sydney and Papua New Guinea, I went, with my husband, as an English assistante to a lycée in Paris for nine months. By today’s high expectations as to frequency of travel and level of teacher skills, it is perhaps embarrassing to admit that this was my first overseas trip, and Paris my first immersion experience in French. This involved both the seduction of the baguette, the Metro, the cheap wine and the galleries, but also the terror of authentic language speed and idiom. When ringing Parisian real estate agents to rent a studio flat, the busy receptionist, in bullet speed incomprehensible French, would ask me to hang on (“ne quittez pas”). Such was my panic, I would immediately hang up every time. Yet the pain of this process translates into wonderful gain, and I came away from Paris with a self-image transformed, as a bona fide French teacher. An interest in Japanese had been born, through distance studies in Papua New Guinea, and I pursued this when my children were very small, at an adult Saturday morning college. I completed my Higher School Certificate exams in Japanese and returned to university to extend my knowledge. My first trip to Japan was a life-changer, and I was hooked. While I was still learning, I offered short-term homestay to Japanese students on Australian holidays, to build familiarity and language. In the process, I developed an inkling of how Australia, my home, and I myself, may have appeared to these students. To put bubble-bath in the bath was an alien concept, serving a whole baked chicken carcass on the table reduced one student to tears, while others in embarrassment refused to peg their underwear on our backyard line. Corresponding with the expansion in Japanese in schools in the 1980s, I moved into teaching Japanese. I pay grateful tribute to the group of Japanese teachers both then, and now, as a very generous and collegial professional group. I put my heart into developing resources with this teacher community, and learned a great deal. Many trips to Japan followed, and every time there was more to learn and more friendships consolidated. When in Japan, I realised how Australian I was, how my behaviour, my language and my fluoro yellow parka stood out. I noticed the adaptations I

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made in myself, in language, physical movement and expectations, in order to fit in better myself and to understand people’s behaviour. At International Grammar School, Sydney, I had my first encounter with immersion language learning, truly a revelation of what language education can achieve in young children. I was astonished by the students’ language abilities, as through their daily exposure to units of primary school curriculum in the target language, they showed complete comprehension of their teacher’s language, and acquisition of strong spoken skills. Interest in the nature of students’ intercultural development within this learning lead me to undertake doctoral study at The University of Sydney. This greatly enriched my understanding of the children’s experience, and particularly highlighted the impact of the teachers’ intercultural awareness and modelling. Ironically, while I may have thought I had “intercultural scholar” credentials, a challenge to this hubris lay just ahead. My daughter Annie went as a young anthropologist to work in the Native Title area in Western Australia. She met and married Zabar, a senior Ngalia Lawman (Wati) from the North Eastern Goldfields and Western Desert. Having travelled to Europe and Asia, it was with some shame that we went to Western Australia for the first time, to meet Zabar and his family. My culture shock, in my own country, was equal to any student’s early experience on exchange. We were the white family from Sydney “over east”, with meagre knowledge of Aboriginal culture or language. This experience redefined me as not just Australian, but an Angloceltic, white, east coast Australian, whose first language is English, with middle class values, and expectations of being treated well by justice and health systems. My family’s ongoing relationship with the various Aboriginal communities in which Annie and Zabar have lived, has greatly expanded and enriched us in many ways. It has committed me also to raising awareness in my preservice teachers, as Australian language educators, of the teaching and revitalisation programs in Aboriginal languages, and the significance of primary school bilingual education in mother tongue for Aboriginal children in remote areas.

We know that the stories in our book will resonate with language teachers. It is human nature to compare one’s own experiences with the experiences of others, and we know that pre- and in-service language teachers will identify and see similarities and differences, have their practice confirmed, or develop new knowledge. The Next Gens in our classrooms may have vicarious international experiences, as their social networking and mobile technology keep them interfacing across space and time. However, we, like our colleagues in this book, believe strongly that the teacher of languages and cultures still plays

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a vital role in mediating intercultural experiences. Our skills in that mediation come from our critical awareness of our narratives. Our acknowledgements go to Carol Koulikardi at Cambridge Scholars Publishing who has encouraged our book idea from the start and who has been supportive of our progress in getting to publication stage. To our editing assistant, Mercurius Goldstein, we appreciate your double contribution to our book. To our families, we thank you for helping us become language teachers, language teacher educators and re-tellers of the stories of the Australian languages and cultures classrooms. In particular, however, we wish to sincerely thank—in all their respective languages—the wonderful teachers who have shared their stories here. These amazing teachers are just a handful of their much larger profession who are committed and passionate practitioners and who are role models for new generations of language teachers. We are deeply appreciative to our writers for their involvement with reflective practice in this form, and for their courage and openness. Thanks to them, we believe that Language Teachers’ Narratives of Practice tells us more about how language teachers learn, think, and teach. We celebrate our colleagues’ professionalism across the many contexts in which they sustain excellence in language learning. We invite our readers’ engagement. Lesley Harbon and Robyn Moloney Sydney, 1 October 2012

ABBREVIATIONS

ABC ACARA AEF AFMLTA AISWA AITSL AIYEP CLIL DGBL ELTF ESL ICT ILTLP LBOTE LOTE MESS MILE NALSSP NEST NET NNEST NSW HSC PCK SSCL TESOL

Australian Born Chinese Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority Asia Education Foundation Australian Federation of Modern Language Teachers’ Associations Association of Independent Schools, Western Australia Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership Australia Indonesia Youth Exchange Program Content and Language Integrated Learning Digital Games-Based Learning Endeavour Language Teacher Fellowships English as a Second Language Information Communications Technology Intercultural Language Teaching and Learning in Practice Language Background Other than English Languages Other than English Mathematics, English, Society and the Environment and Science Masters in Indigenous Language Education National Asian Languages and Studies in Schools Programs Native English Speaker Teacher Native English Teacher Non-Native English Speaker Teacher New South Wales Higher School Certificate Pedagogical Content Knowledge Saturday School of Community Languages Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION: LANGUAGE TEACHERS AND THEIR NARRATIVES LESLEY HARBON AND ROBYN MOLONEY

Envisioning this Book Language Teachers’ Narratives of Practice is a collection of eighteen essays that examine personal and professional stories of, and by, language teachers in diverse Australian contexts. The voices of twenty-one Australian language teachers in all, describe teachers’ own linguistic and cultural, personal and professional narratives, and how each narrative has informed the construction of their classroom language teaching practice to suit their teaching contexts. In compiling this volume, our purpose has been to contribute to the language education professional discourse in three ways. Our first purpose was to showcase and value the “heart”: the “who”, rather than the “what”, of our professional practice. We are encouraged today to consider and design learning which relates to the life-worlds (Gee, 2002; Scarino, 2008) of our students, and the need for developing relationships between learning and life-world. Not a lot is known of the life-worlds of language teachers, and the relationship between their life, their learning and their classroom. Nic Craith (2012), who mentions the “in-between” aspect of people’s worlds, has us therefore consider language teachers and their mission to bring two or more worlds together. We believe, like Freeman and Richards (1996, p. 1), that “in order to better understand language teaching, we need to know more about language teachers: what they do, how they think, and how they learn”. Language teachers’ very individual personal development has been shaped by their acquisition of their languages, variously through study, exchange, immigration, heritage or family background. They have chosen

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Chapter One

to place that investment in language and culture as the focus of their professional role. Through the examination of personal narrative, their acquired unique body of learning experience becomes visible as a professional resource (Kramsch, 1987; Moloney, 2010). We see how teachers make individual responses to emerging pedagogies, developed through the lens of their personal experience and understanding of language and culture. It is the “who” dynamic which is going to lead us into the next period of change in Australian languages education. Our second purpose was to make visible the diversity within the Australian language teaching context. Revitalisation projects in Aboriginal languages, the growth and energy of community language schools, adaptation to local needs in rural schools, shifts in pedagogy, resilience in the face of adversity, and the diversity of modern and classical languages on offer in schools, all reflect aspects of a country rich in culture and languages. Michael Clyne wrote in 2005 that “we should be a nation of great linguists” (Clyne, 2005, p.65). The small sample of stories about language in this book celebrates a microcosm of the energy and creativity of language teachers across Australia, each single-handedly dedicated to realising Clyne’s imperative in their own school contexts. Finally, we believe that in offering this collection of narratives, we have achieved our third purpose: that is, to create a new resource for use in a professional development context, for pre-service teachers, in-service teachers, tertiary teacher educators and researchers. This resource will serve as a practical text for teachers to draw on, to extend their own professional knowledge and classroom practice in relevant, useful and diverse areas. The narratives can be examined as case studies of teacher identity and life-worlds, development of pedagogies, intercultural learning, and the differentiation and adaptation needed in particular environments, within a diverse environment such as Australia.

The Narrative Form Each essay opens with a focus on personal biography and gently develops into a focus on either one particular issue or a series of related issues, selected as important to the authors themselves. These personal and professional narratives blend with notions inherent in contemporary languages education and language teacher professional learning. Teachers explore and identify the values which shape their professional practice. Language Teachers’ Narratives of Practice sits alongside a number of recent publications which have focused on the use of reflective narrative as an important tool in teacher education (Blake, 2012; Johnston & Golombek,

Introduction

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2002; Kiernan, 2010; Mattos, 2009; Ritchie & Wilson, 2000; Trahar, 2011). This volume also offers diverse exemplars of the effectiveness of this methodological research field. The narratives in the essays can be considered to be “opening a window” to different ways of viewing language teacher experience. The narratives allow readers to access lived practice and pedagogy, both in school languages education and teacher professional learning contexts. The language teachers’ stories deconstruct the teachers’ linguistic and cultural backgrounds in a manner which is both accessible and sourced to the scholarly literature. The teachers write about their professional passions, and their responses to particular pedagogic contexts or issues. The rationale behind this endeavour has been the idea that narrative can be a conceptual lens through which a discipline can be examined and re-examined. Sercu (2006) has described the value of language teachers developing a new professional identity in order to be effective and reflective facilitators of language learning. This is best developed in teachers “taking part themselves in learning experiences which involve risk and reflection” (Byram, Gribkova & Starkey, 2002, p. 30). Byram et al (2002) have encouraged teachers to see this work as significant in their professional development. The writing of self-narrative is an exercise in risk and reflection. If our narratives are “central to what we see and how we interpret it” (Gipps, 1999, p. 370), then the use of narrative to unlock this learning in language teachers is a powerful tool in their development in critical perspective on pedagogy and practice. What should be the nature of language teacher development? Schwarz (2001, p. 37) argues that teacher development should be “humanistic, constructivist, and should recognise and encourage teachers’ voices … built on teacher lore or story”. By humanistic, Schwarz refers to “attending to teachers… as unique, significant, and whole human beings” (2001, p. 41). As regards constructivist, she indicates the importance of teachers building new understandings with peers. She borrows Hargraves’ words (1994, cited in Schwarz, 2001, p. 44) to describe how capturing teachers’ voices actually acknowledges “their feelings for and in their work”. We are strongly of the opinion that bringing these teachers’ narratives together in this volume addresses all those notions suggested by Schwarz as essential in teacher development. Allowing these teachers to explore their own stories acknowledges these teachers as individuals with worthy stories to share, with stories to share with peers, allowing their feelings to show. Thus, these language teachers’ narratives are offered as a specific resource for language teacher development and research, providing fertile exemplars

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for teachers and scholars to identify and critically evaluate teacher development and the modelling they provide to school learners. The genesis of the book was driven by our belief that there are many roads travelled in the journey to become a language teacher, and even when the teacher can be considered to have “arrived”, they soon find there are many more roads to be travelled as they seek to refine their teaching. For a number of years scholars have investigated teachers’ decisions to remain in, or leave the teaching profession (Borman & Dowling, 2008; Macdonald, 1999). One stream of findings shows a strong relationship between retention in service, motivation to teach and professional engagement. In this vein, we believe that through exploring language teachers’ personal and professional narratives, we can see the “heart” of language teachers’ motivations to pursue their professional goals which may keep them in the profession. When reading these essays it is remarkably clear that “people-topeople links” are at the “heart” of these teachers’ life-worlds (Dahlberg, Dahlberg & Nystrom, 2007). For language teachers in particular, personal narrative investigation serves a specific professional role. It is a rich aid in helping teachers understand the importance of their own personal cultural and linguistic experience, and reflective ways of knowing, as they expand their practice as teachers of this same experience to language learners. These narratives allow a glimpse into the “internal landscape” (Palmer, 1998), of what is normally the private world of the language teacher. Australia’s languages education has been described in the past as being at a “crossroads” (see Nicholas, Moore, Clyne & Pauwels, 1993). With the much-expected introduction of a national curriculum (see the timelines for the development of the Australian Curriculum Languages at http://www. acara.edu.au), Australian language teachers find themselves yet again involved in impending change. In their usual way, language teachers will embrace change and develop new practices through the informal sharing of narratives.

Metaphors for Experience In our own readings of these essays, we have particularly noticed the way that language teachers’ “knowings” (Moran, 2001) and “inner landscapes” (Jensen, 2006, p. 5) are depicted through their use of metaphor. Metaphors, or “the means by which one thing is described in terms of something else” (Cameron & Low, 1999, p.x) are in all aspects of our lives and used in the discourse of many professions. Metaphors “feature our thinking and our discourse, the basis of the conceptual systems by . . .

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which we understand and act within our worlds” (Taylor, 1984, p. 5). In their seminal work on metaphor, Lakoff and Johnson (1980) proposed that thought itself is structured metaphorically. Research into the use of metaphors has shown that people employ metaphor for strictly communicative purposes (eg. compactness, vividness), to help them explain ordinary experience and even abstract ideas (Gibbs, 1999, p. 44). We use metaphors both to make sense of reality and to label or situate the problems we later try to solve. Metaphor becomes a perspective or frame, or “a way of looking at things” (Schön, 1979, cited in Block, 1999, p. 135). Teachers are known to frame and express aspects of their personal and professional lives through simile, idiomatic expressions (Gibbs, 1999, p. 30) and the language of metaphor (Clandinin & Connelly, 1992; Elbaz, 1983; Marshall, 1990; Munby & Russell, 1990; Taylor, 1984). Teachers use metaphors both explicitly and implicitly to identify for themselves what they actually experience, to add dramatic effect, to express the meaning more concisely, to invite interaction, to organise systematic concepts, to transform images into models, and to organise their interpretation of learning (Cortazzi & Jin, 1999, pp. 160–161). Through analysis of teacher metaphors, teachers' beliefs and attitudes can be accessed to explore how they structure their practical knowledge (Elbaz, 1983, p. 22). One outcome we hope for from this volume is expressed thus by Cortazzi and Jin (1999, p. 150): Metaphors may also have a useful function in teaching, by helping to raise learners' awareness of key concepts, models and issues. Similarly, raising teachers' awareness of their own metaphors may help them to reflect on their own experience and to develop professionally.

Research has variously reported teachers in general describing themselves as conduits/conductors (Clandinin & Connelly, 1992, p. 370); as authorities, caregivers, directors, captives, party hosts, people on trial, and as agents of change (Marchant, 1992); as dispensers and catalysts (Hunter, 1999); as coaches (Stellwagen, 1997); as saintly facilitators, comedians or misers (Tobin, 1990); and as social order reconstructivists, cultural transmitters, learner focus motivators and social reformists (Oxford, Tomlinson, Barcelos, Harrington, Lavine, Saleh & Longhini, 1998). Language teachers have also been observed in previous research to describe their practice through the use of metaphors (Harbon, 2000) such as “angels bearing gifts from strange lands”. While all the metaphors listed above may not be represented in the language teacher narratives in this volume, we invite readers to reflect on

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the choice of metaphors captured here, and how they represent images of teacher effort to deconstruct their personal and professional narratives. The image of a reflective journey is used by Coleen Sherratt, for her work with her Noongar language, by Kate Reitzenstein, for her intellectual journey with Indonesian, and by Kylie Farmer, for her association with immersion language education. Tracey Cameron portrays the expansion of Gamilaraay language learning as ripples on a pond when a pebble is dropped in. Irina Braun, like other teachers, talks about the tools she utilizes in her language lessons. Fire and ignition are used by both Sally Mizoshiri and Melissa Gould-Drakeley to refer to their passion for their students’ learning. New eyes, focus and vision metaphors are used by Benjamin Gibb, Andrew Blumbergs and Melissa Gould-Drakeley to capture their discoveries, and perceptions of what they want to achieve. A number of teachers use the mountain metaphor for the scale of the language learning task. Curtis Hwang sees some aspects of his professional role as being an advocate or a salesman. Mercurius Goldstein describes his efforts to bridge the cultural abyss in his environment. Jen McKendry mentions how students in her German classes have lightbulb moments as they realise how language parts fit together. Kylie Ha speaks of the secret art of teaching, as though there is something mystical in teaching languages. Jian Lian Liang alludes to the metaphors in Chinese proverbs to identify important points in her language teaching narrative. Mala Mehta talks of being a pioneer in teaching Hindi. Emily Matters details the revolution in classics teaching. Enaam Darido describes her multi-tasking as a busy mother and teacher as juggling the pressures. The diversity of metaphors is striking and indicates specific aspects of each teacher’s narrative. We believe that these teachers’ stories and their use of metaphors can assist others to extract the essential meaning of the complexities of language teaching processes, thus depicting clearer pictures of practice (Sato & Kleinsasser, 1997). These writers are modeling the practice of making explicit their cultural values, social ideals and personal concerns (Feldman, 1998, p. 63). If readers engage with the “unpacking”, or deconstruction and analysis of metaphors, further insight into the teachers’ thinking can be accessed, and this can provide the catalyst for professional reflection.

Teacher Modeling Language pedagogy today asks teachers to model the ability to elicit, construct and contribute to critical thinking about language and culture,

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together with their students, in many different geographical and cultural contexts (Scarino, 2000). In this volume we read how the language teachers believe they have been developing and modeling the skills which they need to meet pedagogical needs in those contexts. Through their essays we see language teachers discovering deeper critical observation of themselves and their relationships with their own language(s) and culture(s) (Kramsch, 1987). It has been established that the modeling of teachers’ own awareness underpins all intercultural development in their students (De Mejia, 2002; Jokikokko, 2005; Kramsch, 1987; Liddicoat, Papademetre, Scarino, & Kohler, 2003; Moloney, 2008; Ryan 1998). The self-awareness of the language teacher has been shown to be active in shaping many aspects of teacher classroom behaviour, such as incidental anecdotes in class and interactions with students (Moloney & Harbon, 2010), design of tasks, and being curious about similarities and differences across cultures. Bearing in mind Palmer’s (1998) question, “who is the self that teaches?”, and Sapp’s (2001) answer that “we teach who we are”, essentially, this volume supports the notion that in one sense we cannot teach intercultural learning, we have to be the intercultural learners ourselves (Moloney, 2010).

An Overview of the Narratives In inviting these language teachers to share their personal and professional stories, we posed a set of questions. The questions were designed to allow differing responses to highlight different stories. Through our targeted invitations, we also hoped that the narratives would draw out key issues and concerns, that would then provide discussion starting points for teacher professional learning sessions. It is customary in such a volume to sort chapters into themes or groupings. After a number of attempts, we came to the conclusion that this would be an artificial endeavour which would detract from the unique nature of each piece. Although the voices may in a sense be “singing a story together”, they are each singing an individual version of the story. We are proud to include Coleen Sherratt’s and Tracey Cameron’s chapters on their learning, teaching and lived experience of their Aboriginal languages, Noongar and Gamilaraay respectively, as the first chapters in our volume. They each convey in their own contexts, the unique place which language fulfils for them in representing and restoring identity and relationship with country. It is imperative that all Australian language teachers know of the first languages of their own country, and

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the role that language revitalisation projects play in the redevelopment of community identity and pride, and their alignment with better educational, health and social outcomes. It is also important that Australian teachers recognise the multilingual abilities of many Aboriginal children, who move between languages and cultures on a daily basis. Cities are privileged environments in many ways, when it comes to language teaching and learning. City schools have taken-for-granted access to educational resources, cultural contexts, and native speakers. They often also promote, through media, and employment opportunities, positive social attitudes to language learning that may be absent in rural centres. Mercurius Goldstein presents at once a humorous and heartbreaking portrayal of life in Glen Innes, 600 kilometres north of Sydney. Both his compassion for his students, and his mission to unseat local prejudice through stimulating Japanese language education and enquiry, are clear. A pedagogy which is attracting support in various regions of Australia, is known variously as bilingual, immersion, and Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). Modeled originally on the Canadian immersion learning model of the 1960s, these school programs continue to show students’ capacity and appetite for language learning. A leader in this field in primary language education, is Kylie Farmer, who has been associated with the Japanese program at Huntingdale Primary School in Victoria, and with teacher development nationally. Kylie has written of the intersection between her own linguistic development and the development of the pedagogy, and her role now in supporting the further development of these programs. CLIL is also popular in a number of Queensland schools. Jen McKendry, Ulla Freihofner and Simone Smala have written of a secondary German program, with their multiple voices reflecting both native and non-native speaker perspectives. The most significant development in Australian language pedagogy in the last 20 years has been the growth of an intercultural approach to language learning. It underpins the conceptual framework of the Australian Curriculum: Languages (ACARA, 2011) and has been the focus of a number of teacher professional development initiatives. This approach has challenged many teachers at both the personal and professional levels, and has called upon new skills. Melissa GouldDrakeley has been a national leader in this approach. Her chapter is a moving account of her experience pioneering the intercultural approach to Indonesian language programming, and her perceptions of students’ learning outcomes. Multilingual Irina Braun sees her own intercultural “self” as part of the fabric of her language teaching, in developing an

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intercultural approach through her use of enquiry questions in her Spanish and French classrooms. Online tools and resources have changed the worldview, and the toolbox, of languages pedagogy. In all languages, innovative pedagogy today includes the use of a wide variety of new technologies, to take advantage of new resources, to motivate and to support students’ recall through visual learning. Andrew Blumbergs’ chapter on his use of gaming in German teaching is a strong example of this field. Andrew brings his technical expertise, and sense of possibilities to his teaching, in order to create relevance to students’ lives. Nationally, in both language classrooms, and the language teaching profession, females outnumber males. Curtis Hwang explores the relationship between boys and language learning, and “what works” in energising and motivating boys in the language classroom. Sally Mizoshiri inspires us with an examination of language learning’s special potential to extend Gifted and Talented students. She extends the scope of her students’ grasp of language acquisition and real-life use, together with the creativity and critical thinking that she actively promotes as part of their language curriculum. There is ongoing rhetoric and attention to the teaching of Chinese in Australia, and the particular challenges it throws up (Moloney, 2013; Xu & Moloney, 2010). These include development of pedagogy to support the linguistic challenge for Australian learners, and to address the need for differentiated Chinese learning. Australian classrooms contain many heritage learners of Chinese, diverse in their language and cultural backgrounds. Kylie Ha recounts her experiences and “what works” for her in this situation of the multi-level Chinese class. Much greater research knowledge is needed of the pedagogy used in Chinese classrooms (Orton, 2008, 2011), and the cultural values of the teachers, which shape beliefs and practice. Jian Lian Liang and Robyn Moloney offer Jian Lian’s autoethnographic reflection on the shaping of her teaching values from her childhood and education in Southern China. Balancing the intersection of the personal and professional, Jian Lian connects her values to her ongoing effort to adapt her teaching practice to the Australian multicultural primary Chinese classroom. The study of classics in Australia has a rich history, profiled by Emily Matters in her narrative, Audio, Video, Disco, detailing the energy, creativity and originality in classics teaching today, and what it brings to students. Emily traces the phases of Classics studies in Australian schools, through decline, renewal, and currently, what she calls “selective stability”.

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Australian classrooms are full of children whose multilingual abilities are developed through weekend language learning. The Community Language Movement flourishes in Australia. It includes, for example, in New South Wales, Saturday Schools set up by the Department of Education and Community, and parent-run community language schools supported by limited government funding. One of the latter is the Indo Australian Bal Bharathi Vidyalaya (IABBV) Hindi School, run with enormous energy by Mala Mehta. Mala and Caroline Mahoney present the story of Mala’s passion for teaching Hindi at her school. Three personal narratives follow, and show what it is, not only to develop, but to remain in service, as a language teacher. Enaam Darido relates her childhood in Lebanon, playing with children from neighbourhood Armenian families. She identifies the sharing of language, food and culture as a core formative experience. Enaam writes that from her first day as a language teacher, “I knew I had found my passion for life”. But she has grown this passion in very practical ways by finding solutions to the challenges of Arabic teaching, which she lists as lack of suitable resources, multiple level teaching and differences within the formal and colloquial Arabic spoken in classes. Enaam describes how she has gone about expanding her understanding, knowledge and skills to continue in service as a dedicated teacher. Educated in Sydney, Benjamin Gibb is a young teacher of Japanese who portrays the intercultural transformation and identity development that he has experienced from in-country experience in Japan. Benjamin writes that for him, this is the key factor in what he believes he can give to students, and which motivates his ongoing commitment to teaching: “it is about developing your own identity between two cultures, and seeing both with new eyes. For me, it was finding myself in another culture that kept and keeps me doing what I do today.” Aptly concluding the volume is Kate Reitzenstein’s narrative, a study in language teacher resilience. She documents her still unfinished journey in learning and teaching Indonesian in Western Australia. Indonesian is a language which has declined in its representation in schools, and in candidature at Australian matriculation levels. Kate profiles the tools and attitudes which have brought her success and perseverance in building outstanding Indonesian programs in schools. Although not research as such, this book is a form of enquiry, and contributes to research understanding of teacher development. Each teacher reading it will construct their own interpretation of the narratives. The narratives represent qualitative enquiry, claimed by Wardekker (2000), as having a “generative power” rather than transferability or

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generalisability. Enquiry has the “power to enlighten people by making them really understand the narratives that were the object of the study” (Wardekker, 2000, p. 266). This can then lead to an understanding of the change processes in a specific situation, which creates a “potential for learning and change” (Wardekker, 2000, p. 269). The narratives in this book cannot be generalised into the experiences of all teachers, yet may be seen to contribute powerfully to the construction of a complex, “multiple”, picture of teacher identity. Differences between the seventeen narratives clearly arise from teachers’ place of birth, education, linguistic and cultural backgrounds, global travels, place of work and classroom composition. The differences are balanced however by the surprising commonalities which emerge, in both their personal and professional narratives. Their personal narratives are frequently marked by a common sense of transformation which teachers ascribe to their own language learning, by common values, and by their belief in what language learning brings to students’ lives. They share the emotional experiences of languages learning (Nic Craith, 2012, p. 26) and they mention their passion for their work and their students. These narrative stories encourage others to “belong” (Nic Craith, 2012, p. 126) to a wider network of professionals who are caring individuals devoted to a love of languages.

References Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2011, November). The shape of the Australian curriculum: Languages. Sydney: Author. Retrieved from www.acara.edu.au Blake, P. W. (2012). Becoming a teacher: Using narrative as reflective practice. A cross-disciplinary approach (Counterpoints: Studies in the Postmodern Theory of Education). New York: Peter Lang Publishing. Block, D. (1999). Who framed SLA research? Problem framing and metaphoric accounts of the SLA research process. In L. Cameron & G. Low, (Eds.). Researching and applying metaphor. (pp. 135–148). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Borman, G.D. & Dowling, N.M. (2008). Teacher attrition and retention: A meta-analytic and narrative review of the research. Review of Educational Research, 78 (3), 367–409. Byram, M., Gribkova, B., & Starkey, H. (2002). Developing the intercultural dimension in language teaching. A practical introduction for teachers. Council of Europe. Retrieved from http://languagecenter.cornell.edu/director/intercultural.pdf

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Cameron, L. (1999). Operationalising “metaphor” for applied linguistic research. In L. Cameron & G. Low, (Eds.). Researching and applying metaphor. (pp. 3–28). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Cameron, L. & Low, G. (1999). (Eds.) Researching and applying metaphor. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Clandinin, D.J. & Connelly, F.M. (1992). Teacher as curriculum maker. In P.W. Jackson, (Ed.). Handbook of research on curriculum. (pp. 363– 401). New York: Macmillan Publishing Company. Clyne, M. (2005). Australia’s language potential. Sydney: University of New South Wales Press. Cortazzi, M. & Jin, J. (1999). Bridges to learning: Metaphors of teaching, learning and language. In L. Cameron & G. Low (Eds.). Researching and applying metaphor. (pp.149–176). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Dahlberg, K., Dahlberg, H. & Nystrom, M. (2008). Reflective lifeworld research (2nd Ed.). Lund, Sweden: Studentlitteratur. De Mejia, A. (2002). Power, prestige and bilingualism: International perspectives on elite bilingual education. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Elbaz, F. (1983). Teacher thinking: A study of practical knowledge. London: Croom Helm. Feldman, P. (1998). The role of narrative in developing critical language awareness: Multiple writings and classroom discourse, South African Journal of African Languages, 6 (2), 56–64. Freeman, D., & Richards, J.C. (1996). Teacher learning in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Gee, J.P. (2002). Discourses at School. In D.C.S. Li (Ed.) Discourses in search of members: in honour of Ron Scollon (pp.79–101) Lanham, MD: University Press of America. Gibbs, R.W. (1999). Researching Metaphor. In L. Cameron & G. Low, (Eds.). Researching and applying metaphor. (pp. 29–47). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Gipps, C.B. (1999). Sociocultural aspects of assessment. Review of Research in Education. 24, 370. Harbon, L. (2000, August 11-12). Angels bearing gifts from strange lands: Primary LOTE teachers in Tasmanian government primary schools, 1996–1998. Plenary presentation at The Modern Language Teachers’ Association of Tasmania (MLTAT) Biennial Conference, University of Tasmania, Launceston. Harbon, L. & Moloney, R. (2013, in press). Language teachers and learners interpreting the world: identifying intercultural development in

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language classroom discourse. In F. Dervin & A.J. Liddicoat, Linguistics for intercultural language learning. (pp. 139–159). London: John Benjamins. Hunter, J. (1999, December 2–5). Preparing future Australian citizens: a primary school teacher's story. Paper presented at Australian Association of Research in Education Annual Conference, Melbourne. Jensen, D.F.N. (2006). Metaphors as a bridge to understanding educational and social contexts. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 5 (1), Article 4. Retrieved from http://www.ualberta.ca/~iiqm/backissues/5_1/pdf/jensen.pdf Johnston K.E. & Golombek P.R. (2002). Teachers’ narrative inquiry as professional development (Series, Cambridge Language Education) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Jokikokko, K. (2005). Interculturally trained Finnish teachers’ conceptions of diversity and intercultural competence. Intercultural Education, 16(1), 69–83. Kiernan, P. (2010). Narrative identity in English language teaching: Exploring teacher interviews in Japanese and English. Melbourne, Vic: Palgrave MacMillan. Kramsch, C. (1987). Foreign language textbooks’ construction of foreign reality. The Canadian Modern Language Review/ La Revue canadienne des langues vivantes, 44(1), 95–119. Lakoff, G. & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Liddicoat, A. J., Papademetre, M., Scarino, A., & Kohler, M. (2003). Report on Intercultural Language Learning. Canberra: Department of Education Science and Training, Australian Government. Macdonald, D. (1999). Teacher attrition: a review of literature. Teaching and Teacher Education, 15, 835–848. Marchant, G.J. (1992). A teacher is like a...: Using simile lists to explore personal metaphors. Language and Education, 6 (1), 33–45. Marshall, H.H. (1990). Metaphor as an instructional tool in encouraging student teacher reflection. Theory into Practice, 29 (2), 128–132. Mattos, A.M.A. (2009). Narratives on teaching and teacher education: an international perspective. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Moloney, R. (2013, in press). Native speaker teachers of Chinese and the “gap to jump”: Bridging to intercultural pedagogy. Language Culture and Curriculum 25 (3). —. (2010). Understanding our role in intercultural language learning: Snapshots of change in languages teachers. Proceedings of the NZALT

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biennial international conference The New Zealand Language Teacher. 36, 35–38. —. (2008). Young language learners and their intercultural competence. Saarbrucken: VDM Verlag Dr. Mueller. Moloney, R. & Harbon, L. (2010a) Student performance of intercultural language learning. Electronic Journal of Foreign Language teaching. 7 (2), 177–192. Retrieved from http://e-flt.nus.edu.sg/v7n22010/moloney.htm Moloney, R., & Harbon, L. (2010b). Making intercultural language visible and assessable. In B. Dupuy & L. Waugh (Eds.). Proceedings of the Second International Conference on the Development and Assessment of Intercultural Competence, (pp. 281–303), Tucson, Arizona. Retrieved from http://cercll.arizona.edu/ICConference2010 Moran, P.R. (2001). Teaching culture: Perspectives in practice. Scarborough, Ontario: Heinle & Heinle. Munby, H. & Russell, T. (1990). Metaphor in the study of teachers’ professional knowledge. Theory into Practice, 29 (2), 116–121. Nic Craith, M. (2012). Narratives of place, belonging and language: An intercultural perspective. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Nicholas, H., Moore, H., Clyne., & Pauwels, A. (1993). Languages at the crossroads: The report of the national enquiry into the employment and supply of teachers of languages other than English. Melbourne: The Australian Advisory Council on Languages and Multicultural Education and The National Languages and Literacy Institute of Australia Ltd. (Nicholas Report) Nunan, D. & Choi, J. (2010). Language and culture. London: Routledge. Orton, J. (2008). Report on Chinese Education in Australian Schools. University of Melbourne. —. (2011). Educating Chinese Language teachers: Some fundamentals. In L. Tsung & K. Cruickshank, (Eds.), Teaching and learning Chinese in global contexts, (pp. 151–164). London: Continuum. Oxford, R.L., Tomlinson, S., Barcelos, A., Harrington, C., Lavine, R.Z., Saleh, A., & Longhini, A. (1998). Clashing metaphors about classroom teachers: toward a systematic typology for the language teaching field. System, 26 (1) 3–50. Palmer, P. J. (1998). The courage to teach: Exploring the inner landscape of a teacher’s life. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers. Ritchie, J. S. & Wilson, D.E. (2000). Teacher narrative as critical inquiry: Rewriting the script (Practitioner Inquiry Series) New York: Columbia University Teachers College Press.

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Ryan, P. (1998). Cultural knowledge and foreign language teachers: A case study of a native speaker of English and a native speaker of Spanish. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 11(2), 135–153. Sapp, J. (2001). The interconnection between personal liberation and social change. Multicultural Education, 9 (1), 16–22. Sato, K. & Kleinsasser, R.C. (1997, December 2). Multiple data sources: Converging and diverging conceptualizations of LOTE teaching. Paper presented at the Australian Association for Research in Education Conference, Brisbane. Scarino, A. (2000). The neglected goals of language learning. Babel, 3, 4– 11. Scarino, A. (2008). Reconceptualising learning programs for inter-cultural language learning. Babel, 43 (1), 7–9, 35, 38. Schwarz, G. (2001). Using teacher narrative research in teacher development. The Teacher Educator, 37 (1), 37–48. Sercu, L. (2006). The foreign language and intercultural competence teacher: The acquisition of a new professional identity. Intercultural Education, 17 (1), 55–72. Stellwagon, J.B. (1997). The teacher as coach: re-thinking a popular educational paradigm. The Clearing House, 70 (5), 271–274. Taylor, W. (1984). Metaphors of educational discourse. In W. Taylor, (Ed.). Metaphors in education. (pp. 4–20). London: Heinemann. Tobin, K. (1990). Changing metaphors and beliefs: A master switch for teaching. Theory into Practice, 29 (2), 122–127. Trahar, S. (2011). (Ed.) Learning and teaching narrative enquiry: travelling in the borderlands. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Wardekker, W.L. (2000). Criteria for the quality of inquiry. Mind, Culture and Activity, 7 (4), 259–272. Xu, H.L. & Moloney, R. (2011). Perceptions of IWB pedagogy in the teaching of Chinese. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 27 (2), 307–325.

CHAPTER TWO LEARNING AND TEACHING AN AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL LANGUAGE IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA COLEEN SHERRATT

Kaya, nganyang kwerl Coleen. Hello, my name is Coleen. Ngany Noongar Wadjak yok. I am a Noongar Wadjak woman. Yoowart Noongar moort-ak, yoowart kaadatj ngany djoorabiny Noongar waangkan maar koorliny. For non-Noongar people, I am happy to be writing about Noongar language.

As an Aboriginal person, I never thought I would have the opportunity to learn the language of my mother, Noongar. My mother was one of the Stolen Generation children at the age of three. In the early 1950s Aboriginal people were forbidden to speak their own languages, especially in Government institutions. It was at this time that language loss affected my family, as my mother grew up not knowing her own language. I began working with the Department of Education Western Australia as an Aboriginal and Islander Education Officer (AIEO) in 1999. In 2000 I was given the opportunity to learn to teach Noongar language in the school where I was working. I was excited, as I had only heard Noongar language being spoken a handful of times. Through the Department of Education I could learn to teach Noongar. There are many different Aboriginal languages in Australia, and the area to which the language belongs is the only place it can be taught. For example, Noongar can only be taught in Noongar country (Southwest region of Western Australia), Wajarri in the Murchison area (Midwest region of Western Australia), and Wangkatja in the Goldfields area of Western Australia. This means that as a Noongar language teacher I can only teach my language in Noongar country. Anyone may learn an

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Aboriginal language but they are not permitted to teach it if they are not of that language speaking group or in that area. There was only one problem, however, with learning to teach Noongar. I couldn’t speak the language! How could I teach the language without knowing the language? This soon became on-the-job training, thanks to a very small group of Elders willing to teach a group of us how to speak Noongar, and a mentor who agreed to teach language in the school at which I was working. With Noongar language still in a process of revitalisation, and as a new language speaker and teacher in training, I was very nervous to teach at first. There was no one to confer with when I was practising my new language. When I began the training I really felt out of place, as I didn’t have the knowledge of my Aboriginal background to the same extent that others in training knew theirs. I didn’t know exactly where my ancestors came from, apart from the fact that they were Noongar. I didn’t know the dialect of Noongar that I was supposed to speak, as my mother knew none of it. This is the way that language and information are meant to be handed down from generation to generation. I really felt that I needed to know about the past, in order to move forward. At one point it was so difficult that I felt that I couldn’t continue. A friend, however, encouraged me to stick with it for a bit longer. After about a year I had learned so much and I was very glad I had stuck with the training. The longer I stayed with it, the more my past came to me. If I hadn’t listened to my wise friend I would not have learned of my Aboriginal ancestry and my Noongar language. Elders and older people I met while I was in training helped me make my connections and assisted me with all the past knowledge I needed. At the end of my training I felt like a completely different person, compared to the person I had been when I started out. I felt I could teach my language and culture with confidence and be very proud of the fact that I was now assisting with the revitalisation of Noongar language, my mother’s language. When teaching an Aboriginal language it is vital to have the support of the school, the teaching staff and the Aboriginal community, for the program to be successful and to remain sustainable. The Elders’ knowledge of language, culture and the Dreaming is invaluable, not only to the students, but also to the teacher. Involving Elders in the program is highly recommended and gives the language program the immersion that is necessary for students to learn and understand the Aboriginal language being taught. In 2002 I graduated as an Aboriginal languages teacher of Noongar. I began working with the Department of Education Western Australia as an

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Aboriginal & Islander Education Officer (AIEO) in 1999, and qualified as an Aboriginal languages teacher for Noongar in 2002. I completed a Bachelor of Education in 2007 and I now work as a Project Officer for Aboriginal Languages. In this current position I co-present the Aboriginal Languages Teacher Training. Learning and teaching Aboriginal languages is an area that is different to other language teaching. It has a unique nature, as there has only been a written version of the language for a relatively short time. When teaching the younger students to build oral skills, it is vital to read stories, do picture talks, sing lots of songs, encourage role plays and do lots of speaking activities. This is also applicable to students who start to learn language at a later age. A part of training to teach an Aboriginal language is also learning to make the resources necessary to teach. All resources need to be made by the teacher as they are not readily available. For the teaching of most other languages, you can find resources in the library, from other teachers, or purchase them from a book store or in the country of the language. For Aboriginal languages however, obtaining resources is not as easy. To read an informational text, Dreaming or fictional story, a resource has to be created. Big books, charts, songs, flash cards, sentence patterns and playing cards, all have to be designed and produced by the teacher. Culturally appropriate board games can be made, while some existing games can be modified and translated into the language. All work sheets and assessments have to be prepared by the teacher. This work is timeconsuming. To construct a story, big bright pictures have to be found and language edited, re-edited, and most times checked a third time. After this process all the words need to be approved by Elders and the community. It is assumed that if an Aboriginal person is old or identified as an Elder, they should know their language. But in many cases this is not true. As the years go by, those older people who know language pass on, leaving the next generation of Elders who have not grown up with language. In the case of my mother and her siblings, the older brothers knew some of the language, but not the siblings that were taken at a very early age. My grandmother always spoke in Noongar language when she was with her family but after her children were taken away from her, as the authorities did at that time, she stopped speaking it. I am sure that she stopped speaking her language, in the hope that she would have her family returned to her if she conformed to mainstream society, and spoke only English. She imagined that if she stopped talking her language, gave up her identity, and lived as a non-Aboriginal, she would get her children back. As time went by she realised her children would never be returned to

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her, and she lost her way. I believe this is a major factor in the loss of Aboriginal languages for many Aboriginal families. In my language learning, I have discovered that Noongar, like all languages, has evolved. It has evolved strategies for making new words, using the language available. English words are borrowed, and put into the orthography for Noongar language. For example, djop—shop; djip—chips. Other examples of this are kala—colour; kwala—koala; bladabootj— platypus. Using traditional words we would have said mereny-p, which literally means “place of food”, but in today’s language we are more likely to say djop—shop. The traditional words yam-mereny-dookern, which means “bush potato cooked”, we could change into today’s language, as meaning djip—chips. Some words we simply adopt from other languages, such as animals or plants we don’t have in our own country. Aboriginal languages often use onomatopoeic words for animals, but also for other things. For technology that the British brought with them, such as cars, we use the word kaditj-kaditj, as it sounds like the car being started or cranked. For guns we use the word widjibandi: I think this is because of one of the makes of guns is Winchester—widji, and then the sound is added—bandi. In developing the way that I teach, I find that immersion in language in the classroom works well, as far as is possible. We make no association to English, and students start seeing things through their Noongar language eyes. An animal loses its English name and is only seen as the Noongar language name. When I was teaching the students in my classes I always tried to copy traditional practice in my teaching. For example, younger students would sit on the mat in a circle and listen to me speaking in a low and soft voice. I had the older students sitting in groups at round tables. Wherever possible I had real items brought into the classroom or we would be outside learning under a tree, looking for the things they were learning about, trying to experience the culture. I would invite guest speakers to tell their stories or the beliefs of their language group, and this was always exciting for the students, to hear from someone other than myself. Aboriginal students in my class started to interact and participate with confidence and empowerment. They felt that their culture and language were being valued and this gave them a sense of identity in their own land. Non-Aboriginal students were starting to understand the history of the country they lived in, to relate better to the Aboriginal families in their communities, and to build meaningful friendships with their peers. This really gave me a sense of pride and fulfilment as the students were speaking my mother’s language in the classroom, playground and in the

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community. All the students were making connections with past and present, with other cultures, and all with an awareness of differences and similarities. For a teacher there is nothing better than to see your students grow in a world of learning and to witness their eagerness to learn. Teaching these children Noongar language has been a journey for me which now continues into the world of teaching adults. I now teach Aboriginal language speakers how to teach their language to their students. By teaching adults to teach, the language reaches more children. It is a feeling of achievement to think that I have come full circle, and now assist a lot more children to learn about Aboriginal culture and to have an awareness of Aboriginal languages. When I was a child I used to travel to my grandmother’s house by bus with my mother and siblings, and I remember listening to all the languages being spoken. This is when I decided I wanted to learn an Aboriginal language. I didn’t know then that there were so many different Aboriginal languages. Now there are only a few left that are spoken with fluency. As old as the languages and cultures are, we are losing the battle against time. Money and time are spent on teaching other world languages, but what about the languages of Australia’s own history before colonisation? Although 145 indigenous languages are still spoken, only 18 languages are considered strong, in that they are spoken by all age groups. If Aboriginal languages are not more strongly supported and revived, it has been said that by 2050 no Aboriginal languages will be spoken in Australia (McConvell & Thieberger, 2001). Who will be left to teach about the traditions and the knowledge of the land and people? As a Noongar language teacher, as an assessor of Aboriginal languages teacher training, and as an Aboriginal woman, I can see my culture dying. I have a passion for my language and culture and a burning desire for everyone to have the opportunity to learn the languages and ways of Aboriginal people. If I lose my language, I lose my culture. What is left for my children, grandchildren and great grandchildren? Nidja bibool maar koorl, ngany ngaak moort baalap Noongar waangkan kaadatj. Ngany koort kwobikin kedala nganyang kabarli bibool djinang, waangkan wer kaadatj Noongar malayin wer waangkan. Boorda.

This is written because I want people to be aware of Noongar language. I celebrate the day my grandchildren can read, speak and understand Noongar culture and language. Farewell.

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References Federation of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Languages. (2005). National indigenous languages survey report 2005. Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) and Federation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Languages. Canberra: AIATSIS. McConvell, P., & Thieberger, N. (2001). State of Indigenous languages in Australia—2001. Canberra: Department of the Environment and Heritage.

Further Reading For further information about the Stolen Generations: Rabbit-Proof Fence is a 2002 Australian film directed by Phillip Noyce, based on the book Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence by Doris Pilkington Garimara (1996). St Lucia: University of Queensland Press. http://reconciliaction.org.au/nsw/education-kit/stolen-generations/ #resources http://stolengenerationstestimonies.com/index.php

CHAPTER THREE RIPPLES IN THE POND TRACEY CAMERON

I enjoyed my childhood growing up in rural New South Wales (NSW), playing in the bush reserve behind my house. I also especially loved going to my friends’ houses, where their families were friendly, sharing and exciting. It was only later that I realised that many of them were from language backgrounds other than English. Some of my friends were Dutch, others were from Eastern Europe, the USSR and Italy, and my close friend was Finnish. In their houses I ate rollmops and experienced the exotic smells of their kitchens. I was happy to go fishing in the river, jump in their pool, have saunas, bake sweet pulla bread and soak up their different ways of doing things. As a secondary school student I studied French and Latin in Year 8. I chose French because my mother’s family had a French background and I was keen to learn the language. My grandfather Francis had travelled across the Nullabor Plain from Fremantle in a horse and cart, at the turn of the century, with his parents, Louis and Rose and his uncle Godfrey. They were the children of Auguste, my great-great grandfather, who emigrated from France to Australia to start a new life. Both his sons, Louis and Godfrey Ferdinand, fought in World War I and Godfrey, a gunner, was killed in France within four months of enlisting. Louis returned to Australia after the war and moved to the country to farm, where my grandfather joined him when he was 16. My mother also grew up on the farm and she, like me, wanted to learn French. She had to start from scratch to study it at school, as her father had not learned French from his father and could not teach her. I also studied Latin as my school maintained that it would be good for me, and would enable me to learn to think. My parents agreed that even though I had not elected to learn this language, I could help make up the class of ten students. I enjoyed learning Latin as it helped me understand English grammar and led to me developing an interest in Roman history.

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Gamilaraay I thought that languages, that is, the interesting languages, were the European languages, and that they all existed on my mother’s side of the family. I was wrong. The really interesting language in my family is Gamilaraay, an Aboriginal language of North-West NSW. My family are Gamilaraay people and, like all Aboriginal groups, they were multilingual. They spoke the Gamilaraay language and several other dialects and surrounding languages from North-West NSW. I found out about this language only recently. Although I knew my father was from North-West NSW, I was largely ignorant of the details of my family history. That is, until I bought the book The Sun Dancin’: People and Places in Coonabarabran (Somerville, 1994) and talked to my uncle, who knows a lot about our family and about their lives in Coonabarabran. I found that my great-great-great grandmother, Mary Jane Cain, was a leader of the Gamilaraay people in the area and she was known for her efforts to provide for her family and her people. She wrote to Queen Victoria asking for a grant of land where she could keep her goats. Queen Victoria wrote back to Mary Jane granting her 400 acres of land for her goats. The land was on Forky Mountain, just outside Coonabarabran, and she and her family lived there for many years. She started inviting other Gamilaraay people, who needed somewhere to live, to come and stay. Eventually in 1911 her land was taken over, or gazetted, by the Aboriginal Protection Board and became the Burra Bee Dee Aboriginal Reserve. Here many Gamilaraay people were raised and educated at a school that was built and staffed by the Education Department. However, the Gamilaraay children were taught in English and not in their native tongue. So Gamilaraay, like many of the other 60 or 70 Aboriginal languages that were spoken in NSW, became an endangered language in need of rescuing. Colonisation and government policy had a huge impact on Aboriginal people. Aboriginal people were forbidden to speak their languages on the Missions and in schools. Harsh punishment was meted out to those who were heard speaking their language. Consequently many parents and families stopped speaking to their children in language. This meant that the adults stopped passing on their languages to their children for fear of them being punished, or worse, taken away from them. This lead to a huge loss of language, with only those people in the unsettled areas still speaking their languages. Recently however I have been able to learn the Gamilaraay language, which I thought was lost and no longer spoken. I found that in the last two

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decades it has been undergoing a revitalisation, as many Gamilaraay people and other interested supporters have been trying to uncover, preserve and learn the language and pass it on to others. In doing so, they have rescued it from obscurity.

My Teaching Experience I began my teaching career in 1982 in the South-West of Sydney in an area where 99.9% of students were from a Language Background Other than English (LBOTE). Here I found my formal qualifications, an Arts Degree with a Diploma of Education majoring in History and English, needed a boost. I learnt how to teach second language learners through inservice courses, and from other experienced teachers, including the English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers. The primary school students I was teaching spoke about 18 languages, with the four main languages being South American Spanish, Cantonese Chinese, Arabic and Vietnamese. The school was a very large one with about 1,200 students. Class teachers worked very closely with ESL teachers who taught the many students who had newly migrated to Australia and were living in Migrant Detention Centres in the area. Teaching English was our goal and we taught students in a structured ESL program. We taught a spectrum of students, including those who had just arrived in Australia that week, and others whose parents had migrated as children a generation before. The students had different levels of knowledge, understanding and fluency in English but mostly had a good understanding of their own language. Working closely with the ESL teachers enabled me to learn strategies for language teaching and find out about second language learners and their educational needs. I have recently completed a Masters in Indigenous Languages Education (MILE) at the Koori Centre at The University of Sydney. MILE is aimed at qualified primary and secondary trained Indigenous teachers who wish to develop their skills in Indigenous Languages teaching. Through MILE I learned about the theory and practice of language revitalisation and the use of second language teaching approaches for revitalising languages. I also learned about the linguistic structures and features of Aboriginal languages. Understanding these structures and features assists me to lift the words off the pages of the written records and use them to communicate. I have also developed my own proficiency through completion of a Gamilaraay course offered by the Koori Centre and through self-study using available Gamilaraay print and audio resources. Through the study and teaching of language I have become involved in the process of revitalisation of Gamilaraay.

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Ripples Although I have learned European languages and taught English and Gamilaraay, my personal vision for language teaching is now to see and hear people speaking my language, Gamilaraay. My vision is the revival of my language in communities and in schools amongst Aboriginal students, and to share the Gamilaraay language with non-Aboriginal students. Indigenous languages have been undergoing a worldwide revival in recent decades as communities, linguists and consequentially governments recognise how important they are. It has been realised that many languages are disappearing or endangered (Hinton, 1999; Walsh, 2002) and need to be revived. Gamilaraay, my language, is one of these. As I am only one teacher I see my work as dropping pebbles of language into the pond of language learners. I hope that the language will ripple across the pond and beyond, and that my teaching contributes to the revitalisation of the Gamilaraay language. Dropping a pebble in a pond is an important way to begin the process of influence, and of breaking down the barriers, of spreading the language to as many learners as possible. Language teaching and learning will enable the Gamilaraay community to regain our language and for the Australian community to revive important linguistic and cultural aspects of our modern nation. This means that I need to pass on my language to the young, to my own son and to the children of the community and beyond so that the language will live again. As Hinton (1999) says, a language will not survive unless children are learning and using it in everyday contexts. Gamilaraay and other Australian Aboriginal languages are in the process of revitalisation but this work needs to gather pace if we are to be successful in achieving this goal. This is because the people learning these languages are adult learners. There are few schools teaching Australian Aboriginal languages like Gamilaraay and there are few homes in which these languages are used as part of the daily discourse. Making use of current pedagogy, including new media communications, and achieving progress rapidly, are vital steps in spreading Aboriginal languages like Gamilaraay.

Language Revitalisation: Literacy and Oracy Although Aboriginal languages like Gamilaraay are thought of as being only oral languages, they have in fact some recent written history. Aboriginal languages have been recorded in writing since the first invaders and colonisers arrived on the shores of eastern Australia. Jakelin Troy

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explains in her book, The Sydney Language, that most of our early language records were written by officers of the first colonising fleets (Troy, 1994, p. i). They took note of the languages of the people they met and recorded wordlists in letters, notebooks and journals. Later, in the 19th Century, missionaries, surveyors, anthropologists, farmers, police officers and others recorded the grammar and vocabulary “from the lips of old natives acquainted with the language” according to the surveyor/ anthropologist R.H. Mathews and published in manuscripts and books for an interested audience back in the “mother country” (Troy, 1994, p. 10). Aboriginal authors were also recording their languages. My greatgreat-great grandmother, Mary Jane Cain, wrote about the people of the Coonabarabran area as well as writing a Gamilaraay wordlist of plants and trees and town names of the area, together with their English meanings.

Contemporary Publications in Gamilaraay Many of the old records are archived in National and State libraries, museums and The Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) in Canberra. These historical records, both written and recorded in a range of audio/visual formats, have gone through a process of analysis by linguists and been used to create contemporary publications and records about, and in, Aboriginal languages. Teams of dedicated community members, linguists and educators continue to go through the process of investigating, analysing and standardising spelling to create and publish language resources such as dictionaries, grammars, and resources for teachers and students. Language Centres around Australia like Muurrbay Language Centre have become the publishers for language resources for many Aboriginal languages, including their own, Gumbayngiirr (see for example, Ash, Hooler, Williams & Walker, 2010, in Hobson, Lowe, Poetsch & Walsh, 2010, pp. 106–118). Other publishers, such as the Institute for Aboriginal Development (IAD) Press, have also been active in publishing language resources. The Gamilaraay language has also been undergoing this process of revitalisation and a range of publications have been written and published to assist language teachers and learners of Gamilaraay including dictionaries, picture dictionaries, textbooks, song books and CDs, and websites (see for example, Betts & Giacon, 1999; Charmers & Giacon, 2006; Ash, Lissarrague & Giacon, 2003; Yuwaalaraay & Gamilaraay Language Program, 2006; https://moodle.arm.catholic.edu.au).

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Spoken Gamilaraay – The Challenge to Speak The challenge now is to reclaim the language and bring it back to life, to get the words and language out of the archives and publications and into the mouths of speakers. The Gamilaraay community will not be satisfied with their languages being preserved in books or archives. We want Gamilaraay to be spoken again, to become a living language again through everyday use. Many Aboriginal people have expressed this desire. Uncle Ken Walker is a Gumbaynggirr Elder and Chairperson of Muurrbay Aboriginal Language Culture Cooperative. He is one of a group of passionate and committed Elders who started the Language Centre in 1985, and has been a leader in the movement to revitalise and promote Aboriginal languages in Australia for nearly three decades. He says, “It's a hard road to hoe, but you got to start somewhere, and don't expect miracles at first. It doesn't work. We started in '85 and we're still going, we're still learning. Don't give up, don't lose heart, because the rewards at the end are beneficial for you and your community” (NSW Board of Adult & Community Education, 2006). Uncle Ken Walker says of his own language Gumbaynggirr, “My dream, my personal dream is to one day be able to walk down anywhere in my country and hear my people speak my language rather than English” (Board of Adult & Community Education New South Wales, 2006: Part 6). The Gumbaynggirr language community on the Mid-North coast of NSW has been very successful in its language revitalisation. Very few people spoke the language when Uncle Ken Walker and the other community members first set up the Muurrbay Language Centre to save Gumbaynggirr. They have had many people learn and go on to teach Gumbaynggirr and now the Centre advises and teaches teachers and students in schools as well as helps other Aboriginal language communities with their efforts to revive their languages. The Muurrbay Centre reports that there are more Gumbaynggirr speakers in 2009 than there were twenty years ago. “We estimate that there are now several hundred partial speakers of Gumbaynggirr” (Ash, Hooler, Williams & Walker, 2010, cited in Hobson, Lowe, Poetsch & Walsh, 2010, p. 107). Reclaiming and revitalising the Gamilaraay language for speakers means that teachers face two key challenges: firstly, developing our own proficiency in our own languages and secondly, finding the learning and teaching approaches which will maximise our students’ ability to use and communicate in the language. We need to use the most effective methods to teach Aboriginal languages. Two factors that need to be taken into account in this challenge are, firstly, that most teachers of Aboriginal

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languages are second language learners, and secondly, that the community aspires to have their language heard and spoken again. I believe that as both teachers and students of Gamilaraay are second language learners, traditional second language teaching methodologies work better than immersion or bilingual approaches. I believe that we could speed up the process of teaching, learning and speaking Aboriginal languages like Gamilaraay. In other words, the process of adults speaking their language to their children could be reinstated, and the language would be revitalised, and would again be a living language (Hinton, 2001). An important issue in Aboriginal language revitalisation is the value placed on speaking the language. The social nature of learning, referred to by scholars of the Communicative Language Teaching approach (Richards, 2006, p. 25), is also what members of the Aboriginal community value, and the oracy strategies incorporated in this approach are favoured by Aboriginal communities. Like Uncle Ken Walker, other Aboriginal community members also value oracy. They often express these sentiments when they say “Children do not learn to speak languages just from writing. They need to hear lots of spoken language when they are young” (Kimberly Languages Resource Centre, 2008, p.1). Hinton (2001) also emphasises oracy when she states that “If you want to learn to speak a language and understand others who are speaking it, you must learn through speaking and hearing it, not through reading and writing it” (Hinton, 2001, p. 1). Walsh agrees, that “both oracy and literacy should have a place but, in my view, regaining oral skills should be the primary goal” (Hobson, Lowe, Poetsch & Walsh, 2010, p. 30). Language learning is not an individual isolated activity that can be done on your own using a book, it is essentially a social activity that depends on interaction with others.

Oracy or Literacy – My Research Teaching Aboriginal languages effectively is important for the Aboriginal communities in Australia. All languages are about communication, and communication is about sharing and respecting others. Aboriginal languages carry unique cultural information that cannot be gained elsewhere. To communicate in one’s own language enables Aboriginal people to engage with their community and society in general in a positive way and this leads on to successful interaction and participation in the world today. There is a need to restore intergenerational transmission as quickly as possible. As Hinton (2001) states, if the children are not learning the languages at home then the

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languages are endangered. In NSW the Aboriginal language situation is considered dire, as there are only very small numbers of speakers and few children learning these languages (Walsh, 2002, p. 3). Effective language teaching is my area of interest. I am engaged in finding the right balance between oracy and literacy in language teaching and learning, in order to facilitate the speedy learning of the language by young Gamilaraay people and a true revitalisation of the Gamilaraay language. As part of my Masters degree studies in 2011, I conducted an action research project in my class. I used a mixture of quantitative and qualitative approaches, to compare the effectiveness of oracy and literacy methodologies. This meant adapting second language learning methodologies, such as communicative approaches. I taught a primary class of 10–12 year old students at a small inner city school in Sydney. The students participated in a one hour lesson each week for ten weeks. The students were in a composite class of 24, made up of students from Years 5 and 6. A quarter of the class (8) were Aboriginal (7 of the 8 students were Gamilaraay). I used both an oral focus and a literacy focus to teach the Gamilaraay language, using two different language topics. The two topics were Animals (Dhii) and Families (Dhiiyaan). The Animals topic was taught with a literacy focus, with students learning 10 vocabulary items and 3 language structures. The Families topic also covered 10 vocabulary items and 3 language structures (see below). The literacy strategies I chose integrated reading, writing and oral communication activities in a mixed syllabus (Richards, 2006, p.37) and these different areas were connected and taught together and not in isolation.

My Strategies The strategies I used followed both a literacy and an oracy focus. I found many ideas for these literacy and oracy strategies in communicative language and ESL resources. These included Klippel (1993), Wright, Betteridge and Buckby (1984), the Department of Education and Training, NSW publication, Communicative Activities, and the Board of Studies NSW publication, Winangaylanha Dhayn-gu Gaay: Understanding Aboriginal Languages (2004), and Aboriginal languages pages on the Board of Studies NSW website.

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The Animals topic included literacy strategies, such as, x matching words and pictures, x listing animals and places where they are found, x reading and following written instructions using pictures—“Put the koala in the tree” dhulu-ga, x completing phrases about animals, x drawing and labeling maps showing animals and the places in which they are found, x playing animal treasure hunt following written clues, x recording animal names and places found in the hunt. The Families topic involved oracy strategies only, such as, x using picture cards with no English or Gamilaraay words, x describe-then-draw activities, x playingcard games: Happy Families, a game like Go Fish where students have to ask others in the group whether they have a certain card in their hands, x playing Baawaa Says, a variation of Simon says where students listen and then follow given instructions, x modeling conversations where students listen for the gist, x playing conversation games where students have to ask each other questions to find the information gap and find out who is in their family, x making short presentations about their own families using a photo, x following spoken instructions “Tegan, warraya!” Tegan, stand! x singing songs in Gamilaraay.

My Findings The results showed that students learned and retained more than half of the vocabulary and language structures when taught using both methodologies. It was apparent that the class learned and retained more of the Gamilaraay vocabulary about animals (literacy) than family (oracy), although the difference was small. However, the most significant part of this research for me was my discovery of the positive effect of literacy activities in the reinforcement of language learning. The students in my Year 5/6 class achieved an average of 70% retention of the animal vocabulary in their literacy post-test, and 53% retention in the delayed post-test conducted a week after lessons had

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finished. In the oracy post-test, students only remembered an average of 56% of the family vocabulary items and 46% in the delayed post-test. The students’ results were better in both their acquisition and in their retention of the Gamilaraay vocabulary items using the literacy focus. The students received extra input because of the integrated nature of the activities and this reinforced their learning. The Gamilaraay students achieved almost the same average scores as the whole (mixed) class average scores in both areas of language learning in my study. In the Animal post-test, Gamilaraay students achieved 71% retention compared with 70% whole class result, and in the delayed-post 51% compared with 53%. In the Family post-test they scored 51% compared with 56% whole class result, and in the delayed-post, 48% compared with 46% whole class result. There was thus little difference between whole class student performance and Gamilaraay student performance in the animal or the family topic. My students stated that they enjoyed both oracy- and literacy-based activities and they thought that they learned a lot of language through the conversation games and listening activities. However, my results show that teaming these activities with literacy activities helped boost the students’ retention of the vocabulary learnt in lessons. Even though the students preferred the oral methodology they did not gain the same amount of support as they did using the strategies of the literacy methodology, which reinforced the language they were learning and thus improved their retention. The development of a communicative approach for Gamilaraay teaching, which uses both oracy and literacy strategies, has therefore been shown to bring about the most effective learning for my students. Even though the Aboriginal language community and its advocates rightly favour an oracy approach, my initial research shows that it should be balanced with some literacy input for the most effective teaching and learning of the Gamilaraay language, a language undergoing revitalisation. In addition to the results of the quantitative aspects of my action research, I made a set of qualitative observations, which relate to the revitalisation of Gamilaraay and community support for Gamilaraay. As there is very little research into pedagogy for teaching revitalised languages, particularly small Australian languages like Gamilaraay, the findings of my research could be useful for educators and learners investigating the most effective approaches to teaching and learning in a revitalised language context.

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My Own Language Proficiency I have developed personally and professionally, through trying to examine my language teaching. Personally it has enabled me to find out about my familial and my cultural heritage. As a result of historical circumstances such as colonisation and the associated policies and their consequences, I had not been able to learn my heritage language, Gamilaraay, or grow up in Gamilaraay country or culture. Engaging in language teaching, researching my family history by talking to family members, and studying the Gamilaraay language, have all enabled me to engage with my culture instead of simply observing from the sidelines. Language teaching has enabled me to develop my knowledge and understanding of language and my Gamilaraay heritage. In just a two year period as an adult learner I have developed the ability to listen and speak, read and write my language. By teaching it I continue to develop these skills further. I have also come to understand the importance of language knowledge both culturally and linguistically. Knowledge and understanding of language reflects an understanding and acceptance and respect of people who speak languages. This is what Gamilaraay and all Aboriginal people are entitled to, as the first peoples of Australia. As citizens, all Australian people have the right to acceptance and respect for their languages and cultures, and all Aboriginal people and their languages are entitled to a special place in society, and in our Australian constitution.

Community Support for Gamilaraay The Gamilaraay lessons have generated support for the learning of the language at the school amongst Gamilaraay and non-Gamilaraay students and parents alike. Both groups of students enjoyed equally the learning of the language, but understandably, the learning of Gamilaraay seemed to have a much greater impact on the Gamilaraay students and their parents. In the student evaluations at the end of the lessons the Gamilaraay students expressed their pride and appreciation of the lessons. They commented: “I am proud of learning to speak in my own language” and “I went home to tell my family about what I learned”. Several parents also made comments to me about their child’s interest in learning Gamilaraay, and expressed their own pride in their children’s involvement in the language class.

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Towards the Future I would like to continue my work in the language teaching area to explore the use of new media. This could include its use in class or after class activities to see if students could link up and engage in real world communication with other Gamilaraay language learners. It could also extend to the investigation of teachers’ use of new media to share ideas and find areas of support or to review teaching strategies. Ensuring that Aboriginal languages are taken off the endangered list is important to me personally and professionally. I believe it is an important policy for the Australian government to pursue so that we can preserve a vital part of Aboriginal culture and the heritage of all Australians. Aboriginal languages should be respected, nurtured and revived. I believe that individual teachers, like me, can create ripples in the language pond. We need to lobby, however, for the promotion and funding of the teaching and learning of Aboriginal languages, to turn these ripples into large waves, in order that our heritage Australian languages be maintained and preserved for the future generations of Australians.

References Ash, A., Lissarrague, A., & Giacon, J. (Eds). (2003). Gamilaraay, Yuwaalaraay & Yuwaalayaay Dictionary. Alice Springs, NT: IAD Press. Ash, A., Hooler, P., Williams, G., Walker, K. Maam ngawaala: biindu ngaawa nyanggan bindaayili. Language Centres: keeping language strong. In J. Hobson, K. Lowe, S. Poetsch & M. Walsh, (2010). ReAwakening Languages: Theory and Practice in the revitalisation of Australia’s Indigenous Languages. Sydney: Sydney University Press. Board of Adult & Community Education New South Wales. (2006). It’s a hard road to hoe but you gotta start somewhere. Designing a community language project, a resource for Indigenous communities [Handbook & DVD]. Sydney: Department of Education and Training New South Wales. Board of Studies NSW. (2003). Aboriginal Languages K–10 Syllabus. Retrieved from http://ab-ed.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/ go/aboriginallanguages —. (2004). Winangaylanha Dhayn-gu Gaay: Understanding Aboriginal Languages [CD ROM]. Sydney: Board of Studies NSW.

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Chandler, K. & Giacon, J. (2006). Dhiirrala Gamilaraay: Teach Gamilaraay. Armidale: Yuwaalaraay Language Program, Catholic Education Office. Department of Education & Training, NSW. Communicative Activities. Sydney Region ESL Resource. Adapted from NSW DET ESL Orientation Handbook, Multicultural Programs Unit. (Activities created by K–6 ESL consultant for the Sydney Region). Ryde: DET NSW. Gamilaraay and Yuwaalaraay Language. (2006). Armidale: Yuwaalaraay Language Program, Catholic Education Office. Retrieved from https://moodle.arm.catholic.edu.au/ Giacon, J., & Betts, M. (1999). Yaama Maliyaa, Yuwaalaraay – Gamilaraay: an Aboriginal Languages textbook. Walgett, NSW; Walgett High School, Yuwaalaraay – Gamilaraay Program. Giacon, J., & Chandler, K. (2006). Dhiirrala Gamilaraay: Teach Gamilaraay. Armidale: Yuwaalaraay Language Program, Catholic Education Office. Hale, K., & Hinton, L. (Eds). (2001). The Green Book of Language Revitalization in Practice. California: Elsevier (Academic Press). Hinton, L. (2001). How to Keep Your Languages Alive: A Commonsense Approach to One-to-One Language Learning. Berkley: Heyday Books. Kimberly Languages Resource Centre. (2008). Teaching on Country. Retrieved from http://klrc/org.au/teaching-on-country Klippel, F. (1993). Keep Talking, Communicative Fluency Activities for Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. McCarty, T. & Watahomigie, L. (1999). Preservation On The Reservation (And Beyond). NPS Archeology Program: Commonground Online. Retrieved from http://cr.nps.gov/archeology/Cg/fa_1999/Language.html New South Wales Department of Aboriginal Affairs, Yuwaalaraay Language Program. (2003). Yugal: Gamilaraay & Yuwaalaraay songs. (CD) Recorded at Music Fella Studios, Tamworth: Coolabah Publishing. Somerville, M., with Dundas, M., Mead, M., Robinson, J., Sulter, M. (1994). The Sun Dancin’: People and Places in Coonabarabran. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press. Troy, J. (1994). The Sydney Language: 1788–1845. Canberra: Panther Publishing and Printing. Richards, J.C. (2006). Communicative Language Teaching Today. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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Walsh, M. (2002). Teaching NSW’s Indigenous Languages: Lessons from Elsewhere. Sydney: Office of the Board of Studies. Wright,A., Betteridge, D., & Buckby, M. (1984). Games for Language Learners, (2nd Ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Yuwaalaraay & Gamilaraay Language Program. (2006). Gaay Garay Dhadhin: Gamilaraay & Yuwaalaraay Picture Dictionary. Alice Springs, NT: IAD Press.

Unit content Topic 1: Animals (Dhii) 10 vocabulary items and 3 language structures Language Functions and Structures: x Asking Questions: - Minya nhalay? (What is this?) - Dhalaa dhuru? (Where is the snake?) x Responding to Questions: - Dhinawan nhalay. (This is an emu.) - Dhuru garaarr-a. (The snake is in the grass) x Locative suffix: –ga, –dha, –da, –a (indicating in, at, on, near) x dhulu-ga, in the tree; bagay-dha, in the river; garaarr-a, in the grass. Vocabulary: x Animal names: bandarr (kangaroo), bigibila (echidna), buruma (dog), buubumurr (platypus), dhinawan (emu), dhindu (mouse), dhuru (snake), gilaa (galah), guda (koala), gugurrgaagaa (kookaburra), guya (fish).

Topic 2: Families (Dhiiyaan) 10 vocabulary items and 3 language structures Language Functions and Structures: x Greetings and responses: – Yaama (Hello) – Yaamandaay. (Hello everyone)

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x Introducing family members – Nhalay ngay baawaa Sue. (This is my sister Sue.) x Giving and responding to commands: – Warraya! (Stand!), Yanaya! (Walk!) – Tegan, warraya! (Tegan, stand!) Vocabulary: x Family names: baawaa (sister), bubaa (Dad), dhagaan (brother), guni (Mum), gaayli (children), miyay (girl/daughter), birray (boy/son), badhii (grandmother), dhaadhaa (grandfather), gaayngaal (baby), garruu (uncle), walgan (aunt).

CHAPTER FOUR “THEY BOMBED US”— TEACHING JAPANESE IN COUNTRY NEW SOUTH WALES: PRIVILEGE AND PAROCHIALISM MERCURIUS GOLDSTEIN

“They bombed us—why are we learning their language?” the perpetually sour-faced Year 7 boy demands to know. The question answers itself, but of course he doesn't see it. His grandfather was not yet born during the Japanese air raid campaigns of 1942-1943, which killed and maimed hundreds of Australians, yet he trembles with rage as though he himself was attacked. He goes home to what I know to be a desperately impoverished family, financially, socially and intellectually. Often he parrots remarks from home about how Asians, boat people and “blacks” are “ruining Australia”. But his rage is not truly at the Japanese bombers (Asians, refugees or Aborigines). It is displaced rage against assailants he cannot identify, his fellow Australians who have established a social and educational order in which his family, his class, are pushed to the bottom of the heap and kept there (Connell, 1993; Connell, 2003), intergenerationally air-raided and carpet-bombed by neoliberal policies that ensure he will enjoy about as much social mobility as a feudal serf. Little wonder he is angry. But I, in the moment, already tested by his persistent disruptive behaviour over several lessons, pushed to the limits of my own tolerance for bigoted, ignorant remarks, lose my cool. He gets a tongue-lashing from me and I continue, coldly, with the lesson. The rest of the class bear silent, pensive witness to what can most charitably be described as an unequal power struggle; one that dictates the boy will lose inside the classroom, just as the social logic of Australia dictates he will lose outside it (Connell, Ashenden, Kessler, & Dowsett, 1982). Only after the bell do I apologise to

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him for losing my temper. A hopelessly inadequate remedy for a problem that is bigger than both of us, and which neither of us alone can solve from our opposing ledges in the chasm of the class divide. But, of the pair of us, my reach is the further, so I must find the courage to lean out into the darkness, to grasp hands across the abyss. I am fearful. How can I write the ephemeral? How, despite the assurances of Paul Ricoeur (1976), can I capture moments that are always already gone? How can I compose a vivid hermeneutic reflection, when I habitually barge through life, blinkers on, eyes fixed ahead? I have never kept a journal. My repertoire consists of dusty academic prose, brisk business-speak, and paint-peeling polemic. I am unburdened by the writerly sensibility that compels others to delineate their lives in literary flourishes. The lacework of hermeneutic phenomenological writing (van Manen, 1997) seems improbably delicate, way beyond my dexterity. .

“You shouldn't wear those jeans with that shirt, 'cos it makes you look like a homosexual.”—Year 7 fashion police.

I am gay, these students have decided. My wedding ring has gone unnoticed; but my indifference to rugby league, my interest in Japan and facility with polysyllabic words are deviant, coded by this community as homosexual. “Oh!?” I reply breezily, “would that be bad, would it?” That response is incomprehensible to them, so they let it pass. “Well, no, the thing is,” they try again, drawing upon the magnanimous and infinite patience that only schoolgirls know how to bestow upon the sartorially clueless, “you're in the country now, you should try to wear more olden-days clothes.”

I lived in New York City for a year, and have now ended up in a town of 6,500 in country NSW, an economic refugee of the global financial crisis. I witnessed the global life-cycle of a trend, as the hot Manhattan fashion for 2008, skirtless young women in tights and ugg boots, which made its way to Sydney, where I taught in 2009 at an independent school, and which finally came to die in New England NSW in 2010, where I arrived as the maternity-leave fill-in at the town's public and only high school. But the globalised waves of fashion foreshadow every other geopolitical and socioeconomic phenomena—country towns are the last places to get everything, except tomatoes which taste like real tomatoes.

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How did I get here? I followed a long, elliptical orbit outside the education system before wheeling around and returning to its centre. I learned my schoolboy Japanese during the late 1980s, during what came to be labeled by scholars of comparative education, rather unfortunately, as the tsunami. Between 1987 and 1988, enrolments for Japanese in Australian high schools doubled (Chow, 2003, p. 86) taking the Department and a lot of suddenly-retrained (and somewhat miffed) French and German teachers by surprise. The tsunami was propelled by Japan's then-status as the rising rival to USA economic and cultural power. Of course, on the doorstep of teenagehood, I had no inkling of this. All I knew was that the grown-ups around me were saying things like “in 20 years, we'll all be speaking Japanese” and “you'll need it to get a job”. These were typical middle-class preoccupations: obtaining security and getting ahead. There was no anxiety expressed about past conflicts, no xenophobic hurdles to jump, only the maudlin utilitarian push to connect education with work. However, to my classmates and me, Japanese was just—cool. The export of Japan’s gross national cool (McGray, 2002) burgeoned throughout the 1990s even as its gross national product languished. We didn't understand it, but it carried the magnetic allure of exoticism, embodied in cartoon images with overly-large rounded eyes, with the serene poise and sparse beauty of tea rooms and onsen (baths), with the crazy excitement of cities that were just too big to comprehend. I didn't know it at the time, but half my childhood Saturday morning cartoons were actually anime (Japanese animation) dubbed into English, voiced by Americans. I always found it odd how the mouths never seemed to move with the speech track. I recall the infectious enthusiasm of my Australian sensei (teacher), a stalwart of Japanese language education in NSW. Her travel slides of parked cars stacked atop each other, pachinko machines and plastic models of food in restaurant windows—these images stayed with me during the years between giving up Japanese study in Year 10, and returning to it over a decade later, when I finally entered the mill of massified tertiary education. A different tsunami is now sweeping Sydney’s language classrooms in 2012. Driven again by the never-ending anxiety to get ahead, middle-class families are urging their teens to study Mandarin, because “in 20 years, we'll all be speaking Mandarin” and “you'll need it to get a job”. But these utilitarian preoccupations for language study rather miss the point. To me, asking “why study a language” is like asking “why fall in love?” At any rate, in the country, we're still picking up Japanese two decades later than the cities, because the ripples of opportunity and employment

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percolate only very slowly outside the Sydney Basin. Expect Mandarin enrolments in the Central West to peak in about 2025, long after Sydney schools have moved on to Finnish. This is time-capsule Australia. The class roll looks like an artefact from a long-vanished civilisation. The boys are Jack, Patrick, James and Tim. The girls are Taylor, Taylah, Tayla and Tailla. “Bogan spellings”, my colleagues call them. Despite being temporarily impecunious, I am a beneficiary of all the other forms of social privilege that Australian society offers—male, middle class, well-educated (proudly public), passably Anglo, passably heterosexual—the doors of community acceptance are wide open to me by default; and my peccadillos and shortcomings quickly forgiven, if they are noticed at all. In postwar Australia, tens of thousands of teachers like me have packed up and gone to teach in country schools. Yet I am invited to write about my experiences and have them published in a book. That's privilege. With so many layers of privilege intersecting upon me (“thank goodness”, the parents remark, “we need more men like you in the system!”), I am acutely conscious of a desire not to reproduce this caste system. There is no honour in winning a fixed fight. But my feet of clay can scarcely overwhelm the force of cultural gravity. The big lie Australia tells itself is that we are egalitarian, that everybody gets a “fair go”. Yet the fault-line of the class divide runs through every community, silent, invisible and implacable (Campbell, 2007, Ch.6). What sort of a “fair go” results in children who come to their first day of school in unwashed shirts two sizes too large for them? The middle-class curriculum fits my students about as well as the hired suits they wear to weddings and funerals. Curriculum objectives are specified in earnest, well-crafted, managerial language (ACARA, 2012; NSW Board of Studies, 2012; Vickers, 2007); singing a modern dreamtime of a uniform middle-class from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean, where everybody reads Patrick White and enjoys it. But instead of moving us towards an egalitarian ideal, this curriculum I am charged to deliver disadvantages the many students of mine whose parents don't read, whose parents don't cook, whose parents don't enforce bed-time—for it presupposes that my students will come to school wellread, well-fed and well-rested. Many don't. Many come to school tense and irritable from too little sleep, too little food, and too much fighting at home. Many come to school having spent their money on unlimited mobile Facebook plans and “energy” drinks, instead of school books and nutritious food.

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Yet the mill of assessment demands that I assign grades to these children. Boys who can shoot and hunt and fish, but can't read so well. Girls aged twelve who can wrestle a sheep into a pen and punch harder than the Year 9 boys—I'm supposed to assess their “intercultural awareness”. Should I teach them to code-shift into the middle class, thereby perpetuating Australia's secret caste system, or should I get busy smashing the codes? What vanity, what hubris, leads me to presume such a choice? “We're going to Brisbane for the weekend to see Mamma Mia! Should be good … a bit of culcha”—colleague in the staffroom.

Half my colleagues value the fact that I'm “cultured”, and I'm sure the other half think I'm “that wanker from the city”, but they're too polite to say so. How do I thread the needle between rural parochialism and urban snobbery (Welch, 2007)? When I propose to build a Japanese garden outside the brand-new BER (Building the Education Revolution) Language Centre, there are snorts and chortles from my colleagues. But the scoffing in the staffroom becomes less audible over the coming year as the garden takes shape—mapped out by a design professional, my exwife, after her ever-meticulous research—and enthusiastically adopted by the school’s garden makeover experts. The HSC construction class builds a 3-metre Shinto torii (gate), and the remedial class of “Muscles to Men” boys pave and landscape the garden. I might be a wanker from the city, but things get done when I’m around. I find the much-vaunted sense of country community both beguiling and consoling. The locals really care about and look out for each other. Nothing is too much trouble. The grapevine ensures that a solution is quickly found for any domestic challenge. Teachers are a somebody in this town. My city friends all think I've taken some sort of hardship post. They give me incredulous looks when I assure them that I do, in fact, like it here, very much. This is called New England, Celtic Country. How much historical and cultural erasure can you pack into a few simple terms? It's not Celtic Country, it's Ngoorabul land, always was, always will be. But the locals don't see it that way. Their generation rode the wave of 1960s-70s rediscovery of “ethnic” identities and they revel in the imagined community (Anderson, 1991) of their newly-minted heritage. It doesn't take much; you only need a half-Scottish ancestor on your father's side, or a few strands of auburn hair or ginger freckles, and you too can be a “Celt”. You too can enjoy the highlands romance of mist, poetry, bagpipes, shortbread and standing stones. You too can shed a nostalgic

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tear for a land you have never seen. You certainly don't need any Gaelic. There are no qualms here about such conspicuous displays of multicultural ethnic pride being “divisive” or “undermining Australian identity”, because the people engaging in the frivolity are all white. And you can call this territory New England and Celtic Country, because there were only a few blackfellas here, and anyway they only stayed during the warmer months of the year, and anyway they don't count. Twenty-some years ago, the town erected a postmodern circle of standing stones on the hill, the raw granite deeply scarred by the heavy industrial equipment with which it was quarried and transported. It's Stonehenge built by a committee, and they only just stopped short of affixing plaques announcing the sponsors (this Monolith brought to you by…). Forty thousand years ago, the real sacred site was sung just south of here, a natural standing stone circle, reverent and numinous as any cathedral, now littered with broken bottles and graffiti. New England, Celtic Country. I can understand the impulse of migrant people in a strange land looking to re-imagine their identity in a culturally denatured space where they took no cues from the Indigenous cultures and also wished to re-invent their own heritage (Gunew, 1990). I can see the solace and the joy it brings them. But still, how dare they? “They eat whales.”

That is what every year 7 student knows about the Japanese. Since they are so preoccupied with the matter, and try to use it as an excuse to disengage from the course, I develop a one-week unit of work for students to do some research and critical reflection about Australian attitudes towards Japanese whaling. Together we watch an ABC documentary about the case of the “Tokyo Two”—Touru Suzuki and Junichi Sato, Japanese Greenpeace activists who exposed rorting and corruption of their government's so-called scientific whaling program (Willacy, 2010). It is news to the students that there are Japanese who oppose whaling. It is news to the students that Japanese people have been more effective scrutineers and activists against their government’s whaling program than the Sea Shepherd. It is news to the students that the reason whales are endangered is due to the industrialscale hunts carried out by Australia, the USA, Britain, Russia and many other countries throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. It is news to the students that today more Japanese people make a living out of tourist businesses in whale watching than in whale hunting.

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I see some of the boys, avid hunters, experience an unexpected and, for them, unwelcome frisson of identification with a retired septugenarian Japanese ex-whaler, when the old man of the sea recounts in Moby Dickstyle narrative, “the thrill of the hunt” (Willacy, 2010 17 min.). “Yeah,” one of the boys volunteers, haltingly, “if they weren't endangered, it would be pretty cool to try it, they're pretty awesome”. The boy, a barely-literate sheep farmer’s son, recognises across generations, cultures and languages a shared connection with the old whaler—the primeval hunter’s bloodlust, co-mingled with respect and admiration for the beasts they pursue. A tacit acknowledgement hangs in the air, a realisation that Japanese whalers are not sub-human in the pursuit of their quarry—they are, indeed, all too human. I set them some homework to find out what became of the “Tokyo Two”. “Sir! Sir! It’s terrible,” students report the next day, “they got arrested and went to prison!” “Ahh, you have to read more carefully. It says they got a suspended sentence. Who knows the difference between a gaol sentence and a suspended sentence?” Without warning, I am answered by the bullet-headed boy who usually sits, sullen and silent throughout most lessons. In the slurred uneven cadences of broad Strine, he manages, “yep, a suspended sentence / is what m'dad's got.” He makes this startling disclosure without a shred of embarrassment. It seems to burst out involuntarily, impelled by the almost-forgotten, now suddenly urgent, desire to participate, to please the teacher and impress his classmates. Even as he is speaking, his usually dull eyes light up with surprise : for once, Sir is goin' on about somethin' I get! And that is the reality for a lot of these kids. The plight of the whales concerns the average urban-dwelling Australian far more than the fact that a lot of children in country schools have close and regular contact with the justice system. Being an average formerly urban-dwelling Australian, I move on swiftly to the counterfactual Socratic dialogue I have planned, to ascertain the basis of the students' objections to whaling: “Why are you opposed to Japanese whaling?” “Because they're endangered!” “Right, so if they weren't endangered, that would be OK then?” “No!” “In that case, it's not really their endangered status that you're worried about …try again?”

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Chapter Four “Because it’s cruel and they suffer!” “Right, so if they found a humane method of slaughter that would be OK then?” “No!” “In that case, it’s not really the method of slaughter that you're worried about… …try again?” “Because it’s in our waters!” “So if they just went whaling in their own waters, I guess you'd be OK with that then?” “No!” “What about the whaling done today by citizens of Canada, Iceland, Indonesia Norway and the USA? Are you as angry at those countries for whaling as you are at Japan?” “Errr…no…not really.” “I wonder why that is?”

In the end, through this counter-factual thought experiment, we can find no coherent basis for their objection. There is only the perfect ouruboros of bigotry: “the Japanese are bad because they go whaling, which is bad because…they go whaling and they're Japanese”. Some are bemused, some amused, some outraged, by this exposure. I am merciless in my cross-examination, not because I support whaling (I am opposed, but I know my opposition is bunk), but I know that they need to learn how to see other beliefs “from the inside”, and examine their own “from the outside”. Our culture affords a semi-sanctified status to cetaceans that we withhold from most other beings. Yet we crack wise about Hindu cowworship. It need not cause great cognitive or emotional distress to acknowledge this mere cultural blind-spot, but the injury it does to our self-concept as enlightened, rational beings is too much for many to take. The Year 7 boys’ suggested solution to this ideological impasse is to declare war on Japan. The next week, we cover Hiroshima. “I became so attached, in, like, five minutes…”—Year 11 student after meeting Japanese students for the first time.

I watch with delight my Year 10 and 11 students as they mix with fellows at a middle school in Japan for an English practice lesson. As far as I’m concerned, they are all stars, but one in particular stands out as a dazzling, natural teacher. All of sixteen years old, she holds the class’s attention with unselfconscious charm. Afterwards, in the lunch room, I ask “Have you ever thought of being a teacher?”

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A momentary direct gaze at me, a widening of the eyes and a flicker of realisation cross her face, answering me in the affirmative, but she soon marshals the instinctive contrariness of a teenager with which to stifle this unguarded response. She contrives to hunch her shoulders forward, mask the smile and direct her eyes downwards and to the left—a cautious “...maybe, a little bit,” is all she will allow by way of reply. This is a straight-A student who achieved the first-ever perfect score in our half-yearly exam. Smart, popular and attractive, no way is she going to publicly admit to any interest in something as fatally uncool as teaching. “Well I’ve got terrible news for you kid, you’re a natural.” Another reflexive smile dances across her face before she can strangle the impulse and resume the bored teenage mask. But in that exchange, we both know—she’s a goner! I can’t reach them all. I can’t lean at full stretch into the darkness. No one teacher could. But I do reach some, on a good day, many. And I have to admit the ones I find easiest to reach are those with whom I share a common cultural code. The code of the middle-class, which values manners over authenticity, words over deeds and form over content. We are the political, economic, social and cultural gatekeepers, and through the fake meritocracy we have built and which we control, with our gradebooks and our assessment rubrics and our objectives and outcomes, we ensure that our children shall inherit the earth. Is it really all so bleak? Maybe. Probably. No, not really. Teaching is a “profession of hope” (Wrigley, 2003), and interest in languages at the school is growing. New elective classes in Japanese have begun for the first time in many years. Next year I plan to pilot Indigenous languages and Korean. We already run videoconference classes with schools in South Korea. Through that DER (Digital Education Revolution) videoconference unit, my students have a literal window on the world that was unimaginable for my generation. And all the students are excited about the Japanese garden. They look forward to holding outdoor music, art, dance and drama classes in that evocative setting. Finally, far from isolated, the Internet connects me with professional colleagues across NSW, Australia and internationally. We exchange lesson materials, organise conferences, develop programs and swap excursion ideas. We boast and celebrate each other’s achievements. I am part of a “Community of Practice” (CoP) (Wenger, 1998) numbering in the thousands, nurtured and sustained by officers at the NSW Curriculum Learning and Innovation Centre, most conspicuously one Sally Shimada. But really, as is the truth of any organic CoP, it is sustained collectively by

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all of us, all co-contributors, all collaborators, all fellows on the professional journey. So in the near future, as music classes start in the garden, as my students try to master Japanese and Korean syllabaries, and as, I hope, we hear the Ngoorabul language spoken openly, proudly, in the school and the town for the first time in generations; I suspect I may be here for a little while yet—happy to be a class traitor, and a race traitor to boot. If the town only had a beach, I might never leave. Dedicated to Dorothy Commons-sensei, Brady-Lee, Casey, Dominic, Dylan, Emily, Tailla, Tayla, Taylah, Taylor and Tyler, without whom none of this would have been possible.

References ACARA. (2012). Australian Curriculum. Australian Curriculum. Retrieved from http://www.acara.edu.au/curriculum/curriculum.html Anderson, B. (1991). Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso. Board of Studies, N. (2012). Years 7-10 Syllabuses. Retrieved from http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_sc/ Campbell, C. (2007). Class and competition. In R. Connell, C. Campbell, M. Vickers, A. Welch, D. Foley & N. Bagnall (Eds.), Education, Change & Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Chow, M. H. (2003). The Study of Japan in Australia: A unique development over eighty years. Kyoto: International Research Center for Japanese Studies. Connell, R., Ashenden, D., Kessler, S., & Dowsett, G. (1982). Making the difference: Schools, families and social division. Sydney: Allen & Unwin. Connell, R.W. (1993). Schools and social justice. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. —. (2003). Working-class families and the new secondary education. Australian Journal of Education, 47 (3), 235-237. Gunew, S. (1990). Denaturalizing cultural nationalism: multicultural readings of Australia. In H. K. Bhaba (Ed.), Nation and Narration. London: Routledge. McGray, D. (2002, May 2002). Japan's gross national cool. Foreign Policy, 2002. Ricoeur, P. (1976). Interpretation theory: discourse and the surplus of meaning. Forth Worth, Texas: The Texas Christian University Press.

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van Manen, M. (1997). Researching lived experience: Human science for an action sensitive pedagogy (2nd ed.). Ontario, Canada: The University of Western Ontario. Vickers, M. (2007). Curriculum. In R. Connell, C. Campbell, M. Vickers, A. Welch, D. Foley & N. Bagnall (Eds.), Education, Change & Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning as a social system. Systems Thinker. Willacy, M. (Writer). (2010). The Catch [Television]. In A. B. Corporation (Producer), Foreign Correspondent. Australia: Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Wrigley, T. (2003). Schools of hope: A new agenda for school improvement. Stoke on Trent: Trentham Books Limited.

CHAPTER FIVE TEACHING IN A PRIMARY IMMERSION MODEL KYLIE FARMER

Experiences in Immersion Education Through this chapter I hope to capture some of the many enjoyable and rewarding aspects which have featured through my journey as a language teaching professional, particularly in relation to my experiences in immersion education. Some of the comments are made relating to my time as a classroom practitioner and some as a teacher educator involved in leading professional learning for language teachers which is the pathway my teaching career has now taken. Throughout this chapter I use both the terms “bilingual” and “immersion”. In the Australian context these are often used interchangeably by schools, although they have become associated with different types of programs, for example, in the North American context. The amazing world of languages opened for me when I began to learn French at secondary school. More than the language structures, I remember the culture and sense of wonder that there were other ‘ways of being’ that fascinated me. The following year I was able to further expand my world when I began to learn Japanese. It was my first real window to Asia and I loved the culture and people I met there. Through both native and non-native teachers of Japanese I enjoyed the challenge and sense of achievement as I began to understand more of the language, particularly in Year 12. Learning Japanese has lead to conversations, friendships and so many opportunities I would never have dreamed of, and that would not have eventuated otherwise. Opportunities such as taking a number of groups of 11 year old children to the Asian Pacific Children's Convention in Fukuoka, being invited to Tokyo to present a keynote address in Japanese at a Symposium on Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language and many, many more.

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The enjoyment I had gained through learning languages was something I wanted to share with young children. Following a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Japanese and Linguistics I completed a Diploma of Education (Primary, Languages Other Than English). I was fortunate to begin my language teaching career in 1995 when many Victorian government primary schools were just beginning to implement Japanese programs. In my first school I could see children’s eyes being opened to a bigger world when they began to learn a second language for the very first time. As I read beautiful stories in Japanese and we sang songs and played games I could see the wonder and sense of amazement as, like myself just a few years before them, the children began to realise that there were different ways of living and doing things. For others who already spoke another language at home, it meant that it was no longer “just” English at school but other languages were being spoken about and valued. Very often it was these children who were quick to pick up the Japanese language being taught, which was wonderful for their self esteem and confidence. Very quickly I began to see what was possible for children in terms of learning a second language, given appropriate factors of time, resources and program “conditions” referred to in the Professional Standards for Accomplished Teaching of Languages and Cultures (Australian Federation of Modern Language Teachers’ Associations, 2005) as Program Standards. I began to wonder about a way of addressing the “crowded curriculum” and what would be possible if languages were also taught through other areas of the curriculum. In 1997 I had an opportunity to be able to spend six months living and working in Japan and to really apply my language skills and experience the “real” Japan. I had previously been on short trips and had taken a number of groups of primary school students around Japan and had perhaps developed a surface-level “stereotypical” understanding of Japan and its culture. Through living there for an extended stay I began to realise the more I thought I knew, the less I really knew about Japan. On returning to Melbourne, I was very pleased to learn that the Victorian Government had just established the Bilingual Schools Project which included 3 Japanese bilingual programs in primary schools. I successfully applied for a classroom teaching position at Huntingdale Primary School as I saw this as an ideal opportunity to combine my generalist classroom teaching qualifications with my passion for Japan and Japanese language education. I was very fortunate to be able to work in a school in which the leadership, staff and school community were committed to providing students with a quality bilingual education. The immersion program provides all students from Prep to Year 6 with 7.5 hours of instruction in Japanese each week.

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This includes 2.5 hours of Language (Japanese) and 5 hours of other areas of the curriculum delivered entirely in Japanese. Entire subjects (apart from English and Maths) are planned for, taught, assessed and reported on by the Japanese teaching staff. Throughout my time at Huntingdale I was constantly amazed and inspired by the achievement of students in particular in the three areas which Lo Bianco identifies as the 3 aspects which parents, administrators and teachers typically ask questions about at the beginning of a new bilingual immersion program: “second language, first language and subject mastery” (Lo Bianco & Slaughter, 2009, p. 31). Consistent with research, I experienced that an immersion program is a “valid, effective and durable mode” for students to learn a second language as well as for learning areas of the curriculum taught through that language and for supporting their English language development. In addition, I found there were many other benefits which would be interesting areas for further research. One example of this was the way the Year 6 students engage in the school trip to Japan. I was always impressed by the way the students responded competently to being immersed in the language and culture of Japan. Over the many Huntingdale trips I have taken I have rarely had students ask “What are they saying?” or “I don’t know what to do – I don’t understand!” The students have been immersed in Japanese, many since Prep, and have high receptive language skills and comprehension strategies that are well beyond what might be expected. The opportunity for the senior students to travel to Japan and apply their language skills in the “real world” is a wonderful way to culminate their experiences in the bilingual program. I know for me personally, I too valued the opportunity to experience the “real” Japan after studying and learning the language in Australia for many years and I have seen the benefit this has had for students in deepening their level of understanding and engagement with the language and culture. Another example of a benefit to the children is the self esteem which students develop through their time in the immersion program. Students are challenged and expected to achieve, and their second language ability is something through which their self confidence is enhanced. The factors which contribute to this can be difficult to pinpoint. Walqui, Garcia and Hamburger (2004, cited in Garcia, 2009, p. 321) also refer to this in relation to expectations and rigour. They identify that good pedagogy in immersion programs… …means having high expectations and promoting academic rigor. In these classrooms, there is mutual respect, and all students, regardless of skill or proficiency, are encouraged to achieve. Furthermore, the teacher

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communicates clearly to students that it is necessary to work hard and take risks in order to master challenging academic work.

I experienced this in my time at Huntingdale. A particular strength of the program was that all students from Prep to Year 6 were involved in the bilingual program rather than, as in some schools, there being both a bilingual stream and an English-only stream. This helps everyone to see the bilingual program as “normal” and what everybody “just does” rather than “special” or only for “clever” students. Within the communicative approach, I tend to identify with the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) method developed by Echevarria, Vogt and Short (2004). SIOP features the following characteristics: x content and language objectives that are developed concurrently x comprehensible input that uses guarded speech, clear explanation of tasks and visuals or modelling of lesson in the form of graphic organisers x the linking of concepts to students’ background and emphasising key vocabulary; x supporting students’ understanding and use of questions that promote higher order thinking x providing opportunities for interaction and sufficient wait time, as well as co-operative learning (cited in Garcia, 2009, p. 315). x A further characteristic, considered significant in this approach, and which I did not incorporate, was the use of English to clarify concepts and understanding. In implementing an immersion program there are many factors which need to be considered to help ensure the program is sustainable and achieves the optimum learning outcomes for students. I have expanded on 6 key factors below: 1. 100% use of target language by teachers. I really saw how powerful it was to only use the target language in immersion classes. Of course at times it would have been “easier” to use English but I knew that as soon as I opened this “floodgate” the option to just use a little English would have been very difficult to restrict. As a non-native speaker of Japanese, of course there were times when I didn’t know the exact word I needed but I would either say it in another way or model ways of finding out the word, for example, asking a native speaker colleague or using a

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dictionary. At times it was necessary to reassure students, particularly new students entering the program, that I did not expect them to understand all that was said in Japanese but that they needed to use all possible strategies available to them to help make sense of what was being communicated. I am however aware of recent discussions in the field about “translanguaging” (Garcia, 2009), described as “an act of bilingual performance and as a bilingual pedagogy for teaching and learning” (Garcia & Leiva, 2012, p. 1). I am interested in the implications of this and look forward to seeing how this practice develops in bilingual schools and impacts on student learning and use of language. 2. encouraging and scaffolding student use of target language. At all times students need to be encouraged to speak in the target language. Initially student responses in English are accepted but gradually students need to be supported and expected to respond in the target language. I find this is an ongoing challenge for teachers in immersion programs and takes both time and creativity on the part of teachers to constantly implement strategies to encourage and facilitate improved productive language skills. 3. carefully planned units of work which include guiding questions, content focus and language focus. Making explicit in the planning the content, language, intercultural understandings and language awareness skills which are to be taught through the unit helps to ensure that both language goals and content goals can be achieved. When teaching in an immersion program I find it helpful to remember Walqui’s (2006, as cited in Garcia, 2009, p. 321) quote: “amplify, do not simplify”. That is, to ensure academic rigour is maintained, it is important to amplify both the language used and concepts included and not to just cover the “easier” parts of the curriculum. 4. maximising opportunities for students to use their language skills in interesting and meaningful ways. As Garcia (2009, p. 314) says, “school subjects are what children need to talk about in school, so it (immersion program) provides the motivation and opportunity for meaningful communication”. Other ways to maximise opportunities for language use include school assemblies conducted in Japanese, a Japanese school play, Japanese sports carnival family BBQ nights, Japanese immersion camps, Web 2.0 projects and other global projects such as the “teddy bear” project which was conducted with other children around the world learning Japanese at school.

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5. co-operation between the English-speaking teachers and the Japanese-speaking teachers to ensure planning, selection of content, knowledge of individual students and alignment of practice, that is, using similar thinking skills or other learning tools/strategies in both languages, for example, Early Years literacy structures (whole/part/whole), assessment tools, ICT. 6. engaging Japanese speaking community members to maximise opportunities for students to interact with Japanese speakers. I actively sought and encouraged Japanese speaking parents, university students and other volunteers who could come into the classrooms on a regular basis to support the students' learning experience. This was ideal for facilitating small group work and individual activities such as listening to students reading in Japanese. The Japanese immersion program at Huntingdale attracts families who value quality bilingual education, those who have Japanese heritage, as well as those for whom it is the local school. One of the many benefits of this and one of the aspects which I loved about the program is that students of Japanese background can be proud of their cultural heritage and linguistic skills. For example, Japanese students don't need to be shy about having a beautiful obentoo-style lunchbox as this is accepted as being quite normal. Similarly, it is not unusual to hear both Japanese and nonJapanese background students chatting in Japanese in the playground. The professional learning needs of languages teachers in immersion programs are quite different to teachers in regular languages programs. An invaluable form of professional learning is visiting other immersion programs to be able to share experiences and observe best practice. I was fortunate to be able to visit a number of exemplary immersion Japanese programs in the United States, Queensland and NSW. Since taking family leave from my position as classroom teacher and bilingual program coordinator at Huntingdale, I have facilitated the Modern Language Teacher Association of Victoria's Bilingual Schools Network. This brings together teachers from Bilingual Schools twice a year for professional learning to provide collegiate support, opportunities to observe best practice and to share effective immersion strategies through targeted workshops relevant to the needs of teachers in bilingual schools. It addresses an important issue identified by Swain and Johnson (1997) in terms of the demands which immersion programs place on teachers: that is, immersion education is demanding for teachers and students alike, and commitment and resources are crucial for a program’s success.

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One issue which immersion teachers find challenging is how to effectively assess and report on student achievement in Languages. Students’ progress and level of achievement does not tend to align with state achievement standards for Languages such as those outlined in the Victorian Essential Learning Standards (VELS). Many schools struggle to find individual solutions for assessing bilingual education. For example, the Italian bilingual school in Sydney uses literacy measures from Italy and the Macedonian bilingual program in Melbourne references the English as an Additional Language (or Dialect) materials from the VELS. At Huntingdale we found it useful to “unpack” the VELS Progression Measures to add detail and also developed a range of assessment tools which were used to elicit student achievement. Schools involved in the Victorian Government Bilingual Schools Project provide Annual Reports to the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD) as part of the Memorandum of Understanding. Data from these reports indicates that schools with a focus on literacy in the bilingual program have higher student learning outcomes in languages. This is not dissimilar to what Baetens Beardsmore (1993) states about immersion education: in the European context, immersion education has had a history of success with its explicit teaching and links to wider language use outside the classroom. To further develop teacher understandings of the importance of literacy, in late 2011 the Modern Language Teachers’ Association of Victoria’s Bilingual Schools Network launched a series of professional learning modules entitled “A focus on Literacy: Improving Student Learning Outcomes in Bilingual Programs”. This involves teachers in developing effective pedagogy and strategies to facilitate strong literacy development in immersion programs. It can encourage collaboration between English Literacy Co-ordinators and bilingual teachers to strengthen their shared understandings of literacy in a bilingual context. I have been really pleased to be able to share my passion for immersion education in supporting a number of new bilingual programs which have been established in both New South Wales and Victoria. In Victoria, the ESL Unit of the DEECD set up an immersion program to support children who have recently immigrated from Burma. A Karen (Tibeto/Burman) bilingual program is operating in a Wyndham Primary School to support students’ first language development with the intention of this enhancing their learning of English as an Additional Language. I am so pleased that the principles of immersion education are being valued by the education system for the many benefits it brings to students.

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During the many years I have been teaching in an immersion program and the years since I have been on family leave and facilitating the Bilingual Schools Network, I have continued to be inspired and challenged by the opportunities an immersion program can provide to students as well as the rewarding career it can provide for teachers of languages. I feel very fortunate to have been involved in the world of immersion education for the past 17 years and the opportunities for growth it has provided me. I continue to be passionate about expanding bilingual learning opportunities for students and supporting teachers to facilitate this. It is a growing but still fairly small field within languages education and perhaps as a result of this, my experiences have given me leadership opportunities which may not otherwise have been available. I look forward to continuing to promote and support opportunities to expand bilingual education in Australia and will advocate strongly the benefits and amazing possibilities.

References Australian Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations. (2005). Professional Standards for Accomplished Teaching of Languages and Cultures. Canberra: Department of Education, Science and Training Baetens Beardsmore, H. (1993). European models of bilingual education. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters. Echevarria, J., Vogt, M.E. & Short, D. (2000). Making content comprehensible for English language learners: The SIOP model. (2nd Ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Garcia, O. (2009). Bilingual Education in the 21st Century: A Global Perspective. West Sussex, UK: Wiley Blackwell. Garcia, O., with Leiva, C. (2012). Theorizing and enacting translanguaging for social justice. In A. Creese & A. Blackledge, (Eds.). Heteroglossia as practice and pedagogy. Retrieved from www.bangor.ac.uk LoBianco, J. & Slaughter, Y. (2009). Australian Education Review: Second Languages and Australian Schooling. Camberwell, VIC: Australian Council for Educational Research. Scully, M. (2012). Huntingdale Primary School: Showcasing bilingual education in Melbourne. Retrieved from http://huntingdaleps.vic.edu.au/page/2/

Swain, M. & Johnson, R.K. (1997). Immersion Education: a category within bilingual education. In R.K. Johnson & M. Swain (Eds.), Immersion education: international perspectives. (pp.1–16). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

CHAPTER SIX TEACHING IN CLIL PROGRAMS: QUEENSLAND TEACHERS’ STORIES OF BILINGUAL EDUCATION JEN MCKENDRY, ULLA FREIHOFNER AND SIMONE SMALA

Three Teachers and Their Stories Jen and Ulla’s stories tell of how they teach in secondary school level CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) programs, a commonly used term for delivering subject content through the medium of a second language. While Jen trained as a German teacher, Ulla trained as a subjectspecific teacher, so both teachers are complementing each other’s perspectives and experiences here. Ulla comes from Germany and Jen learned German in Australia and then during extended periods in Germany. Their high proficiency in German is a common ground in their CLIL teaching experience.

Jen If someone had told me in my senior school years that I would become a secondary school German teacher, I would have roared laughing. I now teach in one of only two German CLIL programs in Queensland and enjoy my job immensely. The question I am asked most often is, “How did you get into German? Are your parents German?” My response is always, “It was a mistake.” I had never wanted to be a teacher, I simply wanted to travel. The smartest route to achieve this was to learn a language within an Arts degree and combine it with an Education degree. I had learned Italian in primary school and was keen to continue it at university.

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Unfortunately the University of Queensland did not offer Italian. Rather, it was offered at Griffith University across the other side of the city. As I was not yet 18 and only a newcomer to Brisbane from regional Queensland, my mother was not at all keen that I travel that far. One of my friends had learned German at her primary school and was continuing on at the University of Queensland and asked me if I would join her in German. I eventually enrolled in Beginner level German. Thus with no German heritage and no knowledge of the language whatsoever, I began learning an additional language. Now as a CLIL teacher, I love telling my students that I was indeed the worst student in the German Department at the University of Queensland for three years. I failed every listening exam in third year. I recall my classmates making fun of me when I made grammatical errors. However, one thing kept me from failing each semester — my lecturer. For some unknown reason, he could see that I was working as hard as I could and so he continued to encourage me. I tell my students this story when it all gets a bit hard. I remind them that if a non-native speaker like me can become fluent, they can too. This story also reminds me that there will always be students who make errors. But if they persist and work hard on their language learning, prepositions, cases, genders and the like will become easier. When I finished my Arts degree, I decided to work as an au pair for a year in Bavaria to improve my German. I not only fulfilled my desire to travel but improved my language skills to such an extent that I successfully went on to complete a double degree. My time in Germany certainly improved my proficiency and I also acquired a love of German culture which remains just as strong today. After two further years in Germany, as a language assistant and again as an au pair, I improved my language skills to a “near native” standard. Each of my trips to Germany had included my participation in formal certified language courses. The stars aligned, I eventually became a CLIL teacher and five years on, I have just farewelled my first group of CLIL students who had completed their studies with me from Year 8 to Year 12. I am a non-native speaker teacher and I believe this can have a comforting effect on my students. That is, I believe they expect not to be judged too harshly for errors in pronunciation and grammar, as they have heard my own personal stories of language learning. I really enjoy watching students on this journey: they move from very limited understanding of how a language fits together, to what I call “lightbulb” moments. Sometimes it happens when they are overseas on exchange, when they can finally put theory into practice, for example, to order their

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own ice cream in the target language. Sometimes it is grasping particularly complex grammar concepts, sometimes it is just the tangible reward of a sticker after receiving ten out of ten on a weekly vocabulary test. CLIL teaching is particularly rewarding over a period of time, and it has further implications. By continuing to achieve these little milestones or “lightbulb” moments within the program, I see students becoming curious about what else they can achieve in life. It is this thirst or curiosity I hope my students receive from my language teaching and their CLIL experience. However, CLIL teaching is not without its challenges. Although I believe in the many benefits of being a non-native speaker teacher of German, at the same time that issue becomes my biggest challenge. I find that the longer I am away from the target country, the weaker my language skills become and I grasp for simple words, which whilst living there, came with ease. Regular visits to Germany, either on exchange trips with students or on professional development courses as part of our school’s participation in the PASCH (Partner Schools for the Future, administered by the Goethe Institute) initiative, serve as refresher courses and are simply invaluable to a non-native speaker teacher. I would question my viability as a suitable teacher for the program if I did not have regular incountry access to the German language and culture. When it comes to classroom practice, there is no specific pedagogy that I employ with my students to ensure their success in the classroom. I have fun with the students and I think my enthusiasm for the language and the German culture is infectious. Sometimes the “crazier” you are as a teacher, the more reaction you receive from the students. For example, we have a class mascot, a dragon named “Richard”. We are not sure where he came from, but the students adore him and seem to be more motivated in his presence. I am, however, a big believer in routine in language learning, and my students know that there will be a vocabulary test at the start of most lessons. We talk and laugh a lot but my students know that there are times when they must work hard. On a personal level, I find my work extremely rewarding. As a nonnative speaker I am able to model being a life-long learner. I know, and I tell them too, that there are always more opportunities to improve language skills. Every now and then work pressures build up and I start to consider a career change. But I struggle to think of a suitable alternative career path which would combine my passions of travel, people, language and culture as well as does teaching. Ultimately, the rewarding nature of my work is all about the students I teach and those “lightbulb” moments — they may be infrequent, but they are priceless when they happen.

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Ulla I was born and grew up in Germany and language and languages featured prominently in my story from the start. For example, my father was interested in ancient history and languages, and from an early age I knew he was passionate about such scholarly study. Then for our first family trip from Germany to Greece, I recall my siblings and I learned the Greek language to be able to connect with the Greek culture and people. I was fifteen and already knew a fair amount of English. Language learning and focus on language was part of me. Languages were all around me—literally—and I was aware of needing to communicate with people from different European countries, such as Italy, Portugal, Spain, France, and England. Learning an amount of the basics of those languages became my hobby right throughout my childhood and my teen years. While still in Germany I trained as a teacher in a number of subject areas: Health and Physical Education, Music, and Technology. Soon, however, I felt I wanted to work overseas. I married, and my husband and I travelled and explored different avenues to pursue work overseas. This finally led us to move to Australia in 1989, by which time we had two young sons. Looking for a bilingual education for our sons, we came upon the Rudolf Steiner School in Brisbane. Rudolf Steiner Schools are a type of independent school, based on the pedagogy of Swiss philosopher Rudolf Steiner, with an arts-based approach following children’s developmental stages. The school offered extensive German classes and it was located in a rather sizeable German-speaking community. We settled in Samford and not long after, I started teaching Health and Physical Education, German, and Art and Craft at the Samford Valley Steiner School. Teaching language in a non-mainstream schooling system gave me the opportunity to explore a wide variety of language teaching strategies and the opportunity to explore the relationship between teaching languages and teaching movement, drama, games and poetry. In 2008 I took another position teaching Science and Health and Physical Education in a German CLIL program at another high school in Brisbane. My teacher training from Germany allowed me to be qualified to teach science and the combination of a teaching subject and my native German proficiency totally suited the CLIL program. The difference between teaching in the CLIL program and “mainstream” language lessons became very obvious very quickly. Students who enrol in a CLIL program are, for a variety of reasons, very motivated and spirited,

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whereas in my experience, Year 8 “mainstream” students do not always have that same energy and passion. The challenges involved in a CLIL curriculum just seem to attract those students who want that challenge. All the CLIL teachers at my school share a staffroom. German teachers and science teachers who teach their subject in German need to work together on a daily basis to share experiences and plan for student learning. There is a lot of cross-curricular synergy. For example if, in German classes, the lesson focus is on the Human Body, this will be reflected in my Health and Physical Education lessons. Talking about different body parts and related theory when practising movement skills, is part of Health and Physical Education. In Science class, the body parts will be examined through biology. Therefore, the students receive the subject knowledge in German in different lessons, and hopefully will be able to cross-reference and to learn both the language and the subject knowledge quicker and more efficiently. There are still challenges, however. There is, for example, never enough funding to provide much needed professional development for subject teachers doubling as language teachers. As well, in a CLIL program there is a need for more classroom resources, and resources for educating parents. Thankfully great support comes from the German Government via the Goethe Institute which provides fully-funded travel and study scholarships for CLIL teachers, as well as funds for specific classroom resources. When reflecting on my classroom practices and ways of approaching the teaching of Science or Health and Physical Education in a CLIL program, some strategies come to mind. To activate all language skills in German, I am always looking for practical applications to provide as reallife examples for scaffolding. In Science, this happens through conducting experiments. In Health and Physical Education, which is itself a very practical subject, I try offering a great number of social opportunities through game play and skill acquisition. Every Science lesson involves phases of revision, new content, experimental investigation and the application of newly built and revised knowledge. The revision happens via quizzes, vocabulary tests, puzzles, cloze exercises and mind maps with the help of information communication technology. The activities are familiar to any science teacher, and work well for consolidation in German. New content is explained through textbook investigations, translation work, and reading aloud, so that pronunciation can be explored at the same time. I use lots of illustrations, photos and sketches on the whiteboard. I am constantly mindful that I am a subject teacher as well as a language teacher.

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My experience as a CLIL teacher has had some unexpected benefits. CLIL classes stay together from Year 8 to Year 10, and teaching the same student cohort in one class over a longer time span offers a lot more scope and possibilities. Our rapport is very good, behaviour management problems are more manageable, and in some classes have even decreased considerably, leaving more space for working on subject knowledge. For example, I am adding to the practical aspects of the Geology and Ecology unit by building a school garden and working on a live chicken study. There is often not enough time and space for projects like these in mainstream classes due to ongoing behaviour management problems, but I have found that there are fewer problems in CLIL classes. Teaching a very motivated group of students challenges not only a teacher’s teaching repertoire, but also one’s ability to teach with information communication technology tools. I was thus motivated to apply for a scholarship from the Goethe Institute to allow me to learn all about “Blended Learning” and to gain knowledge and expertise in this area. I have consequently become a member of a Goethe Institute “Multiplikatorengruppe”, which contributes new ideas using information communication technology tools in language teaching in peer-to-peer professional development sessions for other German and German CLIL teachers. This is a great opportunity to make language learning a really rich and rewarding experience. I would like to see the creation of CLIL programs in many more high schools. Teaching in a CLIL program is rewarding and inspiring and continuously offers opportunities for the teacher and the students to get involved in language-rich situations and integrated language and content projects. After four years teaching in the CLIL program and seeing students’ language proficiency outcomes, I believe that it would be wonderful for as many students as possible to be exposed to a CLIL program. The advantages of CLIL compared to regular foreign language learning are far-reaching, even with the challenges that such a program admittedly also presents. I like to think that as language teachers we hold the globe in our hands. I like to think that we are able to make a valid contribution to a multilingual society with a global outlook and global linguistic and cultural skills.

Reflections on Teaching in a CLIL Program: Simone, Jen and Ulla We believe that the teachers and students are very proud of the teaching and learning which goes on in their CLIL programs. Due to our

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program’s selection processes (sometimes self-selection), CLIL students are often characterised by traits such as high academic achievement, excellent time management and organizational skills, an open mind, a good work ethic, and a healthy sense of humour. These traits make CLIL teaching enjoyable too. A new CLIL class in Year 8 is encouraged to think of themselves as a team and they learn to work through any difficulties together. Each class group develops an individual set of characteristics and no two cohorts are ever exactly the same. One of the most valuable advantages we have observed and actively promote to interested parents is the friendships that are made in the program. The CLIL students go through a shared experience and spend so much time together in their classes that lifelong bonds are created. The students share the majority of classes and the transition from primary school to a larger secondary school is gentler, due to the fixed class cohort formation. For parents of beginning Year 8 students in a large secondary school, this can be reassuring. There is a danger, however, that a specialist program like the CLIL program attracts criticism. However, we feel that most criticism can be traced back to the “tall poppy syndrome”: that is, to a perception among some of the wider school community that CLIL students attract too much attention, receive far too many resources, and create more work for other teachers when they return to the mainstream. Being part of a new and innovative teaching model means a greater workload for CLIL teachers. CLIL teachers’ tasks include production of teaching resources, translating Australian textbooks, team planning, teaching and assessing, organisation of the annual exchange trip, parent liaison, and student welfare and support. However, we strongly believe that the benefits for the language students, the school as a whole, and our professional experience as teachers, are great enough to make the effort worthwhile. Schools with CLIL programs often do well in tertiary entry scores, have an international outlook and generally manage to retain a favourable mix of students from all socio-economic backgrounds. All good reasons for us to love our work!

Some Notes on Content and Language Integrated Learning With the increase of CLIL programs worldwide over the past 20 years, both teachers and researchers are developing a clearer understanding of quality CLIL pedagogies that can enhance the dual focus of language learning outcomes and content learning outcomes. In particular, Do Coyle

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from the UK has elaborated a framework of principles that helps to structure and scaffold teaching in a CLIL setting. Her “4Cs Framework” (2007, p. 550) for CLIL programs proposes four key principles to guide teachers: Content, Cognition, Communication and Culture. The 4Cs Framework suggests that It is through progression in knowledge, skills and understanding of the content, engagement in associated cognitive processing, interaction in the communicative content, the development of appropriate language knowledge and skills as experiencing deepening intercultural awareness that effective CLIL takes place.

There are several such programs in Australia. The state of Victoria is currently trialing 12 primary school CLIL programs in Mandarin, Japanese, Indonesian, Vietnamese, French, German, Greek, Macedonian and Australian Sign Language, but with the very limited time commitment of teaching a content area in a language other than English for only about 5 hours per week (DEECD, 2011). A small trial of bilingual programs in Asian languages also exists in four New South Wales primary schools (NSW Department of Education and Training, 2009). In the ACT, Telopea Park School has been developed as a French-English bilingual and bicultural school (Smala & Sutherland, 2011). Western Australia and the Northern Territory have no CLIL programs as such, but have had bilingual education programs for indigenous communities (Devlin, 2009). At the time of finalising this chapter, there were no provisions for bilingual or CLIL programs in South Australia or Tasmania. Our focus here is on Queensland CLIL programs, as all authors of this chapter are teaching in a German CLIL program in this state. Over a period of 25 years Queensland established 12 CLIL programs in seven different languages: Chinese, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish (Smala & Sutherland, 2011). Essentially, CLIL programs in Queensland are late-onset, partial programs: that is, only around 50% of the students’ subjects are taught through the second language. The starting point of the programs is the first year in secondary school (Year 8), where students are between 12 and 13 years of age. At the government high school in Brisbane where Jen and Ulla teach, subjects like Science, Mathematics and Social Science are taught through German to specialised classes of about 25–30 students in Years 8, 9 and 10. Jen and Ulla’s school has recently become a member of the Partner Schools for the Future (or PASCH) initiative, administered jointly by the German Foreign Ministry, The German Academic Exchange Service and the Goethe Institute. It provides international support, including some

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financial assistance, to schools which have distinguished themselves through highly successful German language teaching programs (Smala, 2011). The initiative offers scholarships for students to study for a period in Germany, organises professional development activities for PASCH German teachers both in Australia and in Germany, and provides a number of resources online (German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2010). This external government support has made a huge difference to the support structures available to Jen and Ulla as CLIL teachers. Other external government agencies such as the Cervantes Institute (Spanish) and the Confucius Institute (Chinese) also take a special interest in CLIL programs in their languages.

The Future? We have shared our experiences as language teachers in CLIL programs. We cannot, of course, speak for CLIL programs in general, but our work in these programs has enriched our experiences as language teachers. We have embraced the additional challenges, such as frequent translation work and scaffolding scientific problems in German language chunks, for the satisfaction that a language-rich environment brings with it. We also feel part of a larger movement, with up to 50,000 students participating in dual-way CLIL programs in the American state of California. Dual-way CLIL classes have approximately 50% native speakers in each of two languages, for example Spanish and English native speakers in Californian classes where half of the subjects are taught in English, half in Spanish (Yang Su, 2012). What could the future bring for Australia? We are optimistic that more schools will investigate the possibility of implementing a CLIL program. Perhaps courses on the strategies for teaching subject knowledge through the medium of a second language may become an elective unit of study in language teacher education programs. What we are sure of, however, is that the energy and vision to establish and maintain a CLIL program comes from individual teachers. We trust that our stories have come some way to begin this process.

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References Coyle, D. (2007). Content and language integrated learning: Towards a connected research agenda for CLIL pedagogies. The International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 10 (5), 543–562. Department of Education, Employment and Community Development. (2011). Bilingual Programs. Retrieved from http://www.education.vic.gov.au/studentlearning/teachingresources/lot e/programs.htm Devlin, B. (2009, June 26). Bilingual education in the Northern Territory: Principles, policy and practice. Paper presented at the AIATSIS Research Symposium, Visions Theatre, National Museum of Australia, Canberra. German Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (2010). Schulen: Partner der Zukunft (PASCH). Retrieved from http://www.pasch-net.de/deindex.htm New South Wales Department of Education and Training. (2009). NSW Schools Become Bilingual. Retrieved from http://www.dec.nsw.gov.au/detresources/about-us/news-at-det/mediacentre/media-releases/media-release-archives2007/mr041109_bilingual.pdf Smala, S. (2011). CLIL Down Under: External Support Structures to Overcome the “tyranny of distance”. In O. Meyer & D. Marsh, (Eds.), Quality interfaces: Examining evidence & exploring solutions in CLIL. Eichstätt: Katholische Universität Eichstätt. Smala, S. & Sutherland, K. (2011). A Lived Curriculum in Two Languages. Curriculum Perspectives, 31 (3), 11–22. Yang Su, E. (2012, March 22). Dual-Language programs growing in popularity in California. Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/22/dual-language-programsgr_n_1372804.htm

CHAPTER SEVEN INTERCULTURAL LANGUAGE LEARNING FOR MULTI-FOCAL VISION MELISSA GOULD-DRAKELEY

My story begins at age 10. Starting fifth grade in a new school in Canberra, I made friends with four girls: a Canadian, an Austrian and two others who had recently returned from Singapore and America. I was fascinated by my friends’ different accents, which I loved to copy, and their knowledge of foreign languages. I was also enthralled by the myriad stories they told about people from other countries and cultures. I was amazed by how people from different cultures and linguistic backgrounds narrated and interpreted life in different ways. I wanted to learn more. I was hooked. As soon as I could, I learned languages formally. Learning German and Indonesian at school, and later French at university was a way of participating in my very own “Choose your own Adventure” story. I felt as if I could be someone else by speaking another language as I could interpret and relate my experiences in a different and more exotic way. While I enjoyed learning German and French, Indonesian has become my passion and is now part of my identity. I know that I am somehow different when I interact in Indonesian. I adopt a calmer, more relaxed and patient persona, similar to the language and mannerisms of a Javanese. I suspect that much of this is a result of the way the Indonesian language is constructed; to deflect self and accept a more fatalistic attitude towards life’s challenges and experiences. With my love of languages, becoming a languages teacher seemed like a natural transition. I have now been teaching for half my life and learning Indonesian for 35 years! I love teaching, especially when I see the glitter in my students’ eyes when their passion for learning is ignited. I also enjoy learning. I have a Master in Education in language teaching pedagogy but most of my learning takes place every day in my classroom.

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My vision for language teaching is to provide students with a window to see how different people think, feel, act, understand and communicate depending on their cultural and linguistic background and equip students with the skills to interact. Metaphorically I want my students to develop multi-focal vision so they have multiple ways of seeing the world and can flexibly and effectively interact with others. As both a language student and teacher, I have been exposed to many language pedagogies. As a student, I learned German with the grammartranslation method, Indonesian with the audio-lingual and French with the immersion. As a teacher, I have taught using a functional-notional, communicative and now an intercultural pedagogy. I have found that the intercultural approach fits perfectly with my original fascination for learning a language, and is a vehicle which enables my vision for language teaching to be realised. At the heart of the intercultural approach is an understanding of oneself and recognising that your own background, beliefs and values will have an impact on what you say, and how you interpret what is said. The intercultural approach is a pedagogy with a soul, as it takes into account the students themselves; both in terms of the teacher having an understanding of the students’ backgrounds and identities, as well as acknowledging that the students themselves contribute to the meaning making process. I was fortunate enough to be a participant in a series of professional language programs which focused on intercultural language learning. These contributed significantly to my understanding of intercultural language learning and growth as a teacher. These programs included the Intercultural Language Teaching and Learning in Practice (ILTLP) Project (Scarino, Liddicoat, Carr, Crichton, Crozet, Dellit, Kohler, Loechel, Mercurio, Morgan, Papademetre & Scrimgeour, 2007) and the Professional Standards Projects (Scarino, Liddicoat, Crichton, Curnow, Kohler, Loechel, Mercurio, Morgan, Papademetre & Scrimgeour, 2008; Scarino, Liddicoat, Crichton & Mercurio, 2009). I also benefited from conducting action research, supported by researchers Angela Scarino and Leo Papademetre as part of the ILTLP project. This involved designing and evaluating a long-term program for Year 11 and 12 which focused on developing and monitoring students’ intercultural competence. I recorded reflections of my lessons, interviews with my students and changes I made in accordance with feedback I received from the researchers. Through exposure to the intercultural approach, my students have learned to understand that by studying Indonesian language they also learn about the different cultures of Indonesian people, and that this in turn teaches them about the language. Thus, they learn that language and

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culture are intrinsically linked, and as a teacher I plan exercises and activities that help them explore and understand this. I also make them explicitly aware of the intercultural approach and share with them the attributes of an intercultural learner and what it means to be interculturally competent, as research has shown that this explicit teaching is a necessary component for the acquisition of intercultural competence (Deardorff, 2006). Importantly, they also learn that their own experiences, knowledge and background all contribute to the way in which they learn, as well as having an impact on what they learn about another language and culture. This awareness of self, or intraculturality, helps the students develop an awareness of others. This intracultural element is significant as it positions the student as having an active and direct impact upon their communication and meaning-making process. For the current “I” (or me) generation, this focus on self has all the more appeal. As a teacher, I have recognised the importance of helping my students become aware of their own intraculturality and of showing them how to compare this with the languages and cultures of different Indonesians. Creating opportunities for intracultural self-reflection is now a regular part of my lessons. I have also realised that it essential to design activities that encourage my students to explicitly notice, compare, and reflect on the linguistic and cultural similarities and differences between their own language(s) and culture(s) and Indonesian language and culture. Another crucial element of the intercultural approach is the process of interacting with others. This supports the idea that learning a language is a relational activity. Through the process of interacting, my students learn to negotiate and make meaning in their relationships with others. My colleagues and I have rewritten our Indonesian programs to enhance students’ intercultural competence. Part of this has included framing each module of work that we teach around key questions. These are an integral part of the teaching and learning process and help inform what and how we assess. The questions use a mix of Indonesian and English depending on the complexity of the questions asked and the language ability of our students. For example, Year 7 beginning students consider questions framed around concepts such as friendship. In Indonesian they explore the types of friends they have and the qualities of their friends. In English they discuss whether friends influence their behaviour and the implications this might have for choosing friends. From this point we consider intercultural concepts such as how friends of different religions in Indonesia relate to each other and what they may need to think about when making friends and interacting with Indonesians.

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I have found intercultural language learning powerful, as it teaches students how to become global citizens. It helps them become aware of their own preconceptions, prejudices and values, and teaches them to recognise how these are embedded in the language they use and the ways in which they behave. Another benefit of teaching using the intercultural approach is that it draws students’ attention to the attitudes they hold and explores ways to help them change these. This, in turn, can help break down stereotypes they may hold about Indonesia. It has, therefore, become crucial for me to present students with a wide range of experiences that will allow them to learn about a variety of Indonesians, so that they learn about Indonesia’s ethnic, religious, social and geographic diversity. I have also discovered the need to teach students to critically explore and analyse the texts that I present and help them develop attitudes of openness and respect, important elements of intercultural competence (Deardorff, 2006). Helping my students develop and build upon their intercultural conceptual knowledge has been something new in my teaching. As such I have developed an intercultural scope and sequence for each year group that I am teaching. This is embedded into each of my programs. I am also aware of the need to explicitly help my students make connections between their prior and new knowledge and understanding. I pay particular attention to introducing increasingly complex language, cultural concepts, thinking processes and tasks throughout each stage of my students’ learning. The most challenging aspect of teaching using the intercultural approach for me has been considering the best way to assess it. I found it difficult to assess students’ intercultural competence using traditional methods. The hardest aspects to assess were the unobservable ones, that is, the students’ attitudes and values. It seemed that these subjective elements could not be assessed accurately or without bias. Further professional learning through the Professional Standards Projects Phase 2 (Scarino et al., 2009), however, unlocked the answer for me. I became aware of the need to reconceptualise the way that I looked at assessment itself and to see it as a something conceptual rather than something technical. So, rather than focusing mainly on summative (assessment of learning) tasks, I recognised the need to use formative (assessment for learning) methods to assess and evaluate my students’ intracultural and intercultural competence. Assisted by input from Angela Scarino, it became clear that assessing the students’ participation in the process of their learning was just as important as assessing the product. Green (as cited in NZ Ministry of Education, 2008) highlights this further, pointing out that the word assessment comes from the Latin assidere meaning “to sit with” which

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implies something that you do with students. This reinforces the notion of the students themselves playing an integral role in the assessment process. Deardorff (2006) also suggests that it is important to assess the intercultural over an extended period of time as intercultural competence is an ongoing process. Thus I now ensure that I provide multiple opportunities to capture students’ intercultural learning. Scarino, Liddicoat, Crichton and Mercurio (2009, p. 4) further pointed out that “in assessing intercultural capability in language learning it is necessary to select processes that capture its multi-dimensional nature and to do so in a way that is fair and just to learners’ learning”. Other researchers have also asserted that intercultural competence can be measured and that “recommended assessment methods are qualitative in nature” (Deardorff, 2006, p. 258). In response to this I have expanded the repertoire of what and how I assess. I also changed my program to include an evidence for learning section in which I link ongoing learning with assessment. My assessment approach has now become more of a narrative or profile of student achievement. In addition to traditional ways to assess student learning, I review students’ self-reflection, self-assessment and peer evaluations as well as interview students and monitor classroom interactions (including teacher/student questioning). An example of how I captured intercultural progression using a “non-traditional” method can be seen in one of my Year 12 students’ learning log entries: … it was interesting to note that the inclusive words and phrases like “kita” (inclusive form of “we”), “kita semua” (we all) “setiap orang” (every person), “bersama” (together), which I have seen several times in reading, writing, speaking and listening, are used so consistently throughout many texts we have studied in Indonesian. To me, this displays a clear reflection of the Indonesian culture and their aims as a nation and individual islands/ societies i.e. the national determination to work together showing unity [the Indonesian motto is Unity in Diversity.] These words employ a sense of unity and inclusiveness. I need to be very aware of this when I interact with an Indonesian. (Becky)

In this journal entry it is clear that this student has come to an awareness of the importance of inclusiveness in Indonesian society and that she needs to use this type of inclusive language in her interactions. This shows her intercultural awareness. Changing the way I conceptualised assessment led to an interest in considering classroom interactions. I wanted to know how interactions could be used as an assessment tool to measure intercultural competence. I recorded and transcribed a series of lessons and asked a colleague to

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evaluate the interactions. From the transcripts, I could see that the students were actively involved in their own learning about language and culture. The discussion helped students become aware of their own preconceptions and, possibly, values. It also helped them recognise that culture is embedded in language. I found that the data provided me with broader, unexpected information about student achievement. It captured students’ thinking, processing and reflecting skills and highlighted the value of these. One student, in particular, showed considerable insight and the ability to predict and analyse during these interactions but performed below expectation on the formal assessment tasks (a roleplay and a test). Without the data from the whole class interactions, I may have assumed that he was a poor language learner. With the data, I could explore further why he did not perform well on the formal tasks. Thus, the data from whole class interactions helped shape and change my perceptions about student ability as well as being a valuable assessment tool. The following example is from a lesson discussing identity. Students were reading a bulls-eye diagram written in Indonesian about what things contributed to an Indonesian teenager’s identity. Teacher

Marcus Teacher Tim Teacher Caleb Teacher Praveen Teacher Alana Teacher Danielle Teacher Adrian Teacher Danielle

We’re having a look at Deni. Notice—what is in the centre of the bulls-eye there? (Getting students to focus on identity and checking meaning.) He’s Indonesian. Number one for Deni is that he’s Indonesian. What is in the next circle? Timothy. He’s Christian. Caleb, what’s next? Family. And what else Praveen? Friends. Friends. Good. Then in the next circle, Alana? It’s got where he’s from, that he’s Chinese. Yes it’s got that he’s Chinese. That’s something new that’s come up. He lives in Jakarta. So he lives in Jakarta. These are things that are important to him. How is he Indonesian and Chinese? (Shows he is thinking about identity and shows engagement.) Ah good question. How is he Indonesian and Chinese? He might live in Indonesia but his like parents and stuff are Chinese.

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Evidence from formal evaluations completed by my students, anecdotal records, interviews with students, discussions with colleagues, transcripts of lessons and excerpts from students’ learning logs have demonstrated that changing the nature of my teaching program, redesigning exercises and activities to elicit intercultural competence and expanding my assessment tools have had a positive impact on both the motivation and achievement of my students. Alana has written: The intercultural Learning Log helped me to develop as a person and helped me to understand who I am, what I believe, and why. Importantly, my reflections also helped me think about and re-consider what I would say and how I might respond to Indonesians, knowing that they might see and respond to things differently to me. (Alana)

Here are two excerpts from a video interview I conducted with Year 12 students about the intercultural approach. Has taking the intercultural approach helped you learn in a deeper way? Yes. I’m not just looking at vocabulary, not just learning how to speak the language, I’m not just learning the what but I’m learning the how and the why. Through focusing on my intercultural understanding, I’m gaining a better understanding of the culture in Indonesia and my own culture. (Becky) How is the intercultural approach different to other ways you have learned? I think the major thing for me is this idea that—you go into a Maths classroom, it’s —here’s a formula, make sure you know what the heck to do with it. You go into an English classroom—here’s a play, make sure you know it backwards. Intercultural learning… it’s thinking of things on a deeper level. (Frank)

Over the past few years more and more students have also selected Indonesian as an elective subject with an additional number of boys. In Years 9 and 10, almost one quarter of the cohort study Indonesian. The main reasons students cite for choosing Indonesian is because they enjoy it or are good at it. It is hard to say if teaching using the intercultural approach has contributed significantly to their choice. What is clear, however, is that the high number of students who are choosing Indonesian at Macarthur is in contrast to the national decline in the number of students studying Indonesian. Engaging with the intercultural approach has invigorated my personal teaching practice. Through this approach I have been able to reflect more

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on my teaching and have been motivated to conduct action research in my classroom and expand on my assessment practice. This has, in turn, facilitated more professional discussions with my colleagues, both at my school and through my professional association. It has also inspired me to co-author an intercultural Indonesian textbook. I would like to find out more about what specifically the students enjoy about learning Indonesian and if there are more direct links to the intercultural approach. I am also keen to explore more ways to elicit and assess intercultural learning. Engaging in more collegial action research in the area of assessment is an area I am keen to pursue.

References Deardorff, D. K. (2006). Identification and Assessment of Intercultural Competence as a Student Outcome of Internationalization. Journal of Studies in International Education, 10 (3), 241–266 NZ Ministry for Education. (2008). Exploring Formative Assessment: Assessment for Learning. Retrieved from http://www.tki.org.nz/ Scarino, A., & Gould-Drakeley, M., (July, 2009). Assessing intercultural capability: teacher and researcher perspectives. Unpublished paper presented at the 17th AFMLTA Biennial National Languages Conference, Sydney. Scarino, A., Liddicoat, A.J., Crichton, J., Curnow, T.J., Kohler, M., Loechel, K., Mercurio, N., Morgan, AM., Papademetre, L. & Scrimgeour, A. (2008). Professional Standards Project Professional Learning Program. Retrieved from www.pspl.unisa.edu.au Scarino, A., Liddicoat, A.J., Crichton, J., & Mercurio, N. (2009). Professional Standards Project Professional Learning Program, Phase 2. Retrieved from www.pspl.unisa.edu.au Scarino, A., Liddicoat, A.J., Carr, J., Crichton, J., Crozet, C., Dellit, J., Kohler, M., Loechel, K., Mercurio, N., Morgan, AM., Papademetre, L. & Scrimgeour, A. (2007). The Intercultural Language Teaching and Learning in Practice (ILTLP) Project. Retrieved from www.iltlp.unisa.edu.au

CHAPTER EIGHT DIFFERENT YET ALIKE: INTERCULTURAL LANGUAGE LEARNING IRINA BRAUN

I was born in Rumania, and Rumanian is the first language I learned, from my parents and my surroundings. At the age of three, however, due to the choice of my parents, who are fluent French speakers, I started attending a French preschool. There I learned French through songs, games, play and art and craft activities. For my parents, speaking a language other than their mother tongue was just part of everyday life, and something which formed the basis of all education in their eyes. It also represented an important door to the world for them. I vividly remember my mother singing with me Frère Jacques and Sur le Pont d’Avignon. I remember it being something completely natural in our house. After living in Algeria for a short while, my family migrated to Germany where I did most of my growing up, and where I completed all my schooling and tertiary education. Learning German made visible for me that my family was different in many ways to my German surroundings, yet also alike, in other ways. At that adolescent stage of my life I did not want to be different or stand out from my peers. Learning German, trying to speak it without accent, and using the correct idiomatic expressions in the correct context, was especially vital for me as a young person. I learned that language is a powerful tool to be accepted in a social environment. Strangely, the more I learned about the German language and culture, the more I discovered and noticed about my Rumanian background. As it became visible to me, I appreciated and valued it. I learned Spanish when I was six years old, for fun, when my mother started to study Spanish. The similarities between Rumanian and French contributed to the fact that I learned Spanish easily and fast. Finally, right now, English is the most recent language which I have learned. I had studied some English in my secondary school in Germany, but it was certainly only when I migrated with my husband to Australia, that I

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realised how little I was able to communicate in English, and how little I understood the culture within the language. I had never lived in an English speaking country, whereas I had lived in French and Spanish speaking countries. I realised I was much more familiar with the European cultural environments of the French and Spanish languages. I became a languages teacher because languages have always been part of the fabric of my life. I feel a strong affinity with language learning and in particular with intercultural learning due to my background and my experiences as a lifelong language learner. I am an intercultural person myself, and understand that I have had to learn to “create meaning and understanding” (Liddicoat, Papademetre, Scarino & Kohler, 2003. p.45). This has shaped the way I teach languages as a teacher today. My background has shaped my competencies, my knowledge and skills, and made me who I am as a languages teacher. I see myself reflected in the writing of Scarino and Liddicoat (2009, p. 21): “the goal of [intercultural] learning is to decentre learners from their own culture-based assumptions and to develop an intercultural identity as a result of an engagement with an additional culture”. A focus of my language teaching has thus become to construct intercultural learning in my students, and to get them to think and be curious about difference. I teach in an independent, co-educational school in Sydney, Australia, where the ethos fosters a teaching and learning environment that is conducive to intercultural teaching and learning. The school offers language programs that span both the primary and secondary school. The school is culturally and linguistically diverse, with teachers and students having local, European or Asian heritage, and with languages other than English spoken in some teachers’ and students’ homes. In my school, English is called “first language”, and every student studies a compulsory “second language”. Students can choose to study either Spanish or Chinese as a “third language” in Year 7 and 8. From Year 9, both of these languages become an elective subject. The students are generally “linguaphile”, eager and open to learning a language. The question for them is not whether they will study a language or not, it is more about which language they will study, and for how long. At the end of Year 8 and Year 10 the second and third languages compete with other subjects and the retention rate may vary from year to year. In my language teaching I endeavour to broadly follow the five principles for intercultural teaching and learning that were developed by Liddicoat et al (2003. p.47). These five principles are the notions of active construction, making connections, social interaction, reflection and responsibility.

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In my interpretation of these principles, my goal is to create an interactive classroom in which students are able to actively construct and explore language, which they will be able to speak and write. The intention is to pose a question or idea which the students are able to collaboratively explore. My classroom questions are aimed at eliciting interpretation, and linguistic and cultural connections, from the students, in social interaction. My role as teacher is then to incorporate the students’ responses in my explanations, to promote reflection. The lesson creates an intercultural dialogue in which the students have control over the interaction, and they undertake a real inquiry. They are keen to take the responsibility of understanding the language and culture more deeply on their own terms. The classroom dialogue allows students to make connections in their learning and it encourages them to notice what is going on in the language, and in people’s behaviour, and to compare it with their own culture and behaviour. They have the opportunity to formulate questions, to observe and to discover. When designing lessons, it is important to put thought into what the intercultural learning outcome should be. What idea or question will be explored? How does this question connect to the prior learning experiences of the different students? What will the linguistic benefit and outcome for students be? What will the interactions be like? What will the roles be for students and teacher? In our teaching we sometimes tend to give static explanations, which involve the teacher being the sole authority, the source of all information and knowledge. The students take up a passive role during such lessons. But if the learner is actively involved in the construction of the lesson, and is allowed to explore the language material, learning becomes so much more powerful. If we create the opportunity for students to investigate the presented language material and to express their own interpretation of the material, students can develop a deeper and more personal understanding of the language and culture. A crucial tool in intercultural lessons is the teacher’s questioning technique, as the questions shape the lessons. In my experience it has often been rewarding to take the risk of asking questions to which I don’t know the answer. This type of question truly elicits an intercultural dialogue with the student. Similarly, allowing students to take a turn at asking questions themselves empowers students to undertake their own inquiry based on linguistic and cultural aspects which are of particular interest to them. This in turn allows students to take responsibility for their own learning.

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In 2010 two researchers came to my school to collect some classroom dialogue data for research purposes. They have subsequently published their analysis of the linguistic exchange which they observed in my classroom (Harbon & Moloney, 2013). I am thus lucky to be able to give some examples from the transcripts of my lesson which this research afforded. The examples are taken from a Year 8 Spanish class made up of 25 students aged 14 years. The students were in their second year of studying Spanish. One particular lesson was towards the end of an eight week teaching term. It was part of the topic “Food”. Other aspects of the topic had included sub-topics such as identifying food items and dishes, buying food, recipes and cooking, ordering food in a restaurant and menus. In my language classes I am committed to using the target language as much as possible. But I also use and allow the use of English in some intercultural dialogue, because I attach value to the learning, which in early learners is occurring in English. I used a photo story from the Spanish textbook Gente 1, Nueva Edición (Peris & Baulensa, 2004, pp. 102–103) as resource for this lesson. The photo story represents a Spanish dinner party at a family’s house. It allows the discussion of behaviours such as greetings, gift giving, courtesy, house, late hour and punctuality. Further on it lends itself to a comparison with Australian behaviours in similar situations. The following segments demonstrate different questioning techniques that I use to guide the students to intercultural learning. In some instances, where possible, I do the discussion and questioning in Spanish, to maximise use of the target language. In others, I may provide translation, or conduct the enquiry in English. The first segment of the lesson presented here involves a discussion of greeting behaviour upon arrival at the dinner party. Teacher Students Teacher

Student1 Student 2

What do they do here? Do they kiss, or what do they do? They shake hands. Le dan la mano. Because they don’t know each other, what they do is they shake hands. And what do you do, when you want to leave? You say oh its getting kind of late I think I should be going… and then what do you reckon the host do – “No no no, oh you should stay longer!” How much longer would you stay? Like 20 minutes, half an hour, but that’s like… My mum’d stay three hours, because it takes her two hours to say goodbye. [various students join in to discuss how long their parents would take to say goodbye]…

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In Spain, it’s not that the guest wants to go home, it’s that they want to hear that the host wants to have them there.

My inclusive questioning technique allows for follow-up, student personal responses to the problem, and exploration. The intercultural dialogue is also facilitated by affirming and attaching value to the students’ responses and further questions. It is about acknowledging and affirming the students’ hypothesizing skills. Students are encouraged to express their diverse interpretation and negotiations of the different aspects, to build their own understanding of Spain. The second segment focussed on a discussion of social rules surrounding punctuality. Teacher

Student Teacher

Student Teacher Student Teacher Student

Pero también en Espana we talked about that punctuality, la puntualidad en España. Cuando te invitan y te dicen que tienes que venir a las nueve ¿a qué hora llegas? Llegas a las nueve y quince. Llegas tarde. Te invitan a tomar una copa o unas tapas, puedes llegar hasta una hora más tarde. (Translation: But also, in Spain, we talked about that punctuality. When they invite you over and tell you to come at nine, what time do you arrive? You come at nine fifteen. You arrive late. They invite you for a drink or some tapas, you can arrive up to an hour late.) If you’re like meeting with friends for like, at a café or whatever, …Oh! But wouldn’t you find it annoying? You would find it annoying. We would find it annoying. You might get there at quarter past six and for us that would be considered late! But you sit there and an hour later people turn up and nobody will be offended! How late would you have to be for them to like actually be offended? Just not go? Well if you don’t go, you would send a message. But like how late? I think 2 hours is kind of the limit… for people to say ok I’ve just had enough. It’s not like rude?

In this extract you can notice that it is the student who is asking the questions, not the teacher. He is very keen to find out what is considered late in the present context. The student is trying to negotiate meaning based on the initial cultural concepts by connecting them with the newly learned language.

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According to the principles formulated by Liddicoat et al (2003, p. 49), “the learners engage in interactive talk and questioning with the teacher and others through which they are encouraged to notice forms, processes, strategies, in the context of the tasks”. By promoting discussion “thinking and inquiry, experimentation”, I allow time for intercultural learning to develop. The final extract features a discussion of Spanish behaviour at the end of the dinner party. Teacher

Student Teacher Student Teacher

Student Teacher

Student Teacher

Student

And then this is a very interesting sentence. “Bueno sabéis donde tenéis vuestra casa.” If you translate it literally it says “Well you know where you are living, don’t you?” Kind of sort of saying, “OK, it’s time for you to go. You know where you’re living.” And they say “A ver cuando venís a nosotros – let’s see when you guys come to our house”. “Vale. Nos llamamos y citamos – we’ll ring you, and we’ll fix a date.” So, what’s not in here? What’s missing? (pause) Bye! Adios, yes. What else is missing? (pause) Thank you. Thank you. There is no way of thanking. No hay palabra que dice “muchas gracias”. Hay “mucho gusto” y “encantado” que son muy respetuosos. Pero en ningún momento se dice “gracias”. ¿Qué más no hay? (translation: So there isn’t a word in this dialogue about “thank you” or “please”. There is “mucho gusto”, and “very pleased to meet” which are very respectful. But at no point do they say “thanks”.) (In English) What else is not there? (pause) Por favor. Si. “Por favor.” No hay “por favor”, no hay “gracias”. Pero os pregunto, pensáis que esta gente está amable o que no tiene educación? (Translation: Yes, “please”. There is no “please” and no “thanks”. But I ask you, do you think these people are friendly or that they are impolite?) (in English) Do you think they are like polite or impolite? (pause) Polite. Ya. Polite. But they don’t say thank you and they don’t say please. So, how do they express the politeness and the respect? Compliments.

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Compliments. Hacen complimentos. ¿Qué más? (what else) They invite them to their house? Yes. So they invite them over. That’s very typical in Spain. Before you leave you say “Oh how about you come to our house in two weeks? Nos vemos en dos semanas.” No?

In this extract, you can see that I have helped students to tease out, notice and discover the Spanish behaviours (giving compliments, reciprocating the invitation) which represent gratitude, instead of saying the word “thank you”. I especially like to use the questions “what is missing?” and “what do you notice?” Allowing wait time is also very important, for students to think and make these discoveries. In a subsequent task, where they had to construct and perform their own Spanish dinner party dialogue, my marking criteria recognised the inclusion of these Spanish behaviours in their performance. This attaches value to the discoveries, recognising them as a vital part of effective intercultural communication. Ultimately I believe what we can achieve as teachers is to contribute to students’ capacity and willingness to interact with people from other languages and cultures and foster the engagement with difference. I see this actively developed in students’ exciting engagement with difference and discoveries in intercultural language learning.

References Harbon, L., & Moloney, R. (2013, in press). Language teachers and learners interpreting the world: identifying intercultural development in language classroom discourse. In F. Dervin & A.J. Liddicoat, (Eds.) Linguistics for intercultural language learning. (pp. 139–159). London: John Benjamins. Liddicoat, A. J., Papademetre, L., Scarino, A., & Kohler, M. (2003). Report on Intercultural Language Learning, Department of Education Science and Training, Commonwealth of Australia. Peris, E.M. & Baulenas, N.S. (2004). Gente 1, Nueva Edición. Barcelona: Difusion. Scarino, A., & Liddicoat, A.J. (2009). Teaching and Learning Languages: A Guide, Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.

CHAPTER NINE GENERATION Y, DIGITAL GAME-BASED LEARNING AND THE LEARNING OF ADDITIONAL LANGUAGES ANDREW BLUMBERGS

Languages in my Life Although I grew up in Australia speaking only English, other languages have featured strongly in my life. My father grew up speaking Latvian to his father and German to his mother. These languages were always a strong and enduring part of the background of my upbringing. As long as I can remember I wanted to learn German and Latvian. At school there was only English on offer, and Italian for background speakers. I did not formally start learning what was then termed a “foreign” language until the second year of a Commerce degree at university. I had an opportunity to choose German in my degree program. It was actually a “spur-of-the-moment” decision to take up formal study of a language other than English. I think I finally chose to learn a language because as a student I found Commerce so terribly uninspiring and disengaging. I started at Beginner level and initially took some time to adjust to the rigours and demands of the course. Having said that, I can only add that I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. At around the same time I took a risk and tentatively began learning Latvian at the Latvian School in Adelaide. After graduation a short time thereafter, I moved to Latvia. I began work teaching English and German at the Latvian Education Ministry. I only spoke a few words and phrases of Latvian and was amazed at how linguistically talented so many of the locals were. I connected with family there, and I made friends. My friends and relatives all spoke a minimum of three languages – often more – with seemingly high degrees of proficiency. I lived and worked immersed within a Latvian community and found my very low levels of Latvian

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began to improve rapidly after some months. It was this experience that made me want to be a language teacher more than anything else. I also decided during this time to return to Adelaide to continue my studies of German, Latvian, Spanish and English.

The Path to Language Teaching I became a language teacher because I loved learning languages and was inspired by my experiences abroad in Latvia, and later in Germany, working as a language teacher. At times I was engrossed in these worlds. They were so rich in new understandings and insights, unlocked and revealed by a good command of languages. Those experiences were transformational. I wanted to inspire and share that feeling of intellectual empowerment and growth that learning and speaking another language brings with it, particularly in Australia. I wanted to make more students aware of the fantastic opportunities available to them through the study of languages and cultures. My tertiary qualifications revolve mostly around the study of languages, linguistics and humanities. In between my formal study I worked in Latvia for a second period, and in Germany on a pedagogical scholarship in a bilingual school context for a year. I continued postgraduate studies of German and Latvian because they were central to pursuing my passion and interest in the histories, societies and philosophies of the areas I had chosen to specialise in. At university I completed a Commerce degree and an Arts degree with first class Honours in German Language and Literature. German and TESOL featured as a central part of my chosen teaching methodologies and postgraduate studies. I also completed a Graduate Diploma in Education teaching qualification, and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in the Department of German, Swedish and Russian Studies at the University of Melbourne. I undertook my research PhD part-time while working full time teaching German, English as a Second Language and Humanities, as well as also working part time at the weekends with the Victorian School of Languages teaching German. Amazingly I completed my doctorate in six years. I have also presented at numerous international conferences for modern foreign languages and Baltic and Scandinavian studies. I have also designed and presented numerous language teaching workshops and professional development activities in a variety of language teacher professional development contexts. Over this whole time I have been extremely lucky to have received a number of teacher scholarships in Germany courtesy of the Goethe-Institut, as well as a fellowship on the Endeavour Language

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Teacher Fellowship (ELTF) program (see http://www.eltf.austraining .com.au/). I taught for a number of years in Latvia and Germany, and have taught back in Australia for more than eleven years. In mid-2012 I will depart Australia to work in South Korea as a teacher for a couple of years. Needless to say I have begun learning Korean.

My Vision for Language Teaching My vision for language teaching is to make language learning a central and indispensible part of life for students and schools, through operationalising the best and most engaging teaching practice through the effective application of information communication technologies and multi-media. More immediately this has meant arresting the declining participation rates in language studies beyond the compulsory years in secondary schooling. In my language teaching I try to imbue students with a deeply rooted passion and interest in languages and cultures. I attempt to achieve this by giving students an holistic appreciation and understanding of language and culture through interdisciplinary and integrated approaches to language learning and by also trying to effectively and realistically implement multimedia and information technology resources in the classroom and language learning process. Initially, however, my starting point is to always focus on the similarities that underpin languages such as English and German. As a language teacher I have always thought that languages not only allow heart, mind and soul to transcend any given place and time, but they also shape and give meaning to the world around us in often beautiful and different ways. For me they also provide a continuum between our past, present and future, giving multiple and diverse voices that link us all to a shared humanity.

Improving Student Engagement and Participation Much has been said in the scholarly literature about the “generational gulf” in learning, teaching, information communication technology and multi-media. Generation Y (Gen Y) is the generation born after the late 1970s or early 1980s until the 2000s. They are said to be “digital natives”. According to Van Eck (2006), Gen Y learners require multiple streams of information coming at them, have a preference for “inductive reasoning”, desire frequent, quick interactions with content, and have exceptional visual literacy skills. They are “online” and “wired” and they fill our classrooms today. Gen Y learners are also “gamers”, either via consoles,

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personal computers (PCs), portable devices or mobile gaming. Gaming is for many of these learners something that on some level forms part of their everyday social and online experience and identity. Van Eck’s (2006) research into this topic indicates that Gen Y learners and gamers, as a group, can be seen to share common characteristics and are more likely to be engaged in the learning process through interactive instruction. Digital video gaming is examined here alongside interdisciplinary Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) (Coyle, Hood & Marsh, 2010). I believe the two areas are complementary on many levels. Although in a very embryonic state in the world of language teaching and learning, I believe that Digital Game-Based Learning (DGBL) lends itself exceptionally well to the needs of Gen Y learners and the language teaching and learning process. Another factor that can be a great advantage in an interdisciplinary CLIL approach is that DGBL often employs a “discovery learning” approach. Using DGBL in my language classes was primarily a response to a concern with student engagement and finding ways to connect to the type of learners I was encountering. As already mentioned, I also found it to be a very complementary tool for use in offering a language program CLIL style. Student engagement and continued participation in languages have been an ongoing issue impacting elective choices at a local school level, as well as the numbers of matriculating students nationally who have a language other than English. Discussions about this issue with many colleagues around Australia have confirmed my perceptions. I remember being a beginning teacher and how I perceived there was a “disconnect” with student perceptions about language study beyond the compulsory years of schooling, usually at the end of Year 8 in Victoria. Once languages became elective subjects, many students simply opted out. The now well-cited statistic that languages learning begins with 100% participation in middle schooling and declined to figures anywhere between 8–12% of student participation by the completion of secondary schooling (Liddicoat, Scarino, Curnow, Kohler, Scrimgeour & Morgan, 2007), underscored for me what appears to be somewhat of an existential crisis for languages. It is clear that there is a strong disconnect for students. This was a factor that led me to consider exactly what it was about studying languages that did not appeal to so many students beyond the compulsory years. I also simultaneously looked at ways to engage students through meaningful interdisciplinary content-based language instruction linking to areas of their own interest. This is where the idea of using aspects of digital video gaming with language teaching first originated in the early 2000s: an idea which I have subsequently incorporated into my

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teaching. Initially, I began by conducting student surveys with my Year 7 and Year 8 German students in order to obtain some benchmark data. In the surveys with students it became clear that the type of “traditional” textbook course in German played a role in their choice to opt out of language studies. Students often commented that they either found language classes based around the thematic approaches covered in textbooks (e.g. food, drink, school, weather, shopping etc) boring and repetitious, while also stating that they felt they were making very slow or no progress, or alternatively that it was fun, but that there were other more interesting elective subjects they wanted to do. This was particularly the case with boys in the classroom. Survey feedback also indicated that in many respects German as a subject was often too daunting and difficult to learn, especially the grammar. I also observed and noted in discussions with language teachers that as large numbers of students opted out of language studies beyond the compulsory years, many language teachers seemed to take on something of an “under siege” mentality as they continually sought to justify, defend and fight for their language in the school setting. In addition to this, I often experienced first or second hand the frustration of teaching from Years 9 to 12 with small budgets based on small economies of scale: that is, small class sizes and not having the numbers to justify and run stand alone classes, resulting in combined classes, excursions and resources. Information communication technology in the classroom and in students’ lives has become pervasive. However, in my experience, the application of multimedia and information communication technologies in language classrooms has typically not tapped into the teaching and learning opportunities afforded by Digital Video Games. So what is Digital Game-Based Learning (DGBL)? Coffey (n.d.) defines DGBL as constructivist, and “an instructional method that incorporates educational content or learning principles into video games with the goal of engaging learners”. Digital video games cover just about every genre and also every language topic conceivable. Learning through any game can be incredibly powerful, particularly when such games become an extension of the learning and thinking skills required for holistic and creative language learning and teaching. Successful language learning through DGBL, I believe however, depends very much on the type of game chosen. Using DGBL is certainly not about a “fun and games” approach in the classroom that can be seen as trivialising language learning and establishing a student expectation that language classes should be all about “fun and games”. As I explored digital video games among my teacher networks, I encountered a generally

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negative or prejudiced view to gaming, for example, that it was time wasting, non-productive, violent and anti-social. At the same time my initial investigations revealed that there has been very limited consideration of and research into the potential pedagogical benefits of teaching and learning languages through the incorporation and use of digital video games or elements of these games in the classroom. The idea of linking digital video games into language instruction occurred to me in early 2001 as students started to approach me with requests to translate and interpret phrases learned in German from digital video games they were playing at home with friends and on Local Area Networks at the time. The types of games they described and played certainly did make me very curious. That is not to say that computer gaming is totally new. Typically though, in my experience, the “language games” available are pedagogically devised games, often very basic, and focussed in the scope and range of the language learning experience. (For example, The Language Market and the types of games found on Languages Online – www.eduweb.vic.gov.au). These types of language games available to the language teacher are good, but to my mind, limited in their longer-term application in the language classroom. There is a huge contrast between basic computer games such as Tetris and Pacman which have been altered for language learning if compared to the rich, complex and immersive gaming experiences available in multiplayer modes on the digital video game market. It quickly becomes clear that there is an underutilised set of digital video game genres as potential language resources, potentially available to teachers, and which most students love playing. When employed well in the classroom these games can provide a rich, immersive and engaging language resource and can be adapted and utilised for language learning, focusing on text types and a huge range of content based language skills. Even utilising and using particular elements of digital video games has offered an enormous range of interactive and engaging elements for language learning in my teaching. More generally, student interest and participation in gaming in the Middle Years of Schooling and beyond is a social and learning phenomenon that has remained under the radar of educators. In my personal teaching experience digital video gaming has by and large been viewed with some negativity.

Using DGBL in the CLIL Classroom On the one hand, the pedagogy and strategies I used to adapt DGBL to the language classroom require a pragmatic approach to dealing with the

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numerous constraints and limitations such as school networks, servers and policies in considering digital video games and their place in the learning environment. On the other hand, selected digital video games have also had to be adapted and employed to support the curriculum with an eye to student engagement and meaningful learning experiences. In this regard the context and setting for language learning have also become central components in creating stimulating and thought provoking content-driven language units in my teaching. Primarily this means teaching language more holistically and with strong interdisciplinary and intercultural foci. In the Middle School in the German program I have taught term-length interdisciplinary content and language integrated learning units on a wide range of topics. In Year 7 these include topics such as Everything About Me, The Ancient Germans: Life in the Iron Age, Expressionist Art, Healthy Living while in Year 8 topics have focussed on Life, Jobs and Death in the Middle Ages and The Blue Planet and Natural Disasters. I have used digital video games to aid and facilitate the teaching of some of these topics in a number of ways in my classroom. Unfortunately, as mentioned, internet bandwidth, technical limitations and school policies have frequently presented problems with playing games with a large class. However, using components or elements drawn from digital video games students have produced authentic language products. Basic things have included the creation of avatar characters (virtual characters) and short, narrated, animated films that are based on game play elements from digital video games. Beyond the classroom smaller groups have played complex games focussing on consolidation of vocabulary and vocabulary acquisition, development of language proficiencies and skills using a local area network set up to play the digital video game in German. The types of games that I have attempted to use with success have been The SIMS, The SIMS Medieval, Settlers and Sid Meier’s Civilization Series. An example of how I sometimes have used digital video games to overcome technical constraints was to use video footage and still frames from the game The Settlers. The game play in this game overlapped with the interdisciplinary content and language covered in a Year 8 class about life and jobs in the Middle Ages. Recordings of the digital video game were used for this to create short animated and narrated films. Initially this required a lot of preparation, organisation and set up time for this activity to work with students. It required me to create a short animated film that demonstrated the type of language and film students were expected to produce themselves. In class it also involved teaching some basic text type

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conventions in German and introducing the elements of narrative language required for the creation of a short animated cartoon film. Through coordination with some technology-proficient staff, I was able to also time the digital video based project with an Information Technology subject unit on MovieMaker and Audacity. In developing an instructional approach to teaching elements of the course I have also used and introduced students to JING and FRAPS screen-filming software that allowed me to record and explain what was happening on-screen for the production of short explanatory instructional videos.

Concluding Remarks Facilitating DGBL in conjunction with the interdisciplinary approach to language teaching and learning helped produce what I consider to be startling results. Usually gauging success can be difficult. The German program I taught at the end of 2008 enjoyed a massive resurgence in student participation over a three-year period. At the end of the compulsory language instruction at the end of Year 8 the numbers steadily increased from one Year 9 class of 15 students in 2008 (out of a total of 186 students), to four Year 9 classes with a total in excess of 75 students in 2012. Student participation rose from about 8% in 2008 to more than 40% in 2012. I began as Head of German at the end of 2008 in the school I had attended as a boy. As a team member I had previously taught using a textbook oriented course. No matter how things were approached in this program, I know that students opted out of German at the end of Year 8. What I believe the use of approaches such as DGBL and interdisciplinary CLIL instruction has revealed is that language can be engaging and result in greatly improved participation and desire to learn German. This was in spite of all the normal constraints and competition which language programs can face. Growth was also achieved without any budgetary or funding windfalls to implement or set up such an approach in the compulsory years of language instruction in Years 7 and 8. The next major challenge for languages is surely a shift in the paradigm of how language courses can be set up and delivered in schools that make use of language, content and multimedia and information communication technologies, including Digital Video Games, so that students feel compelled to continue with a subject that they thoroughly enjoy learning and want to pursue. Of course due consideration needs to also be given to the factors that might be at play within the school and local communities as well as governmentdriven curriculum and policy initiatives and agendas.

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Generation Y In my language teaching, connecting to the interest of Gen Y learners has been important. In this regard DGBL learning has added a valuable dimension to language instruction and learning that has also allowed for really effective incorporation of multimedia and information communication technology applications in the school language learning environment I try to create. Using Digital Video Games is a powerful, yet under-utilised and under-valued tool in the language classroom with the potential to supplement and extend a wide range of language skills through meaningful situational contexts, particularly when used within interdisciplinary content and language integrated learning units. In the Middle School it has become very apparent to me over the last decade how much a central role “gaming” plays in the lives of students in and beyond school. Investigating digital video games further, it quickly became clear how many of these games have rich, complex, immersive and highly engaging storylines and elements that require complex strategising, decision-making and risk-taking, as well as dealing with questions of identity and socialisation in rich and engaging environments in a variety of modes and through numerous types of gaming platforms. With an interdisciplinary CLIL approach, digital video games can become a valuable and engaging extension to the language learning environment.

References Coffey, H. (n.d.). Digital game-based learning. Retrieved from http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/4970 Coyle, D., Hood, P. & Marsh, D. (2010). Content and language integrated learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Liddicoat, A.J., Scarino, A., Curnow, T.J., Kohler, M., Scrimgeour, A. & Morgan, A.-M., (2007). An investigation of the state and nature of languages in Australian schools: Report to the Department of Education, Science and Training. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia. Van Eck, R. (2006). Digital game-based learning: It's not just the digital natives who are restless. Retrieved from http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Review/EDUCAUSEReview MagazineVolume41/DigitalGameBasedLearningItsNot/158041

CHAPTER TEN BOYS AND LANGUAGE EDUCATION CURTIS HWANG

Born of Taiwanese parents, I lived in Taiwan until the age of two, when my family immigrated to Sydney, Australia. Mandarin Chinese was technically my first language and is the language I still speak at home. From the time I began formalised schooling, however, English quickly replaced it as the language I was most fluent in speaking and most comfortable with in writing. Language study began to feature quite early on in my life. My parents wanted me to know Mandarin, with the rationale that “a Taiwanese person should be able to speak Mandarin”, with the purpose of retaining my heritage. At 10 months old, my mother was already teaching me how to recognise Chinese characters. At first my parents were content with me being able to listen and speak, but when they found out my primary school had a Mandarin program, they decided to teach me reading and writing as well (perhaps an encouragement for implementing language programs earlier in primary schools!). From when I was six years old to just before my senior years of high school, my mother home-schooled me in Mandarin, with up to an hour’s worth of reading and writing six days a week, every week of the year. My mother taught me all the Mandarin I know, and I have to say I often hated it. But today, I see how much this knowledge of Mandarin has helped me, both for its own sake, and in my Japanese study. It has demonstrated to me how valuable this early study was, and now I cannot thank her enough for her perseverance and hard work! While my level of Mandarin is still not very high, it was enough to support me in learning Japanese kanji characters, and my bilingual background in itself was certainly an advantage in picking up another language. I attended a selective boys’ school in the Sydney metropolitan area. As a boy I studied languages and I enjoyed learning languages so much so that I did not hesitate to pick it up in my senior years of schooling. Never

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at any point did I feel that language study was not suited to boys, or that girls were any better at languages than boys. In addition, I am absolutely certain that my classmates felt the same way. During my studies at The University of Sydney, training to become a language teacher myself, I came across a journal article by Carr (2002), who claimed that boys did not do language study because they felt that it was too “boring”, too “hard”, and too “girly”. This struck me deeply as both a student and teacher of languages, because I never once thought that language study was boring, or hard, and I certainly had no idea that it carried the perception of being a “girly” subject. Where was all this coming from? My classmates and I did not have this perception, though perhaps that was because we had been in a single-sex school. Do boys in co-educational schools really think this way, and does this really explain the well-known poor retention rates in language study?

Background to the Issue I believe that the issue of retention is felt personally by all language teachers. It is simply a part of our role, to not only be a teacher, but also an advocate and a salesman, and to constantly advertise through our pedagogy and rhetoric, how enjoyable and beneficial language learning can be. How to retain students in our classes is the subject of many conversations every language teacher has with his or her colleagues within their school and professional networks. We feel it often, almost as a tragedy, when bright young students, gifted in foreign languages, decide to drop the subject in favour of another subject they deem more worthy of their time and effort. It can be heartbreaking for the language teacher, who has spent hours training his or her students, watching them learn and grow, in the hope that at least a few of them will choose to continue the subject in the senior years. The Australian Government has been active in attempting to address the issue of low retention rates in selected languages. The National Asian Languages and Studies in Schools Program (NALSSP) (DEEWR, 2010) aimed to increase the number of students finishing secondary school with a fluency in one of four target Asian languages (Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian and Korean) to at least 12% of all Year 12 students by 2020. Languages education has always been influenced by government policy, and it is largely for economic reasons that the government is supporting Asian languages, primarily to equip the next generation to have the skills to communicate with our Asian neighbours. It is a perfectly valid reason why students, particularly those interested in business or commerce,

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should be electing to do languages in their senior years. But is it a good enough reason to convince students to continue studying languages? It is a challenge trying to retain students in the Australian language classroom. It is even more of a challenge to retain boys. Not only Australia, but also in many English-speaking countries of the world, from the point where languages education becomes a non-compulsory part of a child’s schooling, language classrooms begin to be populated primarily by girls. Compared to subjects such as Science, Mathematics, Geography and Physical Education, language teachers do not enjoy the pleasure of having many boys in their classrooms. Boys just do not seem to want to continue with language study past a compulsory stage. While boys’ low retention rates in languages is a problem across Australia, it is particularly exemplified in the New South Wales context, where the annual Higher School Certificate (HSC) enrolment rates show that every year, without fail, girls far outnumber boys in language subject courses. Table 10-1 shows the total enrolment numbers in all language subjects in each of the past 11 years, and the number of male student enrolments: Table 10-1: Languages HSC Course Student Enrolments 2001-2011 Year

Total number of students

Number of male students

2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001

7 813 8 378 8 734 8 338 8 166 8 395 8 534 8 837 8 291 7 811 7 612

2 723 2 936 3 212 3 011 3 012 3 022 3 015 3 143 2 981 2 549 2 503

% of male students within Languages cohort (rounded to nearest whole number) 35% 35% 37% 36 % 37% 36% 35% 37% 36% 33% 33%

(Board of Studies NSW, 2011)

As seen in Table 10-1, at no point in the past 11 years has the male enrolment rate exceeded 37%. These statistics led me to investigate these

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questions. Why don’t boys elect to study languages? Is it an issue of gender preferences, perceptions or abilities? Has it got something to do with the fact that most language teachers are female? Could it be that boys and language subjects simply do not mix? Once a schoolboy in the NSW education system myself, I was especially curious about the answers to these questions.

My Investigation This was my motivation to investigate the issue further during my Honours year at university, in my dissertation titled “Boys’ Attitudes and Perceptions Towards Learning Languages in Stage 6”. I attempted to identify boys’ attitudes to and perceptions of learning a language, in regards to its importance in terms of travelling overseas, career possibilities and other subjects, as well as towards its perceived masculinity or femininity, and how these attitudes and perceptions affected their decisions to continue or discontinue the subject. Given the constraints of my Honours year, I was limited to doing a case study of one independent boys’ school in the Sydney metropolitan area. While this very small sample cannot be generalised to all boys, it did provide some interesting insights into how boys think.

My Methodology To collect data, I distributed a questionnaire to a cohort of Year 10 boys, and conducted more in-depth focus group interviews with five students. Of the 77 questionnaires distributed to the Year 10 cohort, ten were returned, and five boys voluntarily participated in one of two focus groups. At the time of receiving the questionnaire and participating in the focus groups, the boys had already made their subject choices for Year 11. All surveyed boys were between 15 to 16 years of age. Nine of the ten boys who returned questionnaires indicated that they were of Anglo-Saxon English-speaking background, with the one exception of Anthony (all names used are pseudonyms), being from Hong Kong, who also spoke Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese. All four school languages (French, German, Japanese and Latin) were represented and for the majority of the boys, the language they were studying at school was their second or third language. Each student indicated that they had studied their respective Languages subject for at least two years. All five boys who volunteered to participate in focus groups had all chosen to continue studying Languages in Year 11.

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Data from the questionnaires were compiled and the results analysed. Responses of continuing and discontinuing students were compared so any links between attitudes and their decision, or factors influencing their decision, could be drawn. This was complemented by the qualitative data obtained from the focus groups, which were analysed through content analysis of the transcriptions from the interviews. Data were coded so that key categories and themes could be identified (Neuman, 2006). An initial review of the transcripts allowed key categories to be determined before detailed analysis commenced. Results of the questionnaire and focus groups were examined and analysed in eight pre-determined categories created from coding. Data were divided into two sections per topic area: questionnaire data providing a general description of the results gained from the sample; and focus group data, providing a more thorough analysis of the topic through qualitative data. Focus groups covered more in-depth information about teacher quality and the influence of native speaker or non-native speaker teachers.

My Findings I feel compelled to mention that the boys I interviewed were intelligent, driven and mature young gentlemen. Any language teacher would be delighted to have the pleasure of teaching boys like these at some point in their careers. With a love of learning the language purely for its own sake, they were fine examples of intrinsically motivated students. They served as a great encouragement to me, reassuring me that there are boys out there, not unlike the younger version of myself, who genuinely enjoyed learning languages and excelled at the subject. The results of my research revealed several important insights into boys’ attitudes and perceptions towards learning languages; some reflecting findings from previous studies, and some new and unique insights. The first and most important finding was that the primary factor that influenced the boys’ decisions to continue or discontinue languages was “enjoyment of the subject”, followed closely by “academic success” and “relevance to career”. This finding reflected Rockwell’s (1995) and Curnow and Kohler’s (2007) studies, which also found that academic success and relevance to career were two of the top factors. However, judging by the boys’ responses in the questionnaires and focus groups, there was a pattern of interconnectedness within these factors; the boys who enjoyed languages performed well academically in the subject, and vice versa, and the boys who did not perform well academically in the

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subject did not enjoy languages. It demonstrated that it was the boys who were intrinsically motivated, interested in learning a language for its inherent qualities, or had personal experience or family ties with other countries, who decided to continue. Another key finding was that all the boys, regardless of whether they were continuing or discontinuing study of the language, saw some potential in how learning a language could be important or useful for a future career, travelling overseas, or for learning other subjects. Most of the boys were aware that learning languages develops communication skills that would be useful for certain careers or travelling overseas, and the transferable skills obtained from languages could be useful for other curriculum areas to deepen their understanding of the English language. On the surface, this is encouraging news. However, it was troubling to find that even some of the boys who decided to continue study of a language, had only very limited understanding of the significance of their language to, for instance, future travel or career. Responses like “most overseas countries do speak English” and “English is the most common language” were repeated several times, with the overall attitude being that while it would be useful to have some background knowledge, it was not essential. There was an impression that a monolingual attitude may be still prevalent in the current generation of teenagers. The boys who felt that learning languages was not relevant to their chosen career path were inclined to discontinue, as were the boys who felt that other subjects were more important than languages. Even though he decided to continue, one of the boys believed that languages was a subject of secondary importance, compared to the Sciences. Another boy who decided to continue admitted that if he had been made to choose between languages and another subject, the deciding factor would have been which one he enjoyed more. This again mirrored the findings of Rockwell (1995) in that languages usually did not fare well when put in competition with other subjects, re-iterating the finding that enjoyment of a subject is a key factor in influencing students’ decisions to continue. It was encouraging that most of the boys, even some who decided to discontinue, said they would consider taking up a language in the future for their career, demonstrating that they recognised the usefulness of learning a language, much like the students in the Curnow and Kohler (2007) study. However they simply did not see this rationale as particularly relevant to them at the current time, as school students. Together with the fact that they did not enjoy or do well academically in the subject, this was the combination of factors that discouraged boys from continuing with languages.

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Parental influence seemed to be a factor in language subject choice particularly for students with parents who came from overseas or who have travelled overseas, again similar to the findings of Rockwell (1995, p. 17) and Curnow and Kohler (2007, p.22). However, it was the influence of the classroom teacher which was found to be the major significant factor in my study. The languages teacher was found to have a huge influence in boys’ decisions. One boy cited “teacher quality” as a main factor influencing him to discontinue, another said that the teacher was the one factor that could have swayed his decision, and all other boys in the focus groups reported their own classroom teachers as having a positive influence on them continuing study. They cited their own respective teachers’ (both male and female, past and present) instructional quality, ability to empathise with their needs as non-native speakers of the language, and most of all, work ethic and passion for the subject, as sources of encouragement for them. The boys demonstrated immense respect for their teachers and this evidently encouraged them to continue with languages. In direct contrast to the findings of Carr (2002) and Carr and Pauwels (2006), none of the boys in my study identified languages as a “feminine” subject and thus the perception that “languages are for girls” did not have any influence at all in their decisions. None of the boys felt that languages was more relevant or suitable for one sex or the other, and felt both sexes were equally capable of learning languages. I felt validated by this response from the boys. If it is the case that, as Colley, Comber and Hargreaves (1994, p. 379) assert, there is less gender-stereotyping in single-sex schools, the boys had not been exposed to this “feminine” perception of languages, much like myself, and simply did not think languages could be perceived as “feminine”. Regardless, gender perceptions were by no means a significant factor in their decision making. The bottom line is that boys will continue with languages if they enjoy the subject. Closely associated with their enjoyment are academic success and the influence of the classroom teacher. Most boys recognise the importance, usefulness and value of learning a language for various aspects of life, but if they do not enjoy the subject, succeed academically, respect their classroom teacher or perceive it as relevant to their future prospects, this will have little to no impact on their decision. It seems like a simple and obvious conclusion, but we can learn a lot from this. As language teachers, we need to make languages as enjoyable as possible for boys, and demonstrate how relevant it can be for their futures, if we want them to continue the subject into their senior years. Of course, this is already what we should be doing as teachers of an elective

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subject, but we need to pay special attention to identifying what boys enjoy doing and learning about in the languages classroom. The boys I surveyed enjoyed grammar-related activities, speaking, translation and discussions about culture. However, every classroom is different, with different individual student preferences and group dynamics, so it is ultimately up to the teacher to decide what best motivates his or her boys. Carr and Pauwels (2006) and Pachler, Barnes and Field (2009) suggest that boys enjoy and prefer activities using language for a real purpose, or in other words, authentic communication. They also suggest language games, competition, puzzles, use of computer technology, collaborative research projects and role plays can also be enjoyable and motivating activities for boys. These were certainly activities my language teacher employed, and something I appreciated as a languages student, especially the element of healthy competition amongst peers; do not undervalue the competitive nature of boys! Since perceived lack of relevance to career is such a major factor as to why some boys choose to discontinue languages, as teachers we need to address the way in which students see languages as relevant to their lives, not only career-wise but in other life opportunities. Many students may not even realise how useful or valuable a second language could be for any given career. We need to offer them concrete examples of the applications of languages in particular professions and jobs, to help them recognise the benefits of knowing a foreign language. We should explore these connections with students and continually make the effort to advocate and promote languages as a subject that all students perceive as relevant, regardless of gender. Finally, and perhaps most importantly of all, knowing that the classroom teacher has such a significant influence on students’ decisions to continue or discontinue languages, we should all be encouraged to be the best teachers we can be, for the sake of our boys. Boys evidently appreciate a hardworking, passionate, quality language teacher, regardless of gender or native or non-native speaker. The boys I surveyed responded well to their teachers’ knowledge of the subject and above all, to their passion. The word “passion” repeatedly came up during my interviews with the boys. If we demonstrate this passion, enthusiasm and zeal for languages and teaching languages, our boys will perceive it and respond to it. These are qualities every language teacher should aspire to, if we want our students to have the equal aspiration to continue the subject. How we demonstrate our passion and expertise has a significant influence on how much boys enjoy our classes.

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If the aims of the NALSSP are to be met by 2020, we need to find a way to increase retention rates in languages across the country, and especially for boys. This is an issue that urgently needs to be rectified, and it all starts with us, as language teachers. We have reason to be optimistic. I had the pleasure of surveying a group of intrinsically motivated, intelligent and mature boys, the type of boys that can be found in many schools. Believe it or not, they do exist, and they will decide to continue studying languages if we make an active effort to retain them. During a recent speech, Christopher Rees, the Australian ConsulGeneral for Osaka, expressed an astoundingly simple yet profound idea: “kids do what kids like to do” (Rees, 2012). We can speak all day about how important learning languages are for our next generation of Australians to communicate with our global neighbours, establish better networks and increase economic prosperity. However, we must remember that school students simply do not care much about these things at their age. While these are indeed perfectly good reasons why students, particularly those interested in business and commerce, should be studying languages in their senior years, they are not the primary reason why they want to study them, and will never become the primary reason, no matter how much political rhetoric there is. “Kids do what kids like to do”. Such a straightforward and simple point, and yet it is so often overlooked. The simple fact is that boys will choose to study subjects that interest them, appeal to them, and that are taught by the teachers they like. Boys will do what boys like to do, and so to make sure boys continue studying languages, we as language teachers must take the initiative, make an effort to facilitate engaging, interesting and fun activities boys would enjoy in the languages classroom, demonstrate the relevance of languages to their futures and display an unmatched passion and enthusiasm for the subject.

References Board of Studies NSW. (2011). Media guides 2001–2011, Higher School Certificate and School Certificate. Retrieved from http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/bos_stats/ Carr, J. (2002). Why boys into languages won’t go. Babel, 37(2), 4–9. Carr, J. & Pauwels, A. (2006). Boys and foreign language learning: Real boys don't do languages. London: Palgrave. Colley, A., Comber, C., & Hargreaves, D. J. (1994). School subject preferences of pupils in single-sex and co-educational secondary schools. Educational Studies, 20(3), 379–385.

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Curnow, T., & Kohler, M. (2007). Languages are important – but that’s not why I’m studying one. Babel, 42(2), 20–38. Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. (2010). The National Asian Languages and Studies in Schools Program: Program guidelines 2009–2012. Retrieved from http://www.deewr.gov.au/Schooling/NALSSP/Documents/NALSSP_P rogramGuidelines_March2010.pdf Neuman, W. L. (2006). Social research methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches (6th Ed.). Boston: Pearson. Pachler, N., Barnes, A. & Field, K. (2009). Learning to teach modern foreign languages in the secondary school: A companion to school experience (3rd Ed.). London and New York: Routledge. Rees, C. (2012). Keynote address, Conference, Osaka, Japan, Jan 21, 2012, Endeavour Language Teacher Fellowship Japan 2012 program. Rockwell, C. (1995). Attitudes to language learning: a survey of three Sydney high school classes. Babel, 30(2), 12–37.

CHAPTER ELEVEN TEACHING JAPANESE TO GIFTED AND TALENTED GIRLS SALLY MIZOSHIRI

Where it All Started I grew up in a mainly Anglo middle-class southern suburb of Sydney in the 1980s and 1990s. My first exposure to languages other than English was from my neighbours who moved in across the road when I was in primary school. They were from Switzerland and could speak four languages! As a young child I remember visits to their home were always exciting. My image of Switzerland was one of alpen horns, cow bells, the Helvetica flag, and Lindt chocolates. My first lessons in a language other than English began in Year 5 at Danebank school, an Anglican girls’ school in Hurstville, Sydney. I can vividly remember sitting in the Japanese room at low blue tables with blue zabuton cushions. The room was covered with colourful posters and items from Japan. We coloured hiragana cards, learned numbers and songs, and I was introduced to Japanese culture and language. At secondary school I studied German and Japanese in Year 7, and then elected to continue with Japanese. My enthusiasm and interest for Japanese grew. My father observed this and helped me by contacting a Japanese business executive at Toyota in Sydney. I wrote a letter introducing myself and the businessman took it to Japan, and handed it to a Japanese colleague who had a daughter my age. Maki and I have exchanged letters ever since. She even came to stay with my family in 1996. Maki is now married with a son and lives in Nagoya. Hurstville City Council in Sydney has a sister city in Japan, and in 1997 I participated in their cross-cultural exchange. From that experience my desire to master Japanese was further ignited. I then participated in two further exchanges—one an AFS exchange (see www.afs.org.au), and the other a LABO Program exchange (see www.labo-exchange.com). I had

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made so many friends by then, and must have exchanged hundreds of hand written letters with my pen-pals. My Japanese teacher in my senior years, Ms Maddock, always encouraged and supported me, and my HSC results in Japanese were excellent. Japanese was my overriding passion, and my goal was to become a fluent speaker.

Fine-tuning the Next Steps I completed an Arts (Japanese)/Law degree with distinction from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in 2006 and was awarded The Sun Masamune Prize for Japanese. I thoroughly enjoyed the Japanese program at UNSW, took part in NSW Japanese Speech Contests and university events. I still keep in touch with all my Japanese lecturers today. Then after my graduation I changed career direction. In order to fulfil my dream to live and work in Japan I completed a Certificate in Teaching TESOL in early 2006 at UNSW, and then moved to Japan to teach English. My two goals were to master Japanese and to explore a culture very different from my own. I met a Japanese guy in Osaka in 2006 (who is now my husband) and he encouraged me to apply for a job at the Osaka Board of Education. I won the position and I spent just over two years there, teaching as a Native English Teacher (NET) at a senior high school. My job was a very rewarding teaching position at four schools; a main high school and three special needs schools for students with intellectual and physical disabilities, and I rotated between the three schools every Friday. I held other roles too, for example I was a volunteer at the local council’s international organization, the Settsu City Association for International Exchange, Settsu city, Osaka, where I translated for the Mayor of Settsu city on official occasions. I also lead a group of local students on a Sister City Exchange to Bundaberg in Queensland. I found a passion to teach young people in Japan, so I returned to Australia in early 2009 to complete a Diploma of Education at UNSW. I commenced teaching Japanese in late 2009 in the Languages Department at an academically selective secondary school, North Sydney Girls High School, and I am still there today.

My Vision Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire. —attributed to William Butler Yeats (Poet, 1865-1939)

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My vision for language teaching is to light a fire inside each of my students in my Japanese classes. I have been impacted in my thinking by the work of Lev Vygotsky and notions of scaffolding. In the challenging and highly-supportive environment of my school, I want every student to grow academically and emotionally as a curious, excited and open-minded individual interested in the world around them. I want students to think comparatively, and actively question assumptions, beliefs, attitudes and norms in our society. I want students to embrace diversity, develop communicative competence, gain cultural knowledge and develop intercultural awareness. I believe in intercultural language learning as a life-long activity, and I hope that some of my students start their journey in my Japanese class. My goal is to see students pursue their language studies beyond the classroom through in-country experience, interactions with other language learners and their Japanese friends, media and Japanrelated centres. Through my interaction with students and teaching, I aim to be a kakehashi (bridge) or conduit, linking my students with Japan. Finally in the words of Parker Palmer (1998, p. x), I hope to “kindle the gift of life” in myself, my students and the wider world.

Teaching Japanese to Gifted and Talented Girls Despite all the benefits of learning languages, recent figures show a worrying decline in the number of Australian students learning Asian languages. This has been outlined in the recent commissioned reports on the current state of Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian and Korean language education in Australian schools reports (see for example, Commonwealth of Australia, 2010). Languages education is of “national strategic importance” (Macgibbon, 2011) and it is essential that our Gifted and Talented students receive the languages education they deserve. According to Gross (2002, p. 1), Australia’s Gifted and Talented children are our most valuable national resource and our future leaders. Gross says of our Gifted and Talented young people, that if their talents are allowed to develop, will enhance this nation’s industrial, economic, scientific and cultural development in future years. Any nation’s survival depends on the effective deployment of resources—including its intellectual resources.

These same students will need to effectively communicate with our Asian neighbours, and be able to work and socialise in a world led by Asian countries (Jensen, 2011).

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Scholarly opinion is that Gifted and Talented students in particular should be provided with quality languages programs (Modern Language Teachers Association of Victoria, 2011). As a secondary school teacher of gifted Japanese learners, it is my duty and responsibility to ensure that I address their needs and implement strategies that develop their talent. I believe that by catering to my learners’ needs they are more engaged and committed to pursuing their studies beyond secondary school. My three preferred strategies for Gifted and Talented students include firstly the need to consider developing students’ critical, higher-order thinking and cross-curricular learning; secondly, developing students’ language competencies to extend communicative and linguistic strategies; and thirdly, providing authentic, real-world opportunities for students’ Japanese use.

Critical Higher Order Thinking Japanese is offered at North Sydney Girls High School from Year 7 to Year 12 as an elective subject. At present I teach over 150 talented students who are academically driven and highly inquisitive about the world around them. Our teaching model is one centred around “Big Questions”, which the students explore collaboratively and innovatively. These questions are specific to each key learning area within the school. Thus we have created a set of “Big Questions” for our students of languages and cultures. An example from our 2009 program is using the stimulus quote: “Learn a new language and get a new soul” (Czech Proverb). Thus the question becomes “How does the learning of a new language allow us to get a new soul?” The questions change each year and the students have a lot of autonomy in how they research the topic or question and present their information. I strongly support this system of learning for Gifted and Talented students. I believe that I have a responsibility to educate high achievers to think beyond the Japanese classroom, to link their knowledge with other areas of the curriculum, and to grapple with global issues. In my Japanese classroom, I seek to link the curriculum with students’ interests so they develop their own personal affinity for Japanese culture, language and people. At the junior secondary level, I have worked to embed intercultural thinking in the curriculum, and have designed units focusing on Japanese studies to inspire and motivate students. In Year 8 and 9 elective Japanese classes, all students undertake a four term Japanese Personal Interest Project (J-PIP) which I developed in 2010. In conjunction with their

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Japanese language study in class, students complete four projects (one per term) which link to other key learning areas. The projects are linked to the overall “Big Question” which requires students to critically analyse and reflect on their language learning. The students have complete autonomy and choice for the focus of the projects. They work in groups and at times individually. Students are given class time and access to technology to work on their presentations and research. The J-PIP project is developing a range of skills within the students, but most importantly the ability to “move between cultures” (Board of Studies New South Wales, 2003), and negotiate meaning in their own background culture and the target culture (Japanese). I believe the project strongly enhances their Asia literacy skills, and encourages them to consider Japanese culture and society in reference to their own cultural heritage here in Australia. Examples of student J-PIP projects include digital presentations on an aspect of modern Japanese culture, videos in Japanese for the JPF Video Matsuri (see www.video-matsuri.jpf-sydney.net), artworks for the Art Speaks Japanese (see www.artalive.jpf-sydney.net) project, haiku for the JAL World Children’s Haiku Contest (see www.jal-foundation.or.jp) and critical essays for Australia-Japan Relations Essay Contest (see www.au.emb-japan.go.jp). Some of the projects are individual endeavours, such as constructing a haiku poem or writing an essay, but others are collaborative activities such as making a film or producing an artwork. Wherever possible I encourage students to use their linguistic and cultural knowledge of Japanese to complete tasks. I also give students advice and feedback on their projects in oral and written form. Assessment is based on marking criteria developed by staff in our school, and it is continuous throughout the school year.

Sample Activity: Japanese and Australian Schools Each year, Year 8 Japanese cover the topic of “school”. Students build on what they have previously learned: the vocabulary and expressions for school subjects and for describing their school in Japanese. In order to increase awareness and actively explore the links between Australian and Japanese Schools, we undertake a mind-mapping activity. We begin with a brief discussion of “school” in Australia, and then talk about the different types of schools available to students. Discussion ensues on how our schools may be similar/different to those in Japan. Then the teacher places students in small groups to brainstorm similarities and differences and make their own mind-map for recording information. Many students use Venn diagrams to write up the differences and similarities about the two

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systems. After half an hour we come together as a whole class and a “chairperson” from each group shares their ideas. The students actively negotiate the topic together, make connections between what they already know about Australia and Japan, and come up with some fascinating points for discussion. In the past one of the similarities/differences which arose in their mind-mapping was diversity itself. The mind-mapping was a launching pad into discussions on Japan’s population and its demographic features. We accessed real data and population statistics about Japan using the electronic whiteboard. The notion that not all people in Japan are ethnically Japanese came as a surprise to them, and they voted the task as being really worthwhile. Rather than “tell” students about this diversity, I was able to facilitate discussion and allow the students to question assumptions and stereotypes, take control of their learning and confirm their knowledge in an engaging and positive way. Through this activity students demonstrated the ability to explore language and culture through active engagement, and develop a personal, intercultural space with multiple dimensions: that is, some principles of intercultural language learning (Asia Education Foundation, n.d.). Students all therefore learn about Japanese culture and society through project work in a self-directed manner, and take their learning beyond the classroom. They have been rewarded for their efforts with many accolades and prizes won in competitions. They achieve excellent results in the Assessment of Language Competence Certificates run by Australian Council for Educational Research (see www.acer.edu.au/tests/alc). Last year, the school won the national “School of the Year” in the 29th Australia-Japan Relations Essay Contest (see www.au.emb-japan.go.jp/eweb/education_essay.html). Overall, the students take great pride in their projects, and the standard of work produced is exceptionally high.

Extending Students’ Communicative and Linguistic Competence In the senior years, Years 10 to 12, I actively engage students in discussions about issues in contemporary Japanese society, presenting them real life scenarios where they can actively use their language skills. I provide students with materials such as daily news items from the Yomiuri newspaper, live NHK TV media clips, and Japanese television commercials, films and songs to facilitate discussion and debate. I use the electronic whiteboard and computers to access real-time information, where language is by native speakers. Japanese native speakers visit our classrooms

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frequently and interact with students. Students are exposed to concepts, grammar and language beyond the textbook, thus extending their learning. They acquire language much faster through these activities. For example, the students see kanji characters used in authentic contexts. They have opportunities to read a greater variety of kanji with furigana and develop a richer Japanese vocabulary from their work with advanced texts.

Japanese Film I use Japanese films occasionally in senior classes to illustrate sociological issues. The topic of family is a perennial one. We discuss the changing family structure and values that are inherent in being part of a family unit. Films are powerful teaching tools as they are in the target language and function as a lens for teaching culture. The Japan Foundation’s Happy Family Plan is an example of a film that I have used in class. The film created an excellent forum for discussion about changing family values and modern society in Japan (see www.happyfamily plan.com). Another film screened for the senior Year 11 class was A Boy and his Samurai (Chonmage Purin) (see http://asianwiki.com/A_Boy_and_His _Samurai). The Japan Foundation had created resources specifically for the film. The students brainstormed an astounding number of related issues: tradition/modernity; samurai values/modern parenting; making promises). Films facilitate language learning and motivate students to use the acquired language in their oral and written work. They are authentic teaching texts and encourage insightful discussion. Students also display their higher-order thinking skills in their discussion of the issues. Their language knowledge is enhanced and their cultural competence is expanded. Students develop sufficient confidence to be able to work with texts designed for a native-speaker audience.

Real World Opportunities for Japanese Use My goal is to enable students to make a connection between their Japanese curriculum and their interests and life experiences. I actively promote students’ participation in competitions and other opportunities for using their Japanese outside the classroom. Senior students participate in the NSW Japanese Speech Contest and can speak on contemporary sociological issues in Japanese. Top senior students sit the internationallyrecognised Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) conducted each

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year at UNSW (see http://intlstudies.arts.unsw.edu.au/japanese-studiesresources/proficiency-test/). Members of the Japanese teaching community are invited to engage with our students. Japanese lecturers from different universities in Sydney and Tokyo have visited at various times and delivered guest lectures. It is a fabulous opportunity for students to process complex information in the target language and reflect on their learning. It definitely gives them a deeper dimension through which to view Japanese and make connections with their other subject areas. The students see a world of Japanese beyond the classroom: another of my aims for their learning experiences. Cultural incursions and excursions are a feature of my program, and these broaden students’ interest and knowledge of Japanese culture and language. Last year I organised bento (lunch box) days, furoshiki (wrapping cloth) demonstrations, and a kendo lecture/demonstration. I accompanied senior students to the Japan Foundation in Sydney for an Ukiyoe (woodblock print) workshop. Students display a particular interest in Japanese food culture and we have made matcha green tea icecream and soba buckwheat noodles in class. In 2010, I co-ordinated and lead a school trip to Japan with the assistance of the Languages Head Teacher. The time in Japan for teachers and students was a rewarding experiential learning opportunity. In 2011 I took a group of elective Japanese students to the Australian National University in Canberra to a Secondary Japanese Workshop. At the time of writing this chapter I am planning to lead another group tour to Japan, this time to the Kansai region for a study tour and homestay. I encourage our girls to host Japanese students through the LABO program, and encourage girls to participate in exchanges through organisations such as AFS Australia and LABO.

Student Reflection I seek to encourage and inspire students to participate in academic learning of Japanese. I work to foster creativity and critical thinking in the classroom, and allow for exploration of multiple perspectives. I believe student autonomy is the most powerful way of encouraging students to think for themselves. Student reflection is one way in which we activate higher-order thinking. Student reflection is an ongoing part of assessment and it is integrated across the curriculum at our school. In my Japanese classrooms, I often ask students to reflect at the end of a teaching/learning cycle on their language learning achievement/progress. As these personal reflections are

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written and submitted for comment, the linguistic and cultural concepts discussed show higher-order thinking and provide students with space to express their experiences and thoughts. Throughout the program I design for them, students demonstrate an ability to (Asia Education Foundation, n.d.): x reflect critically and constructively on linguistic and cultural differences and similarities, and questioning dichotomies; x reflect critically and constructively on their own intercultural behaviour; and x articulate the multiple dimensions of their own intercultural space and identity. My ultimate goal is for students to make a connection between the curriculum and their interests and life experiences. In this way, I seek to differentiate the curriculum so that each student gains something unique from Japanese class. The idea of differentiating instruction to accommodate the different ways that students learn is an approach to teaching that advocates active planning for student differences in classrooms (see www.caroltomlinson.com/). I seek to assist students on their collaborative and collective journey to “higher things” (ad altiora) embodied in our school’s motto.

My Goals I strongly believe in teaching students the concept of “living languages” which change and evolve over time. Access to information communication technology (ICT) and up-to-date information about Japan, Japanese people and society enables me to teach broadly and expose students to a wide range of cross-curricular issues. The classroom is “borderless”, it seems, with ICT instantly available. Expanding ICT use in my language classroom is my aim. Student autonomy in their learning is a very important tenet of our school’s philosophy. The learning environment is important. The collaborative spirit in the classroom is something that I seek to create and maintain through discussions, group activities and outings. There is a real sense of participation in my classrooms and a sense of team spirit particularly in the senior years. I hope that I can encourage my students to find their own “third place” (Kramsch, 1993). Finally to further my professional knowledge and skills, I am currently undertaking a Postgraduate Certificate in Intercultural Language Pedagogy

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(Japanese) at Macquarie University. The course is directly applicable to classroom teaching and I am finding the course practical and stimulating. I want to translate my learning into deeper teaching and learning for the students. The benefits of learning another language are well canvassed and there has been much media reporting about the importance of bilingualism (see for example, www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/.../the-benefits-of-bilingualism. html). However the attrition in numbers of students in languages programs in Australian schools is a worrying trend. What classroom climate are we creating for our learners? How can we reverse the trend? Our classrooms must provide challenge matched with requisite support for students to succeed. We need to choose Japanese textbooks that consider the “bigger picture” and move beyond simple textbook dialogues and phrases (such as those found at www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features /language/T120119003918.htm). Gifted students need to see that learning a second language is a skill that can be applied to real-life scenarios one hundred percent of the time. I really want my students to draw on their personal experiences and find ways for them to create a personal affinity with the language. The experience of learning a language needs to be enriching and holistic and must be designed so that articulation is seamless and that there are clear pathways for language learners to follow. The students must feel that language learning is an advantage – something that makes them stand out from the crowd (see Deveau, 2006 and http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/ features/language/T110823004785.htm). My ultimate hope is that students have rich connections with their peers, teachers and Japanese people which they can treasure for life. I strongly believe it is through the kinds of serendipitous connections and lifelong friendships explored above that I have come to where I am today, continuing to enjoy teaching Japanese in a Sydney secondary school classroom.

References Asia Education Foundation. (n.d.). Getting started with intercultural languages learning: A resource for schools. Melbourne: Asian Languages Professional Learning Project and Asia Education Foundation. Retrieved from http://www.asiaeducation.edu.au/ verve/_resources/GettingStardwithIntercultural.pdf Board of Studies New South Wales. (2003). Japanese Syllabus: 7–10. Sydney, NSW: Board of Studies New South Wales.

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Commonwealth of Australia. (2010). The current state of Japanese language education in Australian schools. Carlton South, Vic.: Education Services Australia. Deveau, T. (2006, 22 March). Strategies for gifted second language learners. Academic Exchange Quarterly. Retrieved from http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Strategies+for+gifted+second+language +learners-a0146219165 Gross, M.U.M. (2002). Submission to the Senate Employment and Workplace Relations, Small Business and Education References Committee, The Education of Gifted and Talented Children. Retrieved from http://wopared.aph.gov.au/ _senate_committee_eet_ctte_completed_inquiries_199902_gifted_submissions_sub215 Jensen, B. (2011, 23 March). Language skills vital in an Asia-led world. The Australian. Retrieved from http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/languageskills-vital-in-an-asia-led-world/story-e6frgd0x-1226026352098 Kramsch, C. (1993). Context and culture in language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Macgibbon, A. (2011, 7 February). A nation lost in translation. Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved from http://www.smh.com.au/national/ education/a-nation-lost-in-translation-20110206-1aifl.html Modern Language Teachers Association of Victoria. (2011). Submission to the Victorian Parliament Education and Training Committee’s Inquiry into the Education of Gifted and Talented Students. Retrieved from http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/ images/stories/committees/etc/Past_Inquiries/EGTS_Inquiry/Submissi ons/72_Modern_Language_Teachers_Association_of_Victoria.pdf Palmer, P. (1998). Foreword. In M.R. O’Reilley, Radical Presence: Teaching as contemplative practice. (p. x) Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook.

CHAPTER TWELVE MULTI-LEVEL CLASSES AND HERITAGE LEARNERS: TEACHING CHINESE IN METROPOLITAN SYDNEY KYLIE HA On Being and Becoming a Language Teacher I am a second generation Chinese-Australian or “ABC” (Australian Born Chinese). My parents are Hong Kong migrants, and so I grew up in a Cantonese-speaking household. Once I began attending school, English became my main language and the language where I first developed a literacy. I maintained my level of spoken “kitchen” Cantonese (Polinsky & Kagan, 2007, p. 369) through home usage. My parents had always wanted me to be literate in Chinese, and with Hong Kong’s return to Chinese sovereignty in 1997, they foresaw the benefits of learning Mandarin and enrolled me in a privately run Chinese school operating on Saturdays. This was the beginning of my often frustrating Mandarin language learning experience. This private Chinese school was set up to cater for the needs of the growing number of Chinese-Australian children who are illiterate in their first language (Mandarin/other dialects of Chinese). As fluency in the language of instruction is assumed, emphasis is placed on developing literacy and not so much on developing practical communicative skills in the language. This was problematic for me as the language of instruction was Cantonese, yet I was being taught how to read and write Chinese characters in Mandarin without knowing how to communicate in the dialect. If I had attended a Chinese school that taught students written Cantonese, the situation may not have been so confusing for me, because despite an assumption that dialects are mutually intelligible (Fromkin & Rodman, 1993) there are in fact, several linguistic differences between

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spoken Cantonese and Mandarin (Erbaugh, 2002; Zhang, 1998, pp.1460– 1461). As it was, I was frustrated with the fact that instead of learning how to order food in Mandarin, I was learning how to recite poems. What was taught at that school clashed with my personal Mandarin learning goals and I eventually stopped attending. On entering university, I once again decided to study Mandarin, as I still felt that same desire to connect with my cultural heritage and felt optimistic about my chances of learning the language properly at university. I was placed in a class especially designed for heritage learners, but unfortunately, classes were reminiscent of my lessons at Saturday Chinese school, with an emphasis on gaining literacy as opposed to fluency in Mandarin. Some classes were conducted mainly in Mandarin and with my patchy understanding of the language, I soon lost track of the lesson content. However, I was determined to “master” the language to the point where I would be confident in teaching it. I knew I needed more practice and guidance in the language than just the prescribed lesson contact hours at university. I therefore enlisted the help of a family friend as my private tutor, listened to Mandarin podcasts everyday, enrolled in TAFE classes and attended adult language classes on the weekend in order to equip myself with the communicative skills that my Saturday school classes and heritage-specific Chinese classes at university could not provide. I immersed myself in the language, even attending short courses in China during the summer holidays in order to rapidly develop my Mandarin language skills. Even now, I strive to further improve my level of Mandarin. At the time of writing this chapter I am studying in Beijing at a Chinese intensive course at the Beijing Language and Culture University. I hope that equipping myself with a more thorough grasp of the Chinese language through the understandings I develop in this course, will allow me to better cater for the heritage and background students in my classroom.

My Pathway to Teaching: From Student to Teacher I had always wanted to be a teacher, having been taught from an early age to respect teachers and hold them in the highest regard, a trait said to be characteristic of Confucian heritage learners (Wong, 2004, p. 155). A teacher to me was always wise and understanding, someone who was flawless in the classroom, privy to the secret art of teaching that equipped them with the skills to teach even the most reluctant learner.

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My early perception changed when I entered secondary school. I came to understand then, that teachers were not as omniscient as I had earlier thought. However, it transpired that my teachers did leave a deep impression on me. Rather than being the all-knowing, infallible teacher of my childhood, I wanted to become an inspiring teacher myself, and share some of the passion I had for learning languages with others. I wanted to be instrumental in unlocking the door to a new world of possibilities for my students, to allow my students to nurture a deeper understanding of themselves and those around them. In hindsight, I see now, having a couple of years’ teaching experience, that I had rather idealistic views of teaching. When I look back at my pre-service preparation, I remember the times during school experience sessions that I encountered difficulties with classroom management. I can see that the supervising teacher introduced me to the notion of teacher as “tactician” (Owen, Malcolm & Hall, 1982). It broadened my view of what teaching entailed, to include lesson planning, teacher reflections and deliberate decision-making in and outside the classroom. Planning is a crucial element of teaching and although I was theoretically aware of this, it was not until I began teaching that the practical side of teaching dawned on me.

Teaching My teaching experiences after graduation have challenged me and allowed me to grow and develop, particularly in terms of differentiating my teaching to accommodate individual learners in my Chinese classroom. I am now a secondary trained Chinese and Japanese teacher who graduated from a combined Arts and Education degree at the University of Sydney in 2009. I spent my first year after graduating teaching Japanese and Mandarin at a local comprehensive secondary school. I also set up and taught Japanese and Chinese language and culture at three primary feeder schools. Those three schools had close ties with the high school as part of a program funded by the Asia Education Foundation’s (AEF) Becoming Asia-Literate grants (see http://www.deewr.gov.au/Schooling/NALSSP/ Pages/News_AsiaLiterate.aspx). I have taught students from Years 3 to12, and although challenging, the experience in the primary classroom has helped me develop flexibility in my personal teaching style. Teaching Chinese in secondary school has further developed this flexibility, as I have taught a range of learners, from non-background beginners through to heritage learners all within the one class.

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I also found myself teaching multi-level classes in an academically selective girls’ school where there was rarely a behaviour issue. This was completely different to the situation at my previous practicum schools during my teacher preparation degree, where the main challenge was always behaviour management. Due to the range of learners in my classes, from non-background language learners to near-native heritage learners, all Chinese classes were divided into different language ability groups. I was essentially planning for, and teaching, between two and five different groups in the one class. Teaching these classes required more energy, planning time and teaching resources compared to my previous teaching and I have thus added another role to my multi-faceted teacher identity: the “juggler”. This refers to how I always had to set up and maintain learning experiences for the variety of language levels in the classroom, which I know now is a daily “juggling act”, especially for Chinese teachers. Another challenge for me at this school has been the setting up and teaching of the new Board of Studies New South Wales Heritage Chinese (Mandarin) Stage 6 Syllabus (2010). As this was the first time the course had ever been taught, the lack of an existing implementation model has meant that teaching the course was not without its difficulties, especially in terms of finding appropriate teaching resources.

Teaching Multi-level Classes: The Chinese challenge To me, the Chinese language classroom of today is a dynamic learning environment resembling a busy workshop more than a traditional languages classroom. Non-background beginner students might be in one corner reading through a comprehension passage, while a more advanced group of beginners, might be in another part of the classroom practising dialogue scripts to record and submit online. At the back of the room, a group of intermediate students might be working through a timed writing task, while an advanced student might be researching information in order to present an oral report. Throughout the lesson, I, as sole teacher, would be moving from one group to another, taking on a variety of roles: monitoring students to make sure they are focused and on task, facilitating learning by introducing and modeling new vocabulary or language structures, prompting self-correction where it is needed, and so on. The key to successful differentiation is the fostering of “safe studentcentred learning environments” that encourage students to “take linguistic risks” (Rubino, 2004, as cited in Thomas, 2007, p.15). It is not something that happens overnight. The setting up and running of such a learning

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environment requires a shift in perceptions for students and teachers, moving away from the traditional second language classroom and towards a more flexible learning environment (Thomas, 2007) with an emphasis on student autonomy and collaborative learning (Lu, 2011). I usually begin the year by assessing and placing students in groups based on their language level. Depending on the the cohort, I could have anything from the one language group to four or five groups in the one class. Once divided into their groups, ideally, students of different language abilities should be taught in separate classes (Kagan & Dillon, 2009; Orton, 2008). However, due to budget, administrative and resource constraints, this is often not possible (Kagan & Dillon, 2009, p.168), with multi-level Chinese classes being the accepted norm up until Years 11 and 12 when Chinese classes are separated into different language streams. No two classes are the same and I therefore find it necessary to have a “toolbox of classroom management techniques” (Kagan & Dillon, 2009, p.168) and a variety of tasks to cater for the broad spectrum of learners in my classes. When appropriate to the learners’ level and context, I often prescribe textbooks for each level as this provides a course structure that they can follow. Supplementary materials from other sources are then used to further scaffold and extend the students’ learning. I often employ the use of portfolios (Kagan & Dillon, 2009, p.168), emails and web discussions (Thomas, 2007), and task-based and collaborative learning (Lu, 2011) to foster the students’ development of a range of language skills. Although it is common to promote the use of advanced learners as peer tutors (Thomas, 2007), their individual learning cannot be neglected, and depending on the student and the context, I believe that the advanced learners in question may not necessarily be the most appropriate candidates for peer tutoring. This multi-level classroom requires patience, plenty of preparation time and a great deal of innovative thinking in order to cultivate the right learning environment (Rubino, 2004, as cited in Thomas, 2007, p.15). It is necessary for teachers to understand their learners and be familiar with the research related to teaching multi-level Chinese classes, particularly in terms of teaching heritage learners, an often misunderstood group of learners (Duff, 2008; Kagan & Dillon, 2009; Kondo-Brown, 2003; Li, 2008; Polinsky & Kagan, 2007).

Heritage Learners: Issues to Consider Chinese “heritage” language learners refers to a group of language learners who are represented by a broad spectrum of contexts, rather than the one language ability group (Duff, 2008; Everson, 2008; Kagan &

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Dillon, 2009; Kondo-Brown, 2003; Li, 2008; Polinsky & Kagan, 2007). Although they have been exposed to some form of the heritage language (in this case, a dialect of Chinese) at home, they are “not necessarily bilingual”. They can be situated on a spectrum which ranges from knowing as little as a few basic words, through to being able to converse fluently in the heritage language (Polinsky & Kagan, 2007, p.373). This misconception that heritage language learners are a homogenous group is further complicated by the assumption that all Chinese heritage learners have been exposed to the same standardised form of Chinese (Mandarin) in their home environment (Polinsky & Kagan, 2007). As I have stated earlier, Chinese dialects are not as mutually intelligible as presumed under the broad definition of language dialects (Erbaugh, 2002; Zhang, 1998). It would therefore be “unrealistic” (Polinsky & Kagan, 2007, p.373) to assume that dialect speakers of Chinese have the same linguistic advantage as speakers of Mandarin. However, it would also be ineffective to treat the dialect cohort of heritage speakers as nonbackground speakers as there is evidence of a phonological advantage when such learners study another dialect (Peyton et al., 2001, as cited in Polinsky & Kagan, 2007, p.378). A related issue in teaching Chinese heritage language learners relates to the use of simplified and traditional/full formed characters. Officially, Mandarin courses in Australia are taught using simplified characters, as this is the standardised writing system in mainland China. However, the dominant writing system in Hong Kong and Taiwan is traditional/full formed characters. As the overseas Chinese population is an amalgamation of Chinese people from these countries, students may have studied traditional characters either at home or at Chinese Saturday School and may have a preference for writing in that form. The Board of Studies New South Wales Chinese Background Speakers Syllabus (2012) caters for this preference by providing both a traditional and simplified form of any Chinese text that appears in the Higher School Certificate examination paper. However this same consideration is not apparent in the Heritage Chinese course. Apart from the practical considerations that will need to be considered in class such as providing learners with an alternative version of printed text, consideration needs to be given to the underlying sociolinguistic issues behind the usage of either writing form. Teaching simplified characters, on the one hand, reflects an “ideological position and claim to identity” (Pan, Craig, & Scollon, 2005, p.10) that assumes the learners are from mainland Chinese families or at least support mainland Chinese sentiments. Traditional characters, on the other hand, presupposes the

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same for learners from Hong Kong and Taiwanese families. The choice of written form can be a sensitive issue in class. It is an issue, from my experience, that stems more from objections made by parents than by students themselves. A compromise can usually be met if students literate in traditional characters are allowed to submit work in traditional characters, with the requirement that they learn to read in the simplified form. Although there is often a range of heritage learners in the modern Chinese classroom, the language teaching method and related teaching materials employed are still a curious mix of foreign language learning method and background speakers’ method (Li, 2008). Teaching resources used can be inappropriate for most learners, in terms of language level and learning pace. Often the scaffolding of these teaching materials is also non-existent (Orton, 2008, p.15) and may lack a higher-order thinking focus or intercultural exercises and questions. The broad ability range of heritage learners requires the sourcing of teaching material that will not impinge on “the teachers’ and learners’ language ideologies, attitudes, identities, and political stances or historical affiliations” (Ochs, 1996, as cited in Li, 2008, p. 64). Thankfully textbooks geared towards heritage learners are now being published. However no textbook is ever perfect, and no teacher ever relies solely on just the one textbook. It is therefore necessary to have useful and appropriate resources that can be used for lesson planning and as reference tools for the students (Li, 2008, p.61). When planning a multi-level lesson, only a very limited number of resources can be designed by the teacher from scratch. Depending on the number of levels in the class, the teacher may be spending anything from twice as much, to four times as much energy and time preparing the lesson compared to planning for a single level class. Appropriate teaching materials are therefore essential, but as yet, hard to find when catering for heritage learners’ classroom needs.

The Future of Chinese Language Education in Australia Due to Australia’s close economic ties with China (Orton, 2008), and linking language learning to careers, there has been much talk in Australia of fostering the preparation of a pool of “China-literate” Australians (Orton, 2008, p. 5). In order to reach such a goal, there needs to be more research in regards to the current Chinese teaching situation, particularly in terms of tackling the issue of how best to support these already bicultural and at least partially bilingual heritage learners to become members of this “China-literate” cohort (Orton, 2008, pp. 5–6).

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To improve Chinese language education in Australia, there needs to be an increased understanding by the school staff, parents and students, of the challenges faced by Chinese teachers teaching multi-level classes. More appropriate professional support and training needs to also be made available for Chinese teachers especially in terms of how best to effectively differentiate their teaching for the range of learners in their classes. With the right support, Chinese language education in Australia will become more accessible to many more learners, whether nonbackground, heritage or native-speakers. Like me, these new generations of Chinese language learners will be able to “unlock doors to new worlds of possibilities”.

References Board of Studies New South Wales. (2010). Background Speakers Chinese Stage 6 Syllabus. Sydney: Board of Studies New South Wales. Retrieved from http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au Board of Studies New South Wales. (2010). Heritage Chinese (Mandarin) Stage 6 Syllabus. Sydney: Board of Studies New South Wales. Retrieved from http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au Duff, P. A. (2008). Issues in Chinese language teaching and teacher development. In P. Duff & P. Lester (Eds.), Issues in Chinese language education and teacher development. November, (pp. 5–48). Canada: University of British Columbia, Centre for Research in Chinese Language and Literacy Education. Erbaugh, M. S. (2002). Classifiers are for specification: Complementary functions for sortal and general classifiers in Cantonese and Mandarin. Cahiers de linguistique-Asie orientale, 31 (1), 33–69. Everson, M. E. (2008). Issues in Chinese literacy learning and implications for teacher development. In P. Duff & P. Lester (Eds.), Issues in Chinese language education and teacher development. November, (pp. 70–88). Canada: University of British Columbia, Centre for Resesarch in Chinese Language and Literacy Education. Fromkin, V. & Rodman, R. (1993). An introduction to language. (5th Ed.). Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace. Kagan, O. & Dillon, K. E. (2009). The professional development of teachers of heritage language learners: A matrix. In M. Andersen & A. Lazaraton (Eds.), Bridging contexts, making connections. (pp. 155– 175). Minneapolis: Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition, University of Minnesota.

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Kondo-Brown, K. (2003). Heritage language instruction for postsecondary students from immigrant backgrounds. Heritage Language Journal, 1, 1–25. Li, D. (2008). Issues in Chinese language curriculum and materials development. In P. Duff & P. Lester (Eds.), Issues in Chinese language education and teacher development. November, (pp. 49–69). Canada: University of British Columbia, Centre for Research in Chinese Language and Literacy Education. Lu, S. (2011, May). Using tasks effectively to teach Chinese as a foreign language to college students in the USA. Unpublished Master of Arts in Asian Studies Thesis. South Orange: Seton Hall University, USA. Retrieved from http://scholarship.shu.edu/theses/207 Orton, J. (2008). Chinese language education in Australian schools. The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, Melbourne. Owen, J.M., Malcolm, C.K. & Hall, K.C. (1982). Alternative forms of communicated knowledge and their effects on Australian teachers. Melbourne: Melbourne State College Tertiary Education Research Unit. Pan, Y., Craig, B., & Scollon, S. (2005). Results from Chinese cognitive interviews on the census 2000 long form: Language, literacy and cultural issues. Washington DC: US Bureau of the Census, Statistical Research Division. Polinsky, M. & Kagan, O. (2007). Heritage languages: In the “wild” and in the classroom. Language and Linguistics Compass, 1 (5), 368–395. Thomas, B. (2007). Collaborative learning and mixed-level classes: A case study in French. Babel, 41 (3), 13–23, 38. Wong, J.K.K. (2004). Are the learning styles of Asian international students culturally or contextually based? International Education Journal 4 (4), 154–166. Zhang, X. (1998). Dialect MT: a case study between Cantonese and Mandarin. In C. Boitet & P. Whitelock (Eds.), Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Computational Linguistics, August, 10-14, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. 2, (pp. 1460–1464). Stroudsburg, USA: Association for Computational Linguistics.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN ONE TEACHER’S EXPLORATION OF THE PERSONAL AND THE PROFESSIONAL JIAN LIAN LIANG WITH ROBYN MOLONEY

To discover the values which “push” my teaching and shape my attitudes and my practice, I have written some narrative snapshots of my childhood, my educational aspirations and my experiences of being a second language learner and teacher. In each section I include brief explanations of socio-cultural context.

Family ᐙ࿴୓஦‫ޤ‬ Harmony in the family is the basis for success in any undertaking.

Socio-cultural Context Chinese society has been deeply influenced by Confucian philosophical principles. Love and respect, maintenance of harmony and negation of conflict are important concepts in the family, attributed to the influence of Confucianism (Lin & Fu, 1990). Home is the first place for the children to learn and practise a set of values such as obedience, respect for order and authority, hard work, responsibility and national pride. The family is responsible for educating the child to be a good citizen in society.

Narrative I was born as the third child of my family in 1974 in Guangdong, Southern China. China was very poor at that time because the Cultural Revolution

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had stripped nearly everything away. Life was very tough for my extended family of seven. The only income was from my father’s teaching job, about 15 Yuan (US $2) per month. From his teaching job in town, my father came back to our village on Saturdays with a half kilo of pork for dinner for seven of us, the only meat we had every week. I always looked forward to Saturday both for the meat and for seeing my father. My mother, from a family of six children, had had to give up her schooling after only Year 2. She always worked very hard physically to provide for the family, growing different crops and raising pigs and silkworms. She decided to try her very best to enable her daughters to get as much education as possible for a brighter future. She strongly believed that education would give her children wings to fly higher and faster. Mum did most of the farm work for the family, while my grandmother looked after all of us. One of the activities I enjoyed with my mother was singing. There is a tradition, the night before a wedding, of improvised singing to a bride. Mum was always the active leader of this event, and I loved following her, to listen to the women’s singing. My mother greatly admired the promotion of women by Chairman Mao, because it aligned with her independent mindset. My mother’s behaviour and attitude, as part of a long tradition of powerful and independent women in Guangdong, was a strong influence on me. My mother’s positive attitude towards education for her three daughters was always encouraging and motivated us to go further. She shaped my self-confidence as a female, with not just rhetoric, but practical action. I was aware that this was not the case in other families in the village, as many of my female schoolmates only finished primary school. I was the only one of my village peer class who went to senior high school. My mother communicated to me her confidence that I could do, and become, more than she or I could imagine.

Historically, women in China did not have much freedom to make personal, social or political choices. The popular saying from Confucianism about women is ዪ Ꮚ ᪢ ᡯ ౽ ᫝ ᚫ which translates to English as “it is the virtue of a woman to be without talent”. Women were required to have modest manners and to work diligently, and had to obey their fathers while still single, their husbands after marriage, and their sons when their husbands died. As a child, however, I observed, imitated and inherited my parents’ strong models. These models were of hardworking people, who valued knowledge, and were involved in contributing to the community, creating a sphere of influence and respect. I believe that this has been the basic groundwork for me to grow as a strong person, with the confidence and support to leave the security of the family, and to pursue my own path of harmony and hard work.

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Educational Aspirations ᤵே௨劬୙ዴᤵே௨⑄ Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

Socio-cultural Context The Taoist proverb above refers to the teaching of skills which empower a person to survive, without dependence on others, for his whole lifetime. To me however it also suggests the power of the teaching of application of knowledge, and the life-long learning which that brings about. The education system in China, influenced by the Soviet Union model, was to produce a new generation of both scientific and technological competence (Zhou, 1988). However, due to the limited resources and limited teacher knowledge of science and technology in our village, the only subjects were Language (Chinese) and Mathematics. The traditional learning pattern for the students was to memorize the facts, poetry, texts, formulae, and theories. As social order and harmony are important for Chinese culture, respect and obedience to teachers were the expected norm. Critical and creative thinking and applied practical skills were not encouraged. Our role as students was to listen attentively the whole day and to write down what we were told. It was impolite and offensive behaviour if the students asked any challenging questions. However, a very important contrast in learning style was provided by my father. The Confucian role of father as head of the household, also includes responsibility for education, in his capacity to offer knowledge to the younger members of the family. In carrying out this responsibility, my teacher father provided an alternative learning model.

Narrative In the Chinese rural environment of the 1980s, primary school teachers were commonly graduates from junior high school. They had no training in how to teach, and no training in conceptual or critical thinking themselves. They often only “taught the books”: the Chinese characters for education ᩍҖ, translated literally, are “teach the books”. It was very common for us to copy and memorise a whole book every term. I had been sent to primary school one year early, but it was boring to me, as I couldn’t understand many things. There was no explanation or help given to me. I wanted to

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give up school during primary years, but my mother forced me to go, even carrying me there while I was crying and refusing to study. I looked forward to the weekends when, unlike school, father would teach us practical and interesting applied knowledge and skills which gave me confidence. School learning seemed to me to focus on surface level understanding, memorising without in-depth understanding, but my father taught us in conceptual ways, for deep learning. Even when I was little I noticed my father was different to other fathers, and he was an unusual and effective teacher for us at home. He always gave us real problems to solve, and guided us through language and action. I can still remember clearly how my father guided my sister and me in the game of Chinese chess, when I was ten. My father would sit down between us, giving us tips he himself had learned. He would suggest chess strategies, setting out first, second and third steps. When we seemed confused, he would use an example that enabled us to grasp the strategies. He would give words of affirmation and praise when we succeeded. As we gradually improved, he stepped back and enabled our problem-solving to become more and more independent. When I finished primary school in my village, I moved to study at my father’s secondary school in Jian Cheng town ( ᘓ ᇛ 䭷 ), about five kilometers away. As there was no public transport from village to the town, we walked home, for about one hour, every Saturday afternoon. I wasn’t an outstanding student. In fact, until the last two years of high school, my primary and secondary school academic achievements were always below average. My parents gave up their dream for me to go to university. However, in Year 10, I suddenly realised that I needed to do something with my life. I was not developing the “self” that I imagined and wanted. I couldn’t stand the idea of myself doing physical hard work for the rest of my life. So I talked to my father and my brother about my dream to go to university to be a music teacher. My father found some well trained teachers to teach me how to sing and play keyboard, which cost about 30 Yuan per lesson. I was determined to do well as my family was investing so much in me. Some people criticised my parents for wasting their money on a “worthless” girl who traditionally would soon belong to another family. The following year father sent me to a big city to get proper musical training, and eventually, to Teachers’ College. It was a very exciting moment as I became a famous girl for a little while in the village, and at my father’s school, as the only girl from the village who had entered tertiary level education.

I come from a schooling system that strongly emphasizes what to learn, rather than how it is to be understood, memorising at the expense of deeper understanding. In recollecting the frustration of learning without

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understanding or application, I realise that I cannot remember ever having heard the Chinese word for “apply” during my schooling. In my own schooling experience, the focus was on achievement with the significant absence of enjoyment. From this background, I perceive that I developed an important goal as a teacher, expressed at two levels. Firstly I aspire to understand things more deeply myself, which has led me to undertake an auto-ethnography exercise in deep learning, as a doctoral study. Secondly and more importantly, I am committed to providing deep learning enquiry experiences for my students. I look ahead with vision and application, hoping to change and develop as a teacher, to be a lifelong learner, taking risks and experiencing new opportunities in my teaching.

Being a Language Learner and Teacher 䈫୓༹Җ୙ዴ⾜୓㔛㊰ You can learn more by travelling a thousand miles than by reading a thousand books.

Socio-cultural Context Chinese culture traditionally encouraged people to experience and travel as far as they could. However, mobility became very limited due to the economic and political system in China, especially after 1949, when the goal of the Chinese central government was to manage people and resources effectively. As it was very difficult for people to move from one job or place to another, it was common for people to stay in one place for a lifetime. But I wanted to be free to explore the world! I was looking and searching for an opportunity to escape, and not to follow my father’s footprint, as he had stayed in one place in China for the whole of his life.

Narrative In my early twenties, I taught Chinese language and music at primary level for two years in China. I was guided by the Principal in my school in how to use music to facilitate students’ learning motivation and academic results. I was motivated to learn more not only about music education, but also for myself as a person seeking growth in different areas. After two years, I realised the limitations of my own knowledge in both music and education. This prompted me to seek an opportunity to go somewhere different, to further my knowledge and skills. In 1998, with limited English, I went to New Zealand.

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When I first arrived in New Zealand, I was voiceless. Frustrated that I couldn’t understand even simple questions such as “Where are you from? How old are you?” I became a very keen learner of English at the Language Centre in Auckland. I was amazed that the teaching methods were very different from my previous English teachers in China. Teachers were very friendly and approachable and talked to us about our needs and goals. They encouraged us to speak, to read lots of books to increase our vocabulary, to read newspapers and watch television news each day. After five hours of class each day, I would study at night what I had learned. I went to the public library to borrow some interesting story books and I conscientiously looked up all the new words or phrases. I kept a notebook to write down all the new vocabulary, with the meanings and pronunciations. I memorised them when I was waiting for the bus, walking, and working. Our writing teacher required us to write a diary every day as homework, and to give it to her the next day. She would mark our diary carefully with positive feedback and clear comments about how to improve. I was very encouraged by her feedback on my diary when one day she wrote “I enjoyed reading your diary, you are very observant and imaginative”.

As a language teacher now, looking back, I see that largely through the revelation of this diary writing, English became a useful tool for me to express my innermost fears, worries, excitement, hopes. My world was changed and enlarged through this language window. I felt my future was bright and unlimited, not because of what I knew, but because of the scope of what I didn’t know. I was excited by a new land and new culture with a world of opportunity waiting for me to explore. After passing the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) exam in 2000 I was accepted by the University of Auckland to study Music Education in primary teaching, and then to do the Post-Graduate Diploma in Education. I then successfully passed the academic requirement to progress to my Masters research. I spent six years as a university and ESL student in New Zealand, moving between roles as learner and teacher. It gave me a measure of intercultural competence and courage, as the outsider, in a multicultural and multilingual society. This has provided a strong foundation for me to be more flexible in developing my space as a Chinese person within that society, and now in Australia, to be able to move between cultures and languages. I feel I have lived the intercultural concepts (Liddicoat, Papademetre, Scarino & Kohler, 2003), and can facilitate student understanding of them.

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What has this meant for my Chinese Language Teaching? Writing this chapter has helped me to reflect on my past experience and gain a deeper understanding of my values and their connections with my own teaching practice. This narrative writing has also lead me to conduct an action research project on my classroom teaching. I have been able to more closely link the personal and the professional, in analysing how my values are represented in my teaching practice, and how this is perceived by my students. I believe that my Chinese identity, my educational background and experiences have shaped five values which I project in my teaching. These values continue to kindle my excitement in expanding and pushing my teaching comfort zone, breaking up old routines and ideas with innovative thinking and teaching practices. I identify these five values as: becoming a global citizen, the importance of differentiation, perseverance, deep learning, and the need for personal and professional development. The data from my students provide evidence that these values are activated and appreciated by my students. Becoming a global citizen: Just as I have benefitted from intercultural learning, I want my students to experience a sense of “global”, in an expanded classroom, as part of their Chinese learning. In my school, which has a very multicultural profile, I include the exploration of my Australian students’ languages and cultures, as part of understanding their response to their Chinese learning. We are learning about each other, together. Individual differentiation and identifying needs: As a child I was catered for poorly at school, and disliked my exclusion. I try to identify each of my students’ learning and thinking patterns. I am determined to provide for different abilities and backgrounds. I praise generously, and create many performance opportunities, which allow for positive experience at the individual level attained. Perseverance: I believe in perseverance with my own learning. But it is even more important that my students understand the perseverance and tactics needed for them to achieve small goals in Chinese study. I set high standards, and try to give students a vision of goals they can achieve with sustained effort. To help them get there, they understand the need for some repetition and practice, and the need for recall strategies to help remember the characters. Lots of performance opportunities enable them to see the result of their perseverance, that is, the talented bilingual “self” they are producing!

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Deep learning: My narrative above reveals my frustration with what I saw as the “surface learning” of my school days. I believe that if students are given the chance to engage with the Deep Learning concept of the Quality Teaching Framework (NSW DET, 2003) they will be more deeply stimulated by, and enjoy, their Chinese study. I include intercultural enquiry questions for critical thinking, and I tell and exchange stories. I particularly use stories to relate to the characters of Chinese script. When students can remember the significance of the pictures in the characters (for example the pig under the roof, for the notion of “home”) they can use inductive thinking to spot radicals, and make intelligent guesses about other characters. Personal and professional development: I love learning, in order both to grow myself, but also to contribute to my profession. I try to also actively promote this sense of growth and positive potential in my students, and help them get an idea of their future “self”. As a result of this journey, I can be more aware, and more actively engaged with my students in comparing backgrounds, drawing out explicit cultural comparisons between Australia and China, eliciting intercultural dialogue amongst us to make visible also their diverse Australian lives. I hope that this narrative proves a useful role model framework of professional development, to offer to my peers in Chinese language education.

References Liddicoat, A. J., Papademetre, M., Scarino, A., & Kohler, M. (2003). Report on Intercultural Language Learning. Canberra: Department of Education Science and Training. Australian Government. Lin, C., & Fu, V. (1990). A Comparison of Child-Rearing Practices among Chinese, Immigrant Chinese, and Caucasian-American Parents. Child Development, 61 (2), 429–433. New South Wales Department of Education and Training. (2003). Quality teaching in NSW public schools. Discussion Paper. (Quality Teaching Framework). Sydney: New South Wales Department of Education and Training. Zhou, N. (1988). Historical context of educational reforms in present-day China. Interchange,19 (3/4), 8–18.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN AUDIO VIDEO DISCO: LISTENING, WATCHING AND LEARNING, AS A CLASSICS TEACHER IN AUSTRALIA EMILY MATTERS

I sit at my writing table surrounded by recent books on the teaching of Latin and Classical Greek. The oldest of these, Latin for the 21st Century (LaFleur, 1998), is an American compilation covering modern teaching methodologies for all levels from elementary school to college. Four other books, published from 2003 to 2008, describe the contemporary teaching of classical languages in Britain, the United States and continental Europe. They give the impression of a vigorous and flourishing discipline. Three other books describe the influence of Latin in education from an historical perspective —an epic story of grandeur and its decline. In none of these books is there any mention of Australia. It is my belief, however, that the current Australian scene shows a level of energy, creativity and originality found in few places elsewhere. I take great pleasure, therefore, in telling this story. I learned Latin (and French and German) at high school in the last years before the “Wyndham Scheme” (Duffield, 1990) marginalized languages in the New South Wales curriculum. It never occurred to me in my school years, that, to the majority of Australians in the 1950s and 1960s, foreign languages appeared irrelevant and impossibly difficult. Language study had always been part of my being. I was born in colonial Hong Kong just after World War II to RussianJewish parents. My mother tongue was English, but I was exposed to Russian from my parents, Cantonese from domestic workers and everyone in the streets, and Hebrew from Jewish liturgy. I grew up taking for granted a wide range of sound and idiom, and scripts that ran left-right, right-left, or top-down. I was quite aware that some ideas belong in one language, and can’t really be translated at all.

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My maternal grandparents introduced to me the idea that languages are a vehicle for education and culture as well as communication. My grandmother was fluent in French and German, as she had been sent from Russia to university in Belgium, a most unusual opportunity for a girl born in 1877. My grandfather was not only expert in Classical Hebrew but could recite passages of Greek and Latin poetry by heart, testimony to being one of the small number of Jews admitted to an academic high school under the laws of Tsarist Russia. I didn’t understand a word, of course, but I knew, even as a young child, that “Greek and Latin” were highly esteemed and precious disciplines. At about seven years of age I was sent to private French lessons, first from a kindly, bearded Catholic monk, and later from a Parisian lady who, when she left Hong Kong, gave me her friendly Alsatian dog. So I was more than ready to start the formal study of languages at the British secondary school I entered at the age of ten. The teaching of French and Latin was strict and conventional, or as conventional as it could be in a school with a multi-national, polyglot population of expatriates from everywhere, plus a sprinkling of local Chinese from aspirational families. We moved to Sydney in 1958, and I went into First Year at North Sydney Girls’ High School. Here everyone learned French and Latin, with the chance to add German in Second Year. All these languages were taught the same way, from the same kind of textbooks I had used in Hong Kong, but by teachers who had strong Australian accents and who had never been overseas. One French teacher told me off for sounding “too French”. None of my classmates had ever heard of Hong Kong. Apart from a handful of girls from European refugee families, the whole school was ethnically Anglo-Australian. Latin remained my favourite language. The mechanical exercises were word games to me. I was excited by finding English derivatives from Latin words. A book we had at home, The Loom of Language, opened my eyes to philology, and I was fascinated by the evolution of Latin into French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese. Once we began to read real literature I was hooked. I developed what was to be a lifelong passion for Virgil’s poetry, and was determined to learn Greek so as to read Homer as well. As I went on to study Arts at Sydney University, I was totally oblivious of the great changes in the wider Australian community that were threatening the survival of Latin in the school curriculum. A short historical background to the teaching of Latin and Greek in Australia may be interesting at this point. For nearly half the twentieth century, Latin was an essential subject in the school curriculum for those students, particularly boys, who intended to pursue a university education

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leading to an established profession. A privileged few, almost always boys, also studied ancient Greek at elite independent or government selective schools (Barcan, 1993). From the first decade of the century, however, the secure position of Latin in the curriculum was being challenged. A New South Wales government-sponsored report on education, known as the “Knibbs-Turner Report”, proposed that French and German be as acceptable for matriculation as Latin or Greek (Commission on Primary, Secondary, Technical and Other Branches of Education, 1904). Despite some vigorous opposition, the University of Sydney (then the only university in New South Wales) gradually relaxed its entry requirements: by 1925 Latin was required only for the Faculties of Arts, Law, Medicine and Dentistry. Medicine and Dentistry dropped the requirement in 1937, specifying only “a language other than English”, and, by 1945, the University of Sydney had ceased to demand any pre-requisites for any of its faculties (Department of Education, 1944). The consequence was a dramatic drop in the percentage of students offering Latin at the final school examination: from 44.9% in 1940 to 18.6% in 1946. By 1964 the percentage was only 6.05% (NSW Department of Education, 1971). The small proportion of students studying Latin in the mid-1960s cannot be attributed just to the change in matriculation requirements. The whole world had changed since the beginning of the century. Two World Wars had strongly affected assumptions about social class. Access to secondary and higher education, as well as to healthcare and social welfare, was seen as a universal right. The Russian launch of space exploration in 1957 produced a frenzy in Western countries to advance science education in schools. The move to comprehensive secondary education in the late 1950s and early 1960s produced curricula that afforded only a marginal place for foreign language teaching of any kind. Changes in the Roman Catholic Church removed Latin from the liturgy and therefore from a central position in the curriculum of Catholic schools. The process described above relates to my home state of New South Wales. It is reflective of what was happening not only in the rest of Australia (Barcan, 1993), but in countries of the Western tradition throughout the world (Waquet, 2001). It was as if the flame kindled in the Renaissance of the fifteenth century, illuminating European society everywhere with the intellectual vigour and creative energy developed by the Greeks and transmitted by the Romans, would sputter and finally die out five hundred years later. I am proud to say that this demise did not happen, at least in two of Australia’s states.

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The traditional approach to the teaching of Latin and Classical Greek was notably out of step with the educational climate of the late 1960s with its comprehensive, child-centred, “discovery learning” approach. The grammar–translation method was designed at every stage to eliminate students who could not master all the intricate constructions of an inflected language. Such an approach was philosophically incompatible with a comprehensive and inclusive approach to education. The reading of literature was commenced only after all the constructions had been covered, usually in the third year of study, and consisted of decoding a text and rendering it into formal, often ponderous, English. As a high school student, I had known that liking Latin was unusual. I learned later that only a minority of students had ever flourished under the traditional teaching approach, even when many had to study Latin. Even in 1928, the Leaving Certificate Examiners’ Report had stated: From this examination emerged the lamentable fact that of about 1300 candidates not more than 60 or 70 had acquired, in at least five years of study, a reasonably accurate knowledge of the elements of Latin. (NSW Department of Education, 1928)

Something was not right. Questions were being asked already in the 1960s. Two M.Ed theses by practising teachers (McKinnon, 1963; Kaye, 1968) are testimony to dissatisfaction with existing pedagogy. Kaye (1968) was especially critical of the examination of prescribed texts: Without doubt the greatest danger in translation lies in the possibility that pupils may come to think that all that is required . . . is the learning by heart of the version in English. (Kaye, 1968, p.171)

By the early 1970s, it was clear to most teachers that the grammartranslation method was ineffective for all but the brightest and most committed students. Even those teachers who believed strongly in the traditional approach had to concede that there was now not enough time in the comprehensive curriculum to cover the content. Students began the subject at a later age, often with no previous experience of formal grammar and little practice in memorization. They were used to more relaxed classrooms and an emphasis on “relevance”. Enrolments in Latin were falling and school administrators were often happy to discontinue a non-viable subject. Enthusiastic teachers fought the decline, looking for ways to make Latin and Greek appealing to a broader range of students. Building English vocabulary through the study of Latin and Greek roots was a favourite way of showing the “relevance” of classical languages. I tried many different

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classroom methods myself, play-acting, mnemonic songs, colourful visual aids, and a Direct Method approach which used spoken Latin to teach grammar. I explored creative projects as a means of teaching the cultural background. All these lively approaches were useful, but they did not really address the essential problem of how to make the experience of learning a classical language accessible and meaningful to a broad range of students, right from Lesson One. That goal was achieved by the revolutionary Cambridge Latin Course, first published in 1970 (Cambridge Schools Classics Project, 1970). The Cambridge Latin Course (CLC) was the creation of a team of English academics and teachers (Forrest, 1996). Their aim was to produce a completely new approach to Latin that reflected contemporary educational thought and research into language acquisition. From the first lesson the CLC immersed students in a continuous narrative set in Pompeii in AD 79. Careful illustrations, based on archaeological findings, gave an authentic visual context to the story-line, which was also supported by articles on life in this Roman town. The simple but idiomatic Latin story depicted believable and often humorous incidents in the daily lives of a rich merchant and his household in Pompeii, and culminated in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in the final chapter. The CLC was instantly appealing to students and to many teachers. It represented a huge change in approach. Students acquired the language to enjoy an interesting text, rather than labouring through the structures of the language in no particular context. Students could discuss the events and the characters, enact the dialogues in Latin, and treat the text as literature. The study of Roman society was no longer treated as an add-on; language and culture were now integrated. Of course, there were disappointments. A complex, inflected and essentially literary language is not so easily acquired merely by reading and discussion. There was too much reliance on the familiar context, from which students could guess the meaning without paying close attention to the inflected forms of the words. So with each subsequent edition of the CLC more grammatical terminology, paradigms and exercises crept back. But the reading text remained essentially the same, now presented in its fourth edition (1998) in a glossy, large-size, full-colour format. From the first, the CLC had employed technology; the slides and tapes of the 1970s evolved into a full online learning system today, which serves students without access to a Latin classroom as well as those seeking revision or supplementary materials (University of Cambridge, 2008). There is no question that in Australia, as well as in the UK and North America, the CLC revolutionized the teaching of Latin and saved the

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subject from extinction. Sydney teachers were invited to a demonstration of the CLC at Cranbrook School in 1972, and many schools adopted it. Two other Latin courses were developed along the same lines, Ecce Romani (Scottish Classics Group, 1971) and, somewhat later, the Oxford Latin Course (Balme & Morwood, 1987). Encouraged by the knowledge of such developments, I myself spent four months in England in 1974, visiting twelve schools and meeting some of the people who were driving the revolution in classics teaching. I saw a comprehensive school in Sheffield, in which the only classical language was Greek, taught to large enthusiastic classes by a charismatic teacher, Edwin Hunt, who had produced his own inductive reading course. I discovered a Greek course inspired by the CLC and produced at Harrow School, Athenaze, (Balme, 1979) that was to develop into a more sophisticated publication used worldwide (Balme & Lawall, 1990). I also observed a large-scale growth in non-language courses in the culture of the Greeks and Romans, designed to provide all children at the start of secondary school with a foundation in classical mythology and the highlights of the Greco-Roman contribution to the art, architecture, theatre, politics and thought of the Western world. Inspired by my observations in England, I designed and implemented a course in Classical Studies for Australian students which included brief introductions to Latin and Greek as well as the cultural material mentioned above (Frenkel, 1977). It was taken up widely in New South Wales as an interdisciplinary course in Year 7 throughout the late 1970s and the 1980s, often taught by English and history teachers as well as classics specialists, and incorporated a number of expressive, creative and research activities which were not a general feature of many classical language classrooms at that time. The subject had the desirable effect of appealing to a wide audience, fitting in with the educational fashions of the time, putting Latin and Greek into a cultural context that could be appreciated by all and broadening the experience of classical language teachers. Although by the early years of the 21st century, Classical Studies had been forced out in NSW by an increasingly crowded curriculum, I look forward to its revival in a new format, perhaps as a comparative course including indigenous Australian and Asian traditions. As we enter the second decade of the 21st century, I can say that Latin and Classical Greek are being taught with vigour and learned with enthusiasm, but not everywhere in Australia. The states of New South Wales and Victoria have healthy numbers of students: in 2011 there were 170 Latin candidates in the HSC and 196 in the VCE, with 17 and 26 respectively in Classical Greek (NSW Board of Studies, 2012 and

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Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, 2012). Both states have active teachers’ associations, with significant numbers of young people entering the profession within the last ten years. Other states are not so fortunate. The ACT and Queensland each have two schools offering Latin; Tasmania, as far as I know, only one. South Australia and Western Australia do not appear to offer Latin for their final certificates. It is therefore heartening that, after submissions from teachers’ associations in NSW and Victoria, the Shape of the Australian Curriculum Languages document (ACARA, 2011, p. 10) explicitly acknowledges the value of classical languages and the opportunities they afford to students “to engage closely with cultures and societies that are removed in time and place from our own” and to build “a bridge between the contemporary world and the civilisations of antiquity”. But even in NSW and Victoria, not all children have access to classical languages. In practice they are available in traditional independent schools and selective government high schools, mainly in capital cities. Catholic systemic schools and state comprehensives are Latin-free zones. Yet within this privileged selection of schools, classical languages are stable and, indeed, flourishing. Teaching such subjects in a supportive school environment is a stimulating pursuit. In the first two or three years children learn the essentials of the language within a rich context of ancient society and culture. They gain the essentials of “cultural literacy” (Hirsch, 1988), understanding the references that underpin educated discourse: the Ides of March, the song of the Sirens, the Delphic oracle, crossing the Rubicon, Achilles’ heel, cui bono, et cetera ad infinitum! For students of both Latin and Greek, it is fun to find the “levels” that exist in English vocabulary, with Anglo-Saxon at the simplest level, Latin/French at a more advanced level, and Greek at the most sophisticated. A whole lesson can be spent discussing the connotations of the words “old”, “senior” and “geriatric”, or “commonwealth”, “republic” and “democracy”. Inflected forms of words still need to be memorized, and to this end I employ songs, physical routines, games (including electronic ones) and old-fashioned tests. Most children respond well to such interactive methods, and enjoy the mental challenge. I have met a few, however, who cannot recognize or remember combinations of sounds and letters, despite every effort. These students are often found to have a specific learning difficulty. I have discovered that there is nothing like one term of Latin to reveal literacy problems that may have gone undetected in many other subjects, sometimes for years.

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At some point in the third year of study, the student begins to read authentic literature in the original language. This is a difficult transition. For a start, all classical literature was composed for adults, and most of it for sophisticated adults who appreciated word-play, imagery and rhetoric. Word order, always freer in an inflected language, can be contorted to maximize artistic effects, and the sentences are often very complex and lengthy for an English reader. I have yet to find a perfect method to teach students to read and comprehend original Latin or Greek. There are those who insist that the sentence must be taken exactly as it comes, allowing each group of words to impact on the brain as the meaning is gradually accumulated (Hoyos, 1997). I have found this method over-optimistic for most students and very frustrating for many. There are simply too many cognitive tasks: to recall vocabulary, observe and identify the inflected forms, decide which words “agree” and belong together, and mentally position the subject and main verb of the sentence. While an experienced reader may do many of these things intuitively, a student new to original Latin or Greek cannot. I have resisted the temptation to return to the old method of de-coding the sentences, by hunting for the main verb, then searching for the subject, then the direct object, and so on, until English word order and meaning is finally reached and all feeling for the shape and impact of the Latin/Greek sentence is eliminated. Instead I use a combination of inductive method, brainstorming, grammatical analysis and literary discussion. After considerable lively argument, we get to an acceptable English version. Creating a translation that conveys the meaning and tone of the original is a fine and subtle art (Bellos, 2011). I am convinced that it is a valuable exercise, requiring the higher order thinking skills of analysis, evaluation and creation (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001). It distresses me when some teachers, desperate to make sure that students have a good version to produce in examinations, distribute a “correct” translation to the whole class. This only encourages the tedious rote-learning deprecated by Kaye in 1968. The real reward for me lies in the animated student discussion of original texts. Sometimes it deals with the big human issues: love, suffering, betrayal, death, good and evil. Was Socrates a saint or an egomaniac? Why did the good Aeneas slaughter his supplicating enemy? Sometimes we are transfixed by the familiar detail: the invading Gauls deciding which houses, the closest or the furthest, would offer the best plunder; Hector’s baby son wailing at the sight of his father’s crested helmet; Dido, infatuated, making lame excuses to contact Aeneas repeatedly. And sometimes it is just light-hearted and plain good fun, as

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when the god Dionysus bargains with a dead man to carry his luggage on the way to Hades. Students of the 21st century need a different approach to the study of texts from that of the past. The internet can readily supply multiple translations, and whereas once consulting a published translation was considered “cheating”, today it is important to discuss the merits of different versions. Distinguished scholars can be emailed to ask about doubtful interpretations. (My class has twice done this, and received replies within a day). Generally speaking, today’s students have less secure grammatical knowledge but much more confidence in attempting literary analysis, supported argument and sensitive responses. The teacher needs to supply much more linguistic help, with running vocabulary lists and simple grammatical explanations, but can delight in the sophisticated level of class discussion. Outside the classroom, the 21st century student of classical languages is offered a rich program of extra-curricular activities. Some of these have been established for many years, such as Latin and Greek reading competitions, with both solo and choral sections. Year 8 students in New South Wales can attend a weekend Classics Camp which offers arts and crafts, playacting, quizzes and games. This annual camp is always fully booked, with up to fifteen schools sending students and teachers. A school in Hong Kong has recently expressed interest in sending a delegation to future Camps. Apart from locally organized events, Australian students now regularly take part in competitions organized by the American Classical League, by various UK organizations and in a UNESCO linked European competition (CICERO) which uses videoconferencing to allow students to contact their counterparts in other countries. It is an exciting time to teach classical languages. There is a growing interest in comparative studies of culture, literature and history, exemplified in books like Why the West Rules—For Now written for the general reader by Ian Morris, Professor of Classics and History at Stanford University (Morris, 2010). Hyun Jin Kim of Sydney University compared the historiography of Herodotus and the Chinese historian Sima Qian (Kim, 2009), and there have been several other books in this vein. This is a fascinating field of discovery for Australian classics students, given our proximity to Asia, and the fact that many students are of Asian background. I had a fruitful discussion recently with a Latin teacher from a bilingual (Chinese-English) school in Hong Kong who runs a course comparing Greco-Roman and traditional Chinese culture. His students are the offspring of well-to-do Chinese parents, seeking global career opportunities for their children.

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As a teacher of classical languages, I consider that I am well placed to prepare students for a globally-aware, instantly-connected world. They have fellow students of these languages all over the world, reading the same texts. The linguistic skills I teach them are applicable to the acquisition of many other languages including indigenous Australian languages. I myself have been using these skills to learn Gamilaraay, an Australian language with flexible word order and highly inflected pronouns and verb forms. The cultural awareness inculcated in students who have studied ancient civilizations prepares them well to approach societies very different from their own while respecting the common essential humanity of all. By making students read closely, interpret and discuss the works of great thinkers, I think that I am helping to develop individuals who can analyse, empathise, learn from the past and create a better world for the future.

References ACARA – Australian Curriculum and Reporting Authority (2011). Shape of the Australian Curriculum: Languages. Retrieved from www.acara.edu.au/languages.html Anderson, L.A., & Krathwohl, D.R. (Eds.). (2001). A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching and Assessing. New York: Longman. Balme, M. (1979). Athenaze. Privately printed at Harrow School, England. Balme, M., & Lawall, G. (1990). Athenaze. New York: Oxford University Press. Balme, M., & Morwood, J. (1987). Oxford Latin Course. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Barcan, A. (1993). Latin and Greek in Australian Schools. History of Education Review,1, 32–46. Bellos, D. (2011). Is That a Fish in Your Ear? –Translation and the Meaning of Everything. London: Particular Books, Penguin. Board of Studies NSW. (2012). Enrolment numbers for Latin and Classical Greek in the 2011 HSC. Retrieved from http://www.board ofstudies.nsw.edu.au/news-media/enrolment-tables.html Board, P. (1907). Address to the Public School Teachers’ Association of New South Wales, in The Public Instruction Gazette, NSW. Sydney: Government Printer. Bodmer, F. (1994). The Loom of Language. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. Cambridge Schools Classics Project. (1970). Cambridge Latin Course, 1st edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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Commission on Primary, Secondary, Technical and Other Branches of Education (“Knibbs-Turner Report”) (1904). Secondary Education. Vol.2, (pp. 453 ff). Sydney: Government Printer. Department of Education, NSW. (1916). Official Handbook for Leaving and Intermediate Examinations. Sydney: Government Printer. —. (1928). Official Handbook for Leaving and Intermediate Examinations. Sydney: Government Printer. —. (1944). Examinations Handbook for 1944. Sydney: Government Printer. —. (1971). Foreign Language Students. Inside education, September, 840– 850. Duffield, J. (1990). The making of the Wyndham Scheme in New South Wales. History of Education Review, 19 (1), 29 – 42. Forrest, M. (1996). Modernising the Classics – a study in curriculum development. Exeter: University of Exeter. Frenkel, E. (1977). Discovering the Classical World. Sydney: Pergamon. Hirsch, E.D. (1988). Cultural Literacy. New York: Random House. Hoyos, B.D. (1997). Latin: How to Read it Fluently. Amherst, MA, USA: Classical Association of New England. Kaye, M. (1968). The place and function of activity methods in the teaching of Latin in secondary schools. Unpublished M.Ed. thesis, University of Sydney. Kim, H.J. (2009). Ethnicity and Foreigners in Ancient Greece and China. London: Duckworth. LaFleur, R.A. (Ed.). (1998). Latin for the 21st Century. Illinois: Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley. McKinnon, D. (1963). A critical study of the assumptions underlying the teaching of Latin in NSW. Unpublished M.Ed. thesis, University of Sydney. Morris, I. (2010). Why the West Rules—for Now. London: Profile Books. Scottish Classics Group. (1971). Ecce Romani. Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd. University of Cambridge. (2008). Cambridge Schools’ Classics Project. Retrieved from http://www.cambridgescp.com Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (2012). Enrolment numbers for Latin and Classical Greek in the 2011 VCE. Retrieved from http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vcaa/vce/statistics/2011/statssect2.html Waquet, F. (1998). Latin, or the Empire of a Sign. Paris: Albin Michel. English version by J. Howe, (2001), London: Verso.

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Further Reading Gruber-Miller, J. (Ed.). (2006). When Dead Tongues Speak – Teaching Beginning Greek and Latin. New York: Oxford University Press. Lister, B. (2007). Changing Classics in Schools. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. —. (Ed.). (2008). Meeting the Challenge – International Perspectives on the Teaching of Latin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Morwood, J. (Ed.). (2003). The Teaching of Classics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN COLLABORATION CALLING: MY CRUSADE TO MAKE COMMUNITY LANGUAGES MAINSTREAM MALA MEHTA WITH CAROLINE MAHONEY

My Story In India many of us are very fortunate in that we are multilingual. Take my story for example. I grew up studying in missionary schools and finished at a convent school in the Himalayas. English was my main language. Although Hindi and Punjabi were spoken at home, I was not as proficient in either of those languages compared to English. I also loved learning French at the convent school. Plus alongside English, French, Punjabi and Hindi I grew up with an understanding of some of the other Indian languages which are based on Hindi. After I married, I moved to Bengal and learned Bengali, a beautiful language which I found easy to acquire. My husband studied Bengali for work purposes as knowing and operating in the local language is essential in establishing a business. Through my husband’s experience I have learned to see the value of learning languages in terms of understanding people. I grew up in a semi-British environment because my father was commissioned into the Indian army in 1940, at a time when the British were still in India. He could speak Urdu, Punjabi and Farsi but he could not speak Hindi. His English was probably more perfect than that of the British. He was very conscious of us getting a Western upbringing whereas my mother kept my siblings and I intricately linked to India. I lost all four of my grandparents at a young age and for that reason, my family

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never really had a “home town” base. As a result, we travelled extensively around India. Because I had attended missionary schools, and Hindi was not the preferred language of the missionary school curriculum, my Hindi was not strong. It was not my favourite subject. I far preferred English and French to Hindi, but Hindi was compulsory. My Hindi teacher was rather stern but seemed to like me for some reason. I was the House Captain and because that teacher happened to be my House Mistress, we developed a rapport. I probably understood Hindi because she taught it so well. She encouraged me to read and I did—a lot. I read every novel that was available in our school library, a couple of which stayed in my mind and became my favourites. I may not have even passed Hindi examinations without her guidance. The final years of secondary school was the last time I studied Hindi, as I elected to study French as an optional subject along with English, Political Science and Geography (Honours) for my undergraduate degree. Before I came to Australia I taught in primary schools for six years. Most of my teaching was Arts and Craft, and some English language teaching as well. Language teaching at that time followed a more “traditional” method of teaching. The school where I taught implemented a Montessori curriculum and there was a lot of emphasis on Art and Craft. I also taught language through song. After a few years I was employed to teach at one of the leading secondary schools in Delhi. Although I was teaching Geography, not a language, I found myself correcting the students’ language errors. After hours I became an English tutor for the Ambassador of Panama posted to Delhi. She was French-speaking and I could speak French rather well at that time. Unfortunately she didn't get much time to practise her English, so in the end I improved my French more than she improved her English. I had wanted to complete an undergraduate degree in Education but did not pursue it as I decided against a career in teaching. I also found teaching at the secondary school very tiring and my children were still very young and consuming a lot of my after-hours time. However I continued casual English teaching for a friend of my domestic help, who was very keen to study but could not afford tutoring.

Coming to Australia My family and I migrated to Australia in February of 1983. I fell in love with Australia and was determined that it was going to be my home. However I did not want my children to lose touch with their heritage, so I

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continued to teach my daughter our language at home. I had a Pakistani friend who did the same with her son. Before I left India I came into contact with some young Indian girls who had been raised in the United States. It seemed to me at the time that most Indians living in the United States had rejected their homeland and looked upon India with disgust. These girls were no exception. Apart from not speaking Hindi, they did not even enjoy Indian food, eating only boiled potatoes when they returned there. Knowing their story, I resolved then and there that even if my family left India, I would raise my children with understandings and appreciation of their country of origin. My children are now Australian but they love India and one of the ways they have come to understand their culture is through learning the language. Canagarajah (2010, p. 47) states that “community magically reconstructs the context from impersonal to intimate in a rare moment through an unexpected word or gesture”. I want my children to use words and gestures to link to their heritage community, and I want them to experience this sense of community when they use Hindi in India. I am glad I started teaching them Hindi early in their lives. Although they are not as interested in Hindi music and Bollywood films now, it was crucial that they encountered Indian culture in their formative years. We established Indo-Aust Bal Bharathi Vidyalaya (IABBV) Hindi School in June 1987 and it has been operating ever since with support from the Community Languages Schools Program in the New South Wales (NSW) Department of Education and Communities. The school is the first structured Hindi language institution in Sydney and is a not-forprofit organisation run entirely by volunteers. Our classroom teachers are paid an honorarium for their services. Classes are held every Sunday morning of school term at Thornleigh West Public School in Sydney's northern suburbs. Looking back, I can see how the varied experiences in my life have shaped the type of language teacher I am today. I see now that teaching has always been my forte, and I cannot believe I ever doubted it was my destined career path. My studies in journalism and geography have also contributed to my teaching, as I think education in any form helps you in developing yourself as a person. I have been lucky enough to have developed through my learning as I have travelled. I have very fond memories of my family bundling into the car and setting out on trips around India. My father was a great traveller. Thanks to him I also understand music very well, and having studied classical Indian dance through school and university (Kathak, Manipuri and Baharatnatyam forms) makes it easier for me to entertain my students.

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If a teacher is delayed, I can fill in time by teaching students Indian dance. It is a great way to inject fun into the classroom and especially nowadays, due to the popularity of the Bollywood genre. I have learned a lot from the children I teach. My friend’s granddaughter sat on my lap at a function for senior citizens in the Indian community and said to me “Mala naani, are you are the boss of Hindi School?” After reflecting for a moment, I replied “No. I’m not. You are the boss because if you weren't there, there wouldn’t be a school”. That is really what I feel. You can learn so much even from the littlest child. What she said made me reflect on my beliefs about how Community Language schools should be run. We attend to the child’s needs and we try to provide it for them whether it is in the field of language, art or culture. That is the difference between our school and language learning in mainstream schools. We are able to provide that social aspect. Children without access to Community Language schools must rely on their family for exposure to the language which, as well as being a heavy burden on families (Pauwels, 2005), means that they often are not able to socialise with other children from their community. For many of our students, knowledge of India is limited to their family traditions. Through attending Hindi School, however, they learn about the diversity of languages and cultures in India and make friends from outside their social circle. I think that studying at the Hindi School will enhance students’ lives and allow them to contribute to society by teaching the language to their own children in the future. The passion for the language is only in my generation; we are the pioneers. It will only transfer to the next generation if we teach them. If our children do not know Hindi, they will not be as passionate about their heritage and they will forget about it. Even now it is an extra effort for parents to bring their children on a Sunday. If Hindi was offered in mainstream schools, a lot more students would attempt the language. Not just Indians but also a lot of non-Indians would want to study Hindi. The year 2010 was a very interesting year for IABBV Hindi School because we had our first students from a non-Indian background. Their mother had chosen Hindi above Italian because she felt it was important for her girls to learn about the Indian culture. It has been amazing to work with these two children because they are very bright and have picked up the language quickly. The children have picked up song and dance and have even shared it with children from their mainstream school by holding a Diwali party at home. We live in a world with changing educational needs. New information communications technology and resources available can motivate learners.

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This generation is the technology generation and I believe the use of the new devices such as the iPad or iPhone is far more interesting for students than to read from a book. They love watching videos and playing games using multi-media resources, being entertained while they learn. The value of such ICT-enhanced learning in Community Language schools cannot be underestimated (Pauwels, 2005). Hindi School is an outof-school-hours activity, so it has to be even more interesting and engaging. Without interesting resources these students may not be engaged. More traditional methods of rote learning and chanting language rules will leave the students bored and unhappy. When students are interested, however, they love attending Hindi school because it gives them a sense of identity. Belonging to a small school gives them confidence, a sense of pride and ownership of their language and culture which they can then take with them into mainstream school. It makes them realise that they are not alone, that there are others like themselves who all come from this country called India.

India Calling In 2011 I collaborated with the New South Wales Department of Education and Communities (DEC) to help devise a program entitled India Calling for primary students in mainstream schools. India Calling features lessons for students in Year 3 and Year 4 presented by a specialist Hindi language teacher both at their school and via video conferencing through the New South Wales Department of Education and Communities’ Connected Classrooms Program. India Calling is located in the Human Society and its Environment (HSIE) learning area, rather than Languages. The program starts with a focus on a general topic about the country, the languages, the population and the sounds of the languages of India. There are lessons devised to link Indian states and cricket teams reflecting a strong connection between Australia and India. There is also a connection with art, dancing, costumes and cuisine. The link to the Indian community at large is essential, and at the time of the festival of Holi, the singer and entertainer, Kamahl, joined us to celebrate. We conduct lessons through connected classrooms and hold three sessions every term through video conferencing where all five hundred students join together virtually. In the past we have arranged interactive cooking sessions where one student played the role of a sabjiwala (vegetable seller) at one site, and others were rolling their little puris (unleavened Indian bread) at the other sites. The children are able to learn about Indian music by actually interacting with a collection of instruments,

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both rustic and modern. Some of the music teachers and past students come along to show the students how to play the tabla (Indian percussion instruments similar to bongos). Community Language teachers are a wonderful resource for mainstream school teaching. They are able to use their language and culture expertise to create practical resources, something that many mainstream teachers do not have time to do. We must persist in trying to narrow the divide between Community Language schools and mainstream schools. There are issues regarding teacher qualifications and funding, but with negotiation, these could be overcome. As we have seen from India Calling, one teacher can teach in seven different classrooms at once. This is an amazing accomplishment and rather economical solution to staffing shortages. Asking volunteers from the community or mainstream school’s Parents’ and Citizens’ Associations to contribute in some way, and employing language teachers to teach in several schools also alleviates the burden on classroom teachers. The key to integrating Community Languages into mainstream education is collaboration. It seems to be “the right time” now for Hindi. Fortunately with some strong lobbying, Hindi now has a place in the Australian Curriculum Languages (see www.acara.edu.au). The transition of Hindi from the status of a Community Language to a legitimate second language choice for all Australian students reflects the changing status of India in Australia’s national consciousness. It may also signal Australia’s acknowledgement of India as part of Asia in the “Asian Century” (see http://asiancentury. dpmc.gov.au/). As Mercurio and Scarino (2005, p. 146) say, the labels attached to languages reflect current attitudes towards the language's country of origin and “shifts in terminology reflect the dynamic nature of languages policy, as well as prevailing political and language ideologies”. The future of my crusade for Hindi is looking very bright. Community Languages in NSW are becoming increasingly mainstreamed due to their links with the Saturday School of Community Languages (SSCL) and the NSW K-6 Community Languages Program. Projects such as India Calling are also contributing to this trend, and indicate that the future of Community Languages in NSW will include greater collaboration between teachers, more cross-curricular programs and increasing interaction with mainstream Australian society. India Calling has received funding for a further two years and there are plans to showcase the program to other regions in NSW. Programs for other languages using our model are being developed and work has already begun on a Korean language program in the Sydney region. I am in dialogue with several universities in New South Wales about developing Hindi as part of their Indian studies programs and

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I am creating an awareness of this opportunity through my network of friends back in India. These things take time but right now the time is right. Everybody is interested in India.

Community Language Teachers The Australian Federal government began funding Community Languages programs in 1981 and these programs have been administered by state governments since 1992 (Baldauf, 2005). In New South Wales, Community Language schools receive funding of $120 per student, per year and are also eligible for free after-hours use of government school facilities. In order to receive funding, Community Language schools must meet criteria set by the New South Wales DEC Community Languages Schools Program relating to management, teaching programs, teacher qualifications, number of students and school location. To supplement government funding, Community Language schools may also charge fees and some may receive financial support from foreign governments. Approximately 100,000 students across Australia study at Community Language schools, 30,000 of them in New South Wales. Community Language schools play a vital role in languages education in Australia due to the large number of languages spoken in the community. Australia does not have a single large Community Language (as the USA does with Spanish), and therefore it is almost impossible to meet community need through mainstream school language classes. These schools operate in 150 government schools teaching 30 languages. This program is offered during school time as part of the curriculum and teachers are allocated according to community need. Community Language schools give students the opportunity to learn the language of their home country on weekends or after school, often continuing to secondary school matriculation level. This is evident at IABBV Hindi School where teachers have been preparing students to sit for Hindi in the Higher School Certificate since 1997. Students in New South Wales are also able to study their heritage language through another Department of Education and Communities (DEC) institution called the Saturday School of Community Languages (SSCL). Unlike Community Language schools, the teachers at SSCL are accredited and receive salaries through the DEC. SSCL classes are available to secondary school students and take place on Saturday mornings. Many languages taught at SSCL are first established through Community Language schools, as strong community support and student numbers are required to be accepted into the program. Students are also

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able to continue studying at their Community Language School if they are unable to attend SSCL.

References Baldauf, R. B. (2005). Coordinating government and community support for Community Language teaching in Australia: Overview with special attention to New South Wales. The International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 8 (2–3), 132–144. Canagarajah, S. (2010). Achieving Community. In D. Nunan, & J. Choi, (Eds.). Language and Culture: Reflective Narratives and the Emergence of Identity (pp. 41–49). New York: Routledge. Mercurio, A., & Scarino, A. (2005). Heritage Languages at Upper Secondary Level in South Australia: A Struggle for Legitimacy. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 8 (2/3), 145–159. Pauwels, A. (2005). Maintaining the Community Language in Australia: Challenges and Roles for Families. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 8 (2/3), 124–131.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN MY STORY AND THE TEACHING OF ARABIC ENAAM DARIDO

The Early Years in Lebanon In my earliest memory I was three years old and I can remember being with my Armenian neighbours. I grew up in Chtaura, a small town in central Lebanon. In my street lived three Armenian families, all with young children around my age. I spent a large part of my early childhood years playing with these children. One of them, Vicky, became my best friend. We played, we shared our food, our language and our culture. To this day I still recall how to say a number of Armenian phrases, for example, “paref, yegour” which means “hello, come here”. Of course now, looking back, I can clearly see I was participating in language and culture lessons. It seems that these lessons have stayed with me throughout my life. My exposure to, and love of, languages continued to grow throughout my school years in Lebanon. However, school language learning was necessarily a much more structured, formal language learning environment. At school we were required to learn Arabic, English and French. The languages were not just part of my education, but also became a part of my daily life. I am thus reminded of Tudor’s words (Tudor, 2001, p. 5) that “language teaching is a social phenomenon and therefore influenced by the social cultural context in which it occurs.” As a child, I had a passion for Arabic literature, in particular the works of the famous Lebanese-American artist, writer, philosopher and poet, Gibran Kahlil Gibran. His book, The Prophet (Gibran, 1989), really inspired me and instilled a desire to learn more about literature and its relationship to language. So by the time I was studying at university in Zahle, Lebanon, I was inspired to choose electives in Arabic literature. My love for literature and language continued to grow and develop and I recall

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spending most of my university days in the library, reading both French and Arabic novels.

A Move to Australia After university I married and my husband and I migrated to Australia. Moving away from my family and friends and my culture was a huge challenge. I soon realised I needed to work on my academic English. Only a week after my arrival in Australia I was offered an Arabic teaching job at Saint Maroun’s College in Sydney. Although I had no formal teaching qualifications at the time, this role excited me as the School was the first in Sydney to teach Arabic. I enjoyed my job from the first day: it allowed me to experiment with different teaching strategies and teach second generation Lebanese Australians the language and culture of their parents and grandparents. I found that the students responded well to games and songs. This new experience, the first I had as a teacher, allowed me to view the Australian education system and develop a love of teaching languages. From my first day as a language teacher, I knew I had found my passion in life. I saw language teaching as my vocation, rather than my job. However, it was not without its challenges, the most notable challenge being the fact that Arabic had no syllabus. In addition, I was only just learning the Australian education system and had no teaching qualifications. As a result, I decided to return to university, and I enrolled in a Bachelor of Education (Primary) degree at The University of Sydney. I enjoyed the program so much that I continued on to study in a Graduate Diploma in Modern Languages post-graduate degree program, followed by a Master of Education (Languages Other Than English/TESOL) coursework degree, both at The University of Sydney. Completing these degrees was no easy task. In addition to my full time job, I had four children to look after and I juggled the pressures, studying after hours and on weekends. These new qualifications helped me overcome the initial challenges in my language teaching and gave me some solid theory to back up my classroom pedagogy.

Challenges in Language Teaching I soon discovered that being a language teacher in an ever-changing environment comes with other ongoing challenges. While I have spent a significant portion of my career working to overcome some of these

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challenges, as a language teacher and, in particular an Arabic teacher, I continue to face them every day. The first challenge arose for me due to the inherent issues in the Arabic language itself. There is colloquial Arabic, which is the dialect used (and differs between Arabic speaking countries), and the formal Arabic (e.g. modern standard Arabic), found, for example, in books. Formal Arabic is consistent in all 22 Arabic speaking countries. However, the fact that both formal and colloquial Arabic exist creates a lot of confusion for students. Students who have been taught to speak colloquial Arabic at home find it difficult to communicate with other students who have been taught a different dialect, due to the differences in dialects in the colloquial language between (and sometimes even within) different Arabic speaking nations. Colloquial Arabic is not taught formally, does not exist in books, and is learned through interaction and communication in everyday situations. Many parents have asked for the colloquial Arabic to be taught in schools, as they see it as an important for their child to communicate, for example, with grandparents and other family members who may not be familiar with the formal language. The problem was not a problem back in Lebanon when I was in school. At that time, the focus of learning and assessments were reading and writing in formal Arabic. Colloquial Arabic was not taught in class, but rather through day-to-day interactions. As a teacher, I have tried to resolve the above issue by finding a balance between formal and colloquial Arabic. For instance, I utilise games a lot, because I have found games to be useful tools for many reasons. This notion has been captured in the literature. For example, Cross (1991, p. 153) says, “through games, learners practice and internalise vocabulary, grammar and structures”. I also use communicative activities in my language classroom, such as matching, sequencing, barrier games and ranking order activities. This helps me incorporate the colloquial language as well as the formal language into the classroom. Research into second language learning shows that using communicative activities in the language classroom can promote opportunities for students to interact purposefully, where the goal is to make the classroom “a meaningful preparation for real world communication” (Tudor, 2001, p. 112). Such communication can promote language learning even more broadly than in the traditional methods, such as the grammar-translation approach, where lessons were teacher-centred. In teacher-centred lessons, there are fewer opportunities for students to practise the language. Interactive tasks for the teacher and his/her students can promote a wider variety of talk patterns, and are likely to be of greater benefit all students (Dufficy, 2005, p. 104). Students should have opportunities for extended

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talk through exercises for practising their language, recycling vocabulary and producing oral language for different purposes and contexts where they can negotiate meanings. Another issue faced by me and most teachers concerns teaching large class of students with mixed-ability levels and sometimes mixed-stages, situated in the intended stages of learning outlined in the Board of Studies New South Wales Languages syllabuses (see http://www.boardofstudies .nsw.edu.au/syllabus_sc/languages.html). The challenge for language teachers is to keep all students engaged and interested as well as monitoring and developing their language learning. From what I know about Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (Vygotsky & Cole, 1978, p. 86), a key aspect of the learning process is for teachers to scaffold learning and add new input and tasks to keep students’ learning moving forward. This refers to such notions as, “the distance between the actual development level (of the learner) as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers” (Vygotsky & Cole, 1978, p. 86).

My Strategies When preparing my Arabic lessons I consider the different levels and needs of my students as well as their different learning styles. I have developed a variety of materials to cater for student differences. I have also found grouping students useful, for example, according to ability, as students are provided opportunities to cooperate and collaborate. The students teach each other, the more capable students consolidate their knowledge and the less capable students contribute more freely and feel more comfortable asking questions. This results in the development of cognitive skills and encourages team work and problem solving. I prepare materials and activities to suit the ability of the particular group. I have found that these techniques keep students more interested and engaged. This also allowed me to better monitor the work of the students, target individual strengths and weaknesses, and correct language errors. I find small groups create a safer environment for students to contribute and ask questions, further strengthening the students’ positive learning environment. Consequently “learners generate more ideas in collaborative settings than they do individually or in a whole-class group, and they have more incidental and planned opportunities to use language” (Reid, Green & English, 2002, p. 37).

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Throughout my career I have taught Arabic at all year levels, from Kindergarten to Year 12. I have, over the years, developed my own appropriate and contemporary resources to support the range of communication skills for reading, writing, listening and speaking skills. The majority of resources that exist have been developed overseas and don’t meet the needs of Australian students. For instance, they assume that Arabic is the primary language of the student. In addition, at the primary level, teachers teaching the New South Wales Arabic syllabus align the topics and lessons with those the students are studying in the Human Society and its Environment (HSIE) Key Learning Area, which creates an additional challenge in sourcing appropriate resources. Arabic teachers at both primary and secondary levels would appreciate more commercially available language learning materials as creating materials is time consuming (Nunan, 1991). However in the meantime I create my own resources, adapting overseas resources for the Australian context and translating materials from English to Arabic. In addition, the internet has proved to be a very useful tool for sourcing language learning material, for example, there is a good range of Arabic newspapers and magazines online. I am mindful that I need to continue to update and monitor resources to ensure the requirements of the syllabus are met, particularly in this digital age. Language teachers like me need to ensure that materials are matched with intended student learning outcomes, as well as what we and our students believe about learning languages (Nunan, 1991). In addition, we need to discover better ways of collaborating and knowledge-sharing to improve the availability of resources for all. Furthermore, due to the incredibly large amount of available, but not necessarily reliable, resources provided by the internet, searching for possible suitable and reliable tasks and activities which meet the course outcomes, has become extraordinarily time consuming. One trap, I believe, is when students become engaged with the technology itself, rather than the language learning and completing the set task. I try to avoid this occurring by developing meaningful, manageable and enjoyable tasks, so as to keep students’ interest and enthusiasm. Digital fluency and literacy, we are told, is vital for an individual’s job preparation, for full participation in modern society and in a digital world. My teaching needs to keep this in mind, as it is necessary to prepare my students for their futures. My students are more computer literate than I and many other teachers. This urges me to integrate Information Communications Technology (ICT) in a lot of my lessons in order for my students to gain an interest and understanding, not only in the content of

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what they are learning, but also the processes of their learning. It is necessary to be competent with ICT use, and I therefore need to reconsider the content I prepare for my students, my pedagogy and my language teaching strategies to effectively incorporate ICT in most lessons. To create collaborative tasks, students will be able to communicate online to connect to the Arabic language and the culture using blogs, wikis and online dictionaries for example. I am continually aware of the fact that computer technology can be unreliable. There have been many instances where I have prepared activities and lessons using ICT, such as showing my students a relevant website or video, only to find that the program failed to open for any number of reasons. Precious lesson time can be wasted in trying to fix such problems. I always try to be proactive and prepare alternative lessons, in case of such problems arising. ICT allows students to experience authentic language and culture more profoundly. Losing opportunities for students to do this disappoints all involved. In addition, ICT makes learning a language more contemporary and entertaining as students can communicate with other speakers of the language by using diverse media to learn and interact. Learning languages by using online and interactive tasks is said to improve student motivation for learning. I continually attempt to motivate my students to study their Arabic by including a variety of learning strategies to meet the different learning styles and also by trying to cater for students’ individual interests and ages, building on their prior knowledge. Cope and Kalantzis (2000, p. 18) remind us that “to be relevant, learning processes need to recruit, rather than attempt to ignore and erase, the different subjectivities, interests, intentions, commitments, and purposes that students bring to learning”. Unfortunately there is a diminishing number of students studying a language in the final two years of secondary school in Australia (see the various reports at http://www.deewr.gov.au/Schooling/Programs/Pages/ LanguagesEducation.aspx), and this is especially notable among those who are second and third generation Arabic speakers. When students are younger, parents can influence and drive their child to study a second language for a number of different reasons, such as for religious purposes (to enable their child to read the Quran, or participate in religious rituals), family reasons (to integrate with the Arabic community and to communicate with grandparents and other relatives) or personal reasons (to pass on traditions and beliefs and give their child an insight into their upbringing). However, when students are older and making their own subject choices, it is not so easy to exert this influence.

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My Strategies to Combat the Issues Arabic itself is subject to impacting issues, contributing to student and teacher anxiety. This year my class is a combined Year 11 and 12 Arabic Continuers class. There are only a small number of enrolments, and I had to produce strong arguments to continue to offer this class. Another issue, and perhaps not only relevant to Arabic, is that many students avoid choosing a language subject for their Higher School Certificate, as they are told anecdotally that it will disadvantage their final scaled universityentrance score. A further issue is that in New South Wales, as in many other states in Australia, there are different language courses for different students’ needs, and different languages are disadvantaged in not having developed a full range of syllabuses for student choice. For example, Indonesian is offered in the “Heritage Syllabus”, “Background Speakers Syllabus”, “Extension Syllabus”, “Beginners Syllabus” and “Continuers Syllabus” (see http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au). Arabic does not have that range of courses, and it could be intimidating for some students because they must “compete” against other students who have only recently arrived in Australia from overseas, who are proficient in speaking Arabic. In order to address the range of issues confronting Arabic, I have been heavily involved in any subject choice meetings with students, and information nights with parents, advertising all the benefits of studying a language. I also arrange an annual multicultural day at my school in order to ensure students become more closely linked to their cultural heritage and, in turn their language. I also encourage students to meet with fellow Arabic students, through friendly competitions such as the “Mirath in Mind” project, to teach students more about their culture, and encourage them to use Arabic more often, in non-educational situations. “Mirath in Mind” is an organisation established to promote the Arabic culture and heritage in Australia. It organizes competitions, exhibitions and a discussion forum for students learning Arabic at school or university. In my experience, students have found the interactions useful and enjoyable as well as a great practical learning experience. In addition, I have organised many excursions and incursions to nourish a love of language in my students. For example, we hold an annual excursion to a Lebanese newspaper, Anahar. This excursion allows students to learn more about the Arabic community and see language in action in an Australian context. Students are also encouraged to write their own article, some of which have been published.

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Another method to encourage students to elect Arabic among their subject choices is to invite some ex-students who previously studied Arabic with me, to talk about the impact of language learning on their life and careers to date. One such student is currently working in Abu Dhabi, negotiating contracts on behalf of the Australian Government. This student is a great example of the opportunities that Arabic learning can create.

My Vision My vision for languages education is for the government to continue to educate, professionally develop and promote accomplished language teaching (Australian Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations, 2005) and promote the teaching and learning of all languages. I would also prefer that language programs are fully supported by school principals’ associations and the community at large. I hope language becomes more integrated into the key learning areas and becomes compulsory from Kindergarten to Year 12, particularly in an increasingly “globalised” world. My hope is that I am supported to continue to instill in students the love of learning a language. I also hope that parents and the members of the wider community continue to understand the benefits of learning a language and support and encourage students to do the same, not only for school but beyond. For many individuals, learning a language is a journey into their background, identity, culture and history. Language learning provides learners with a greater appreciation of who they are and where they come from, as well as, in the case of Arabic, an exposure to the world of their parents and grandparents. It provides them with the skills and knowledge to immerse themselves into other cultures and appreciate similarities and differences that exist. Finally, it opens up the future, from career opportunities to international travel. Learning a language is a stepping stone to the world. Languages helped to enrich my education and subsequently my life and gave me an insight to the different cultures in the countries that communicate in these languages. Languages and language teaching have been my passion from an early age, and this passion continues to grow as I continue my life-long career as a teacher. One lesson that I have learned since my early years playing with my Armenian neighbours is that language is not an isolated subject that can be learned from a book (or an application, APP): rather language is a way of life. Whether or not we are aware of it, language is all around us and begins to be embedded in us from the moment we are born. I have a great love and passion for languages and this passion continues to grow every time I see the fruit of

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my labour. This might be either a student who develops a passion for learning a language, a high-ranking student, or the excitement in a parent’s face when they see their child living their traditional language and culture, and passing it on to their children. Instilling the culture of my heritage in my children and my grandchildren is also extremely important to me as it is part of my identity and I want to keep it alive in my children and grandchildren. I encouraged my children to learn Arabic at school. I also speak to them in Arabic at home and continue to incorporate elements of our culture and tradition into our everyday lives. I have returned to Lebanon with my children on five occasions. It makes me proud to see my children speaking to my parents and siblings in Arabic. As an educator, I am constantly looking to improve and update my skills. I strongly believe that it is necessary to be familiar with the current issues and the needs of the local community. I have joined professional teacher groups and professional associations in order to maintain contacts within the professional educational community to share insights and materials. I have encountered many issues in my teaching over the years and I have been able to solve a number through seeking assistance of language teacher networks such as the Modern Language Teachers Association of New South Wales. In particular, being a member of the MLTA, attending conferences and workshops, and taking advantage of their resources, is one of the highlights of my career to date, as it has given me the opportunity to strengthen my teaching network and contribute to the future of languages education.

The Future? My language teaching experience started almost thirty years ago and my skills and knowledge about language teaching and learning continue to grow and develop every day. I am always looking for new ways to improve the quality of the teaching and learning for both myself and my students, through incorporating my students’ interests while still considering the objectives of the teaching and learning. I suspect this will be the case for some time yet.

References Australian Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations. (2005). Professional Standards for Accomplished Teaching of Languages and Cultures. Canberra: Department of Education, Science and Training.

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Cope, B. & Kalantzis, M. (Eds.). (2000). Multiliteracies: Literacy learning and the design of social futures. Melbourne: Macmillan. Cross, D. (1991). A practical handbook of language teaching. London: Longman Phoenix Prentice Hall Cassell ELT. Dufficy, P. (2005). Designing learning for diverse classrooms. Newtown: Primary English Teaching Association. Gibran, K. (1989). The Prophet. New York: United Holdings Group. Nunan, D. (1991). Language teaching methodology: A textbook for teachers. London: Prentice Hall. Reid, J., Green, B. & English, R. (2002). Managing small-group learning. Newtown: Primary English Teaching Association. Tudor, I. (2001). The dynamics of the language classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Vygotsky, L.S. & Cole, M. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN EYES WIDE OPENED BENJAMIN GIBB

Starting Out What does a second year teacher have to reflect on? I can’t draw upon a long teaching history, as can an experienced teacher. But I believe that any language teacher’s journey starts, in fact, before they first step into a classroom to teach. Even though I am in my early career, I know that my conceptions about language learning and teaching have been strongly shaped through the experiences I had in my years before teaching. I was thirteen years old when I started studying Japanese in Year 7. To be frank, there were two main reasons I chose to study the language: I woke up half an hour early every day to watch Pokémon, and the French teacher had a reputation of being boring. An easy choice for an adolescent boy, really. But what kept me there, from those days of struggling to learn hiragana all the way until I wrote the final ji (character) on my Higher School Certificate Japanese paper? If I had told that Year 7 boy he would, in ten years, be standing in front of his own class of twelve year olds teaching them hiragana, would he believe me? For me, the answer has been about “intercultural competence”, a current buzzword in language education, defined as the ability to understand, accept and value the perspectives, and behaviours of individuals from other cultures (Byram, Gribkova & Starkey, 2002). To me, it is also about developing an identity between the two cultures, and seeing both with new eyes. It was this process of finding myself, in relation to another culture, that keeps me doing what I do today. However, I can’t say that it came as easily to me as it seems to have done for other teachers, or indeed as I see happen in my brightest students. As much as I’d like to, I can’t profess to having been an avid student during my school years. Japanese was one of my favourite subjects in school, but perhaps more in contrast to subjects that I wasn’t so fond of! In

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between a complicated home life and exam pressure, I never managed to develop that intrinsic love of language, to get “hooked”. Despite this, I had always vaguely felt that I would like teaching, and after high school enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts/Graduate Diploma in Education degree at Macquarie University. My principal goal at that time was to become an English teacher, with Japanese as my fallback position, or “minor” teaching subject.

Going to Japan Since then I have been to Japan for three extended periods of time. On each trip I have rediscovered and reconsidered myself, my country, and my ideas about teaching and learning language which make me the teacher I am today. It was at the end of my first year of university that I was invited by a friend to go and work in a ski resort in Nagano, Japan, for two months over the summer holidays. Excited by the opportunity, but worried we may be bored with “the sticks” of Japan for two months, we planned a two week trip beforehand around the temples of Kyoto and the bustling cities of Tokyo and Osaka. The first two weeks were a whirlwind of backpacker lodges (three star hotels in comparison to Australian hostels) and bullet trains. I was overwhelmed by seeing Japan, tasting Japan and having the occasional chance to talk with a “real”, local Japanese person. Yet by the end of the two weeks I didn’t feel as if my skills had improved much. I had remembered some of my high school Japanese, but hadn’t experienced the growth in language ability which I had expected. Fluency in Japanese seemed to be a far away gleam at the top of a very, very tall Mt Fuji. In contrast, the next two months at the ski resort were quite literally a steady rise up the “mountain” of language learning. Living in a dormitory with both foreigners from around the world and Japanese youths, and working by day in the ski lifts and resort restaurant with Japanese people, I had the opportunity to be in a Japanese environment twenty four hours, seven days a week for two months. I’m sure that many people reading this have experienced this feeling: I was enjoying myself, living the culture of another country and making friends, while improving my speaking skills. I returned to Australia exhilarated. That first experience changed the course of my life dramatically. Having had the chance to use my Japanese, I had been rewarded with the fruits of a labour long done. I still do not think there is a more powerful thing than learning something, and then seeing it work in action. As well as my fond memories of Japan, I also saw Australia differently. I distinctly

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remember purchasing an item in a shop when I arrived back home, and feeling the shock of having my change forced into my hand by an irate shop assistant. No bow? No greeting when I come in, or thank you when I leave? Wasn’t it funny that I hadn’t realised Australians were this rude, until I’d been to Japan. It was later, after having a friendly chat to the girl selling me a burger, that I realised there were two sides to the story. In Japan, I would be thanked properly for my patronage, but a casual chat with a shop attendant would never happen. Which was better then? Which should I appreciate? This, and many other similar incidents were what opened my eyes to the benefits of learning another culture as well as a language. I felt like I had unearthed something, something not tangible but something I knew deeply that everyone should experience, and with that in mind I chose my second year subjects determined to focus on my second teaching major – Japanese. After my two month ‘taste test’, I decided that I would apply for a one year exchange and was accepted to go to Sophia University in Tokyo. I once again had the best time of my life (and once again failed to take enough class-friendly photos that did not have alcohol visible). I attended class five days a week and had the opportunity not only to study Japanese language through a more immersion approach, but to meet students from all over the world, and also to take a class in Japanese teaching pedagogy. Moreover, I was accepted to live in a dormitory in which almost all residents were male Japanese university students. I found this to be a stronger factor in language improvement than the classes I was attending. I have come to think that intercultural awareness includes not only the ability to critique your own culture, but to stand at the crossroads between cultures, and see positives and negatives in both. An important factor in developing an intercultural attitude has been identified as the readiness to suspend disbelief about other cultures and belief about one’s own, often referred to as “de-centring” (Byram, 2000). I was soon to realise that this can also come in degrees. I thought I had sufficiently “decentred” myself on my ski trip. Pine (1999) however draws a distinction between “culture shock”, shock felt when we are confronted with concrete differences between our own culture in the other culture, and “cultural mismatch”, encountering behaviours which may seem familiar on the surface but are in fact different and confusing. I was soon to personally experience the difference between these two concepts. Immersion means just that, diving in head first and staying there. Life at the ski resort had been easy in more ways than I had realised. While during my day job I spoke some Japanese, with my head above water, I could easily return to the comfort of my

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English speaking friends in the resort dormitory. I took small culture shocks such as eating raw fish and public bathing in my stride. In comparison, I floundered on my year-long exchange. Attempts to make Japanese friends at university left me confused. When I first arrived, no-one was willing to speak Japanese with me, and many students at the university I attended had a better command of English than I had of Japanese. This was a challenge to myself and my classmates who had come with open arms to learn Japanese, only to be rejected. Greeting someone with “konnichiwa” (hello) would often cause them to walk away, to try communicating with the next foreigner. In the dormitory I was a minority, one of five foreigners out of a hundred students. There were things I just couldn’t understand. I had initially mistaken the strict initiation of first years for bullying. In turn the Japanese students were confused as to how I, as an exchange student, could fit into their heirarchy. Some would only talk to me in humble language, some as if I was their junior, and some were too shy to talk to me at all! My best friend, whom I felt of all the students to be the most “culturally open”, surprised me one day with the question: “Do all foreigners sing like angels?”. He was later disappointed to hear my attempts in the karaoke box. After some reflection, I realised that most of the foreigners that Japanese people see are performing artists on TV. Thus, it would not be too unnatural to assume that all foreigners must be able to sing. Harbon and Atmazaki (2002), in a study of the benefits of overseas experience for language teachers, comment that while time is needed for critical reflection of overseas experiences, especially those of cultural mismatch, language teachers gain “rich” knowledge from overseas experience (Harbon & Atmazaki, 2002). I can likewise conclude that I returned home a year later having laughed, struggled and made (and even lost a few) friends: in other words, having lived a normal and complete life in another country.

Bringing “My Japan” into the Classroom These experiences are with me every day that I teach. In regards to language proficiency, I do not know how I would cope without having lived in Japan. Every teacher has surely heard the question “when will I ever use this phrase?”, and I can respond with confidence “I’ve heard Japanese people say that all the time”. I can casually throw in a slang word to tweak the ears of otherwise less engaged kids. I don’t feel nervous correcting grammar, and I don’t feel nervous about being corrected either, as I have made the same mistakes that my students do now.

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However, more than linguistic prowess, I believe it is experience in bridging the two languages and cultures that enables good teaching. Ellis (2006) has found that the experience of learning a language as a nonnative speaker becomes a rich source of knowledge, beliefs and insights for a language teacher. The “wow” moments I’ve had in class have all been due to the insights, (whether positive or negative) which I’ve gained while abroad. Perhaps my students won’t all finish their language studies with a strong foundation in grammar and vocabulary (which is not up to any teacher!) but if they know the personal value of learning another culture, if they too have de-centred themselves from Australia, I am content that I have been able to guide them that far. I don’t think that my experiences are necessarily unique, or better than average. I am only in my second year of teaching, yet I have been blessed to work at a school with an encouraging senior management, in a staffroom of experienced, inspiring language teachers. We are always willing to help one another and share (I find that I am still receiving more than giving) any ideas or resources at our disposal in order to help our students. So what is it that gives us all this strong passion for our respective languages? What exactly is it that we are so eager to share with the kids? Grammar? Vocabulary lists? Looking at the confident teachers around me, I can think of a better answer: we want to share with our students the same sense of adventure we had while learning a language and experiencing a new culture. In all of my teaching experiences, this has been the bright light in the eyes of my most engaged students: they want to be there, “where the action is”. These students want to know about the country, the culture and the people. Why do their words have a different flavour, when did I hear a native speaker say that, do you think a Japanese person would say this? How would they respond? This is in fact something that all students can connect with, regardless of academic ability, and their struggles with grammar. I believe it is not our responsibility as language teachers to copy grammar from book to board, but rather to be able to answer these enquiries, impart our own experiences, and shift perspectives in our students.

Professional Development in Language As I sometimes consider learning another language, I am struck by the fact that I will not be able to repeat these experiences so easily. To do so would require taking time away from my job, financial stress and impact on my life in Australia. Yet I also know I couldn’t be the same teacher

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without these experiences. I therefore feel very strongly that teachers, particularly pre-service teachers, should be informed as early as possible of the opportunities available to them and the future impact of their decisions. Particularly, I have come to believe that there is a conceptual gap between the process in which one becomes qualified as a language teacher, four years of university including passing language classes and student teaching, and the actual process of mastering a language, although one would assume they go hand in hand. This has been confirmed in a recent review of language teacher education commissioned by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (Kleinhenz, Wilkinson, Gearon, Fernandes & Ingvarson, 2007), which advocates the need for concurrent studies of language with teaching methodology. Kleinhenz et al. (2007, p. 97), state that “providing opportunities for students to have extended in-country experience as part of their teacher education courses is proving to be an invaluable strategy for improving the knowledge and skills of pre-service teachers”. Does this mean that teachers have to do what I did, or that they are deficient if they haven’t? No, it’s not easy, or even possible, for the circumstances of many teachers. Even now, established as a second year teacher, I don’t feel I would be easily able to pack up and leave my job for a year or more to go overseas to extend my language proficiency and cultural experiences, even as a young single male with no financial commitments. But I feel very strongly that our situation is very different to teachers in other curriculum areas, who, if they feel they lack sufficient knowledge of their subject, have opportunities such as university and selfstudy to improve themselves professionally. To put this within a professional context, the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) has composed a list of standards which “outline what teachers should know and be able to do” (AITSL, 2012). One of these domains of teaching is professional knowledge —that teachers know their content, and how to teach it to students. This means that as language teachers, we must be proficient in both language fluency and teaching pedagogy. Wright and Bolitho (1997) summed this up well much earlier by describing competent language teachers as being both proficient users, and skilled analysts of the language they teach. Any native speaker of English could not stand in front of a class and explain the grammar of their language without sufficient training. And likewise, a non-native speaker requires explicit instruction in grammar, and confidence in using it in order to teach it to students.

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Currently in New South Wales, teachers are required not only to attain, but to maintain this quality standard of teaching in order to stay accredited as education professionals (NSW Institute of Teachers, 2008). Professional development is offered to all teachers so that they can do this. In my experience, most professional development for language teachers only addresses the “how” of teaching – for example, ways in which a grammar lesson can be made more engaging, or how to implement technologies to augment language learning. However, there is very little offered to us in the way of language learning. The reasons for this are easy to understand: teachers attending would be at different levels of learning, with different needs. Yet, I am sure that even the most imaginative teacher will struggle to teach a senior language course, or access authentic texts from the target country, without a strong grasp of the language they teach. This view is supported by the aforementioned DEEWR report, which concluded that high levels of language proficiency, properly understood on the basis of professional consensus, are a necessary, but not sufficient component of the knowledge base of languages teacher (Kleinhenz et al., 2007).

Learning with Other Teachers I have often heard this reflected during discussions in my staffroom when it comes to choosing from the various professional development courses available: “the best thing for us would be to go to the target country”. As reasonable as this sounds, it is perhaps not so reasonable to expect one’s school to pay for an extended study tour overseas! My third experience shows it is possible, however. The third major opportunity I had to go to Japan, and in some ways the most rewarding as a teacher, was as a participant on an Endeavour Language Teacher Fellowship (ELTF) program (see http://www.deewr. gov.au/Schooling/eltf). In January 2012, a total of fifty two teachers of Japanese from all states of Australia were fortunate to be sponsored by the Australian Government to go to Kansai University in Osaka for three weeks and undertake classes in language and culture. I cannot recommend this program highly enough. As a beginning teacher, I felt that the benefits were twofold—not only did I get to refresh and extend my Japanese ability, but also to meet other language teachers and share experiences. A recent enquiry into the perceived benefits of the ELTF program by participants found that teachers were better able to understand the target language as it is used in native-speaker communities (French & Harbon, 2010), and I can personally vouch for this. Amongst my fellow participants, there were veteran Japanese teachers alongside undergraduate

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student teachers, as well as teachers retraining from another subject. All had experiences to share, whether of previous times in Japan or simply about teaching in their different contexts. In particular, the experience would not have been possible without the three group leaders who shared their expertise and time, and endured the emotional toll of taking charge of fifty people, some of whom take time out of their busy family lives to attend, and who are used to giving the commands, not taking them. I am only just beginning to realise how privileged I was to be a part of this program. In addition to my own intercultural perspectives, I was able to consider fifty new ones, all from different contexts and different opinions. It has strengthened my resolve to teach and I can now appreciate the opportunities I have at my current school, hear about what other teachers are doing and consider how to integrate this into my own teaching. The network of friends and colleagues we have formed has been maintained after coming home and I now have a solid support base as a language teacher. I think that the ELTF program is a unique opportunity and that we are very privileged as Australian teachers to be able to access it. It represents a positive affirmation that our educational leaders are also aware of the need to have skilled language teachers with in-country experience.

Reflections What would have happened had I not had that phone call from a friend asking me to leave for my first short working holiday in Nagano? It is hard to imagine. I might be contentedly reading Shakespeare to a class of engaged, interested English students (and there is nothing wrong with that!). But I don’t know how I would be able to teach Japanese. To be a language teacher is to be an advocate of language learning and the culture of your chosen language. How can we truly do that without having experienced at least some of that culture ourselves? Would I “get it” in the way that I feel I do now? I believe that it is the responsibility of university lecturers, schools, and language teacher associations to inform pre-service and in-service teachers of these opportunities and give them the best chance to take them. These experiences have enriched and defined me as a language teacher, and I hope that anyone else considering language teaching gives themselves the best chance to have them too.

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References Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership. (2012). National Professional Standards for Teachers. Retrieved from http://www.teacherstandards.aitsl.edu.au Byram, M. (2000). Assessing intercultural competence in language teaching. Sprogforum, 8–13. Byram, M., Gribkova, B., & Starkey, H. (2002). Developing the intercultural dimension in language teaching. Strassburg: Council of Europe. Ellis, E. (2006). Language Learning experience as a Contributor to ESOL Teacher Cognition. TESL–EJ: The electronic journal for English as a second language. Retrieved from http://www.teslej.org/wordpress/issues/volume10/ej37/ej37a3/ French, S., & Harbon, L. (2010). Language teachers “knowledge about language” as a result of short-term in-country experience. The New Zealand Language Teacher, 36, 22–32. Harbon, L., & Atmazaki, A. (2002). Stories of raw green chillies and unlocked cupboards: The value of in-country experiences for languages teachers. Babel, 36 (3), 23 – 29. Kleinhenz, E., Wilkinson, J., Gearon, M., Fernandes, S. & Ingvarson, L. (2007). The Review of Teacher Education for Language Teachers: Final Report. Retrieved from http://research.acer.edu.au/teacher_education/9/ NSW Institute of Teachers. (2008, December 04). NSW Institute of Teachers—Policies. Retrieved from http://www.nswteachers.nsw.edu.au/ContinuingProfessionalDevelopment/CPD-Policy/ Pine, N. (1999). Understanding Cultural Mismatches: Tools for TeacherStudent Intercultural Communication. Paper presented at the 40th International World Education Fellowship Conference, “Educating for a better world: Vision to action”. Hobart, 2 January. Wright, T., & Bolitho, R. (1997). Toward awareness of English as a professional language. Language Awareness, 6 (2 & 3), 162–170.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN AN UNFINISHED JOURNEY: REFLECTING ON TWENTY YEARS OF TEACHING AND LEARNING INDONESIAN KATE REITZENSTEIN

If we look at the globe or a map of the Eastern hemisphere, we shall perceive between Asia and Australia a number of large and small islands, forming a connected group distinct from those great masses of land, and having little connexion with either of them. (Wallace, 1869, p.1)

These are the opening lines of one of my most loved books, The Malay Archipelago, which records Alfred Wallace’s famous journey throughout the region we now call Indonesia. His journey to this region, spanning eight years, was made up of sixty to seventy shorter trips involving fieldwork. On those shorter trips he documented insights into, and collated evidence of, the cultural, social, biological and geographical diversity of the region. This physical journey was part of a longer intellectual journey in which he co-developed the theory of natural selection with colleague Sir Charles Darwin and contributed extensively to the theories of evolution. My experience as a learner and teacher of Indonesian, has also been a journey. Spanning over twenty years, it has been made up of frequent sojourns to the same region Wallace traversed, forming the basis of a still unfinished journey involving language and culture. Some parts have been a “joyride”, other parts a “grueling uphill trek”. Although Wallace was predominantly interested in the natural world, his work resonates with me because it focuses on the transitional, the liminal, and the syncretic. He loved fieldwork and sought out locations “where worlds collide” (van Oosterzee, 1997) to identify patterns of commonality and difference in order to explain the interconnectedness of the world. The Malay Archipelago is still as relevant a travel guide as when it was written nearly a century and a half ago and refers to a place about which I knew very little until I was in my twenties. The volume has inspired me to travel to

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remote places in Indonesia and deepen my knowledge of this corner of the globe.

The Journey Begins Choosing to study Indonesian at university in the early nineties was an almost accidental, albeit serendipitous action, as I was desperate to alleviate the boredom and frustration of studying Commerce. When I changed my major to Asian Studies, the range of languages on offer were Mandarin, Japanese and Indonesian. I randomly chose the latter and commenced my studies wide-eyed and without any background knowledge about the language and the country. In fact, the lack of awareness I had about Indonesia, its people, cultures and languages, and its inextricable links with Australia is disconcerting, and, in hindsight, is a major reason why I want to teach the language to younger generations today. I continually question why I was so oblivious to Indonesia throughout my childhood and teens. As a migrant Dutch-German family we were naturally Eurocentric in our focus, but, I also lay blame on the lack of studies about our closest neighbour and lack of opportunity to hear the voices of its people, in the school curriculum during the 70s and 80s. Had I engaged with something or someone from that “number of large and small islands… between Asia and Australia” (Wallace, 1869, p. 1), I might have paid greater attention at the time. Completely unaware of the new direction my life would take, I participated in my first in-country experience as a member of the Australian-Indonesian Youth Exchange Program (AIYEP) group in 1992 (see www.aiyep.tcn.com.au). AIYEP was a collaborative youth exchange program between the governments of both countries. The aim of the program was to foster people-to-people relationships, thereby allowing participants the opportunity to develop greater understanding of each other’s languages and cultures. The experience was life-changing for me, and since then, Indonesia and its language(s) define a large part of who I am, and what I do. My post-AIYEP direction was not anomalous either, with the majority of the 32 participants of that year of AIYEP going on to pursue a career linked to Australian-Indonesian relations: what we might call an example of a positive “unpredictable outcome” of an effective “intercultural citizenship experience” (Byram, 2008, p. 186) through our shared engagement in social and political activities. With the benefit of hindsight and years of teaching and researching through a social-constructivist lens, I now realise how effective AIYEP was, in terms of program design. The group of participants comprised 16

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Australians and 16 Indonesians working in a wide number of professions, such as engineering, nursing, education and politics. They had been selected on their leadership and team-skills, as well as their abilities in dance and music performance. The group of 32 had an equal gender balance and each Indonesian participant was paired up with an Australian counterpart. The intended objective of this arrangement was for the Indonesian participant to teach their Australian counterpart the language and culture throughout the program and act, if required, as a translator, mediator, negotiator between host parents, program coordinators, employers and the wider communities the individuals would come into contact with when on exchange. The two-month program had two distinct phases: a rural stay in a remote village in East Java involving community service, plus a city stay involving work experience in a field suited to each participant. I now have the reflective skills to realise the benefits of the peer teaching within the Australian group. We were a diverse, multi-skilled and multileveled group in terms of language proficiency. We were “between cultures”. The concept of teaching each other’s culture was also hugely significant, as it prompted me to ask “What is my culture?” for the first time. As Dewey (1938/1998, p. 16) once stated, “every experience lives on in further experiences”, and so my first positive in-country experience continues to live on, informing subsequent choices and decisions, personally and professionally. Once I completed my undergraduate degree, I knew I wanted to return to Indonesia, which I have done time and time again, for stays lasting several weeks up to two years. It was during a longterm visit to Indonesia from 1994 to 1996 when I was working as an English as a Foreign Language teacher, that I discovered not only a love and aptitude for language teaching, but also an awareness of the complexities of pedagogy and how much I did not yet know. Upon my return to Australia, I enrolled in a Graduate Diploma of Teaching with Languages Other Than English as my major. I was mentally prepared for my journey as a teacher and felt deeply passionate about my area of expertise.

Preparing for the Journey: Packing a Pedagogical Content Knowledge Survival Kit I consider myself lucky to have completed my Graduate Diploma training in the 1990s. Nowadays, Languages methodology training in some cases may involve a six-month on-campus course or alternatively an online version. Fortunately, my training consisted of an on-campus, year-

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long generic methodology course, which provided a solid grounding in pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) (Andrews, 2003; Schulman, 1987). It equipped me with fundamental concepts which have become my survival kit in my journey as a language teacher. This is where I developed my collection of guiding principles for teaching a foreign language. My principles include: x maximised use of the target language and comprehensible input, x the importance of early teaching of the language of instruction and classroom discourse, x the notion of authenticity of texts and tasks, x intercultural language learning, x the differentiation between a language practice task and a language use task, x the need to teach natural acquisition sequence specific to the language, x a “glass half full” approach to multi-level classes, and the list goes on. Once a PCK survival kit is stocked, reflexive praxis is crucial. Tools, or principles and approaches, need to be sharpened, adapted or replaced to suit the particular school contexts. For example, in my early years of teaching I made the error of expecting my learners to walk before they could crawl. I am improving however on breaking down the steps and elements required, that is, the language practice needed to result in successful deployment of language resulting in students feeling “I can do that!”. I have developed an improved understanding that “…mechanistic pattern practice, however, is not bad or ineffective per se, but only as measured against the communicative or cognitive goals” (Kramsch, 1993, p.184). Sometimes I imagine the difficulty of trying to teach Indonesian without my PCK survival kit. I have seen many teachers attempt to do this, slipping through the system without any languages methodology training and relying only on content skills and knowledge. Most do not last the distance. As Kohler and Mahnken (2010, p. 30) found in their report on Indonesian language education in Australian schools: Typically… [teachers] who stay for the long haul are ones who have completed specialization in the language… It would seem that this degree of commitment…combined with a desire to teach young people, creates a combination (together with regular in-country experiences) that forms a robust professional identity.

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Over the past decade I have sensed a real deterioration in understanding the significance of strong PCK for sustainability of a language program, particularly by school administrators. Recently, a friend of mine living in a remote southwest Western Australia town was approached by the principal of the town’s primary school to ask whether she wanted to teach Indonesian at the school. Born in Germany and fluent in several European languages, my friend could not believe the school would contemplate employing an unqualified person to teach such a specialised learning area. She was shocked by the attitude and low level expectations reflected in the comment of a fellow parent: “You don’t have to teach them much. Just do some songs and cooking to get the kids interested”. One of the realities of being a language teacher is that one has to be a salesperson, a marketer, a promoter of both the intrinsic, and the extrinsic benefits of studying a language, to staff, students and the wider community. At my current school, an elite private boys’ school, I have unashamedly focused more on the inclusion of the wider community, by making the links between classroom and pathways beyond school explicit. This has included an Indonesian Careers Day, Why learn Indonesian?, the creation of brochures and posters, invitations to guest speakers from tertiary institutions, government departments and former students who have forged careers in, or are collaborating with, Indonesia. This idea of Indonesian as “highly prized by employers when studied in combination with subjects such as business and international relations” (Murray, 2010, p. 92), connects with the community of my current school. From my own experience of learning four languages—German, Dutch, Indonesian and a little Sundanese—most of my learning has occurred outside the classroom. I have thus always felt it important to provide opportunities beyond the language classroom for students to develop language for their own personal use. Recently, one of my students remarked that his Skype pal in Jakarta told him that using the slang term tengkyu, the derivative of the English for thank you (which I had taught him), was “social suicide!!”. While I was made to feel old-fashioned and out-of-touch with the youth of today, I hid my excitement of knowing that language learning among my students was occurring in places and spaces where I had no control. This student was gaining autonomy in his own learning, by accessing opportunities for interaction that were initially established through a classroom-based program. Kramsch (1993, p. 246) notes that “the good teacher fosters both compliance and rebellion”, and outside engagement and language input offers the greatest scope for students learning to reflect critically, to “subvert traditional forms of

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discourse” (Kramsch, 1993, p. 241) and test their skills in a more authentic context. Opportunities for enhanced language learning, through the use of new technologies is particularly exciting, but it is the face-to-face, crosscultural interaction through school visits and in-country sojourns that offers rich opportunities for autonomous learning. I want to expose my students to these opportunities, so that they lead to on to many new experiences they never knew existed. These are just some of the things that I feel are central to language teaching. I do not see myself as being a proponent of one particular approach to teaching-learning, because the contexts and the types of learners I teach are continually changing. The challenge is to remain progressive. Now that I am on this journey, one of my visions is to give learners a richer classroom language learning experience than what I had at school and university, and to create similar life-changing opportunities beyond the classroom. This is no easy feat, particularly for Indonesian teachers, and the past decade has become all the more difficult with additional challenges such as the relentless negative media coverage of Indonesia and the travel advice from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade warning teachers and students to reconsider the need to travel.

Challenging Times While a PCK survival kit is essential to being an effective teacher in the classroom, it is not enough to survive the greater journey in the long run. In recent years, I have felt an increasing need to have in mind a map of the wider terrain of schooling and the changing climate affecting languages education. One needs to assume leadership, be an effective communicator and strategist in order to survive challenging times. Throughout my journey as a language teacher since 1997, I have covered different terrains spanning Kindergarten to Year 12, tertiary and adult learning, as well as additional side jobs. However, it has been in the middle schooling years where I have had continuous and uninterrupted teaching experience as an Indonesian teacher: firstly in two government schools and currently at a private boys school. The Indonesian programs in the two government schools were in a dire condition when I started, largely due to being unsustainable and under-developed languages programs from the start. Prior to commencing at my third and current school, plans had been considered to close down Indonesian due to attrition levels in upper secondary which were reflective of the national

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trend of “a steady decline in numbers of students undertaking Year 12 Indonesian for some time” (Kohler & Mahnken, 2010, p.13). Each time I have commenced at a new school I have tried to achieve the goals of creating an increase in time-on-task, an increase in numbers of students studying the language, and an increase in positive engagement with Indonesians. Along the way there have been some successes. At my first school it was the building up of enrolments and the establishment of a Year 11 and 12 course and pathway beyond middle schooling. At the second school it was the establishment of leadership for the Languages team and implementation of the policy of equality to all eight key learning areas and lengthening the time on task to all second languages. It was here that I also established a program of annual visits of Indonesian high school students from Surabaya, East Java. But what is success when it is only short lived? Within eighteen months of leaving my first school, the entire Indonesian program from Years 7 to 12 was completely axed. Former colleagues cite a range of contributing factors for this decision, such as difficulties in finding an effective teacher and the replacement of administration staff, who were not particularly supportive of the program. At my second school, a change of leadership at the school resulted in a swift return to a model of prioritising the MESS (Mathematics, English, Society and the Environment and Science) subjects, resulting in other subjects losing considerable time allocation. Indonesian classes have now been reduced to about a third of what was on offer three years prior. Combined classes of Years 8 and 9 have been introduced to economise, with very little prospect of future pathways for students. I know of no other learning area that has such a level of threat placed on it, and where a slight staffing shuffle can completely dismantle the relationships and structures that underpin the program. When I first started teaching I was extremely driven by passion to expose as many students as possible to opportunities to engage with Indonesia and to provide quality and positive learning experiences. But in more recent times this passion has been overtaken by the fear of failing, of having an Indonesian program under my watch be closed down. At the beginning of every school year I hear with dismay of the new list of West Australian schools that have closed down their Indonesian programs, often with little community or staff consultation. I am acutely aware of what threats to watch out for. It is the knowledge of recent staggering decline of students studying Indonesian and dire predictions for the future that now drives me to keep travelling on this journey. However, if at some point I can see that the track I am following is not going anywhere, and that I

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have reached a dead end through lack of school support, I will need to find another path, one that is more favorable to travelling this journey of engaging with Indonesia.

The Road Ahead I often reflect on the reasons why the Indonesian language programs at my first two schools have failed to be sustainable in the long term, and this knowledge informs my decisions to “get it right” the third time around. Fortunately, the 30 year old Indonesian program at my current school still lives on. Retention rates, and most noteworthy, the doubling of enrolments in Years 11 and 12 from 2010 to 2012, has largely been helped by a grant from National Asian Languages and Studies in Schools Program (NALSSP), managed through the Association of Independent Schools of Western Australia (AISWA). Other factors at my new school have allowed for “smoother sailing”, such as a school policy of compulsory second language learning up to Year 10, and greater allocation of resources to allow for small sized classes to continue. Expansion in the program has led to another full-time teaching position of Indonesian and so I am no longer travelling solo. We have established partnerships with the new Perth branch of the Balai Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian Language Centre) and also now offer after school language classes for students, parents and the wider community. Staff who are already proficient in Indonesian are being supported to “up skill”, and they receive in-country methodology and language training as means of building a core of qualified Indonesian teachers from within. Our entire Indonesian curriculum is being reviewed and redesigned to suit a new generation of language learners who have access to new technologies and who need to be exposed to more “vibrant, innovative and popular contemporary images” of Indonesia (Hill, 2012, p. 27). And last but not least, we will be taking a group of students on a school trip to Java in six months time. This is the first time since… since the journey started getting really tough! The future on this road is looking a little brighter.

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References Andrews, S. (2003). Teacher language awareness and the professional knowledge base of the L2 teacher. Language Awareness, 12 (2), 81– 95. Byram, M. (2008). From foreign language education to education for intercultural citizenship: Essays and reflections. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters. Dewey, J. (1938/1998). Experience in education: The 60th Anniversary Edition. Indianapolis, IN: Kappa Delta Pi. Hill, D.T. (2012). Indonesian language in Australian universities: Strategies for a stronger future. Australian Learning and Teaching Council National Teaching Fellowship Final Report. Perth, WA: Murdoch University. Kohler, M., & Mahnken, P. (2010). The current state of Indonesian language education in Australian schools. Report to the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, Carlton South, Victoria: Education Services Australia, Commonwealth of Australia. Kramsch, C. (1993). Context and Culture in Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Murray, N. (2010). Discussion: Languages Education in Australia: Shaky Data, Disjointed Policy, and a Chicken and Egg Problem. In A.J. Liddicoat & A. Scarino (Eds.), Languages in Australian Education: Problems, Prospects and Future Directions. (pp. 87-96). Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Schulman, L. (1987). Knowledge and teaching: Foundations of the new reform. Harvard Educational Review, 57 (1), 1–22. van Oosterzee, P. (1997). Where Worlds Collide. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press Wallace, A.R. (1869). The Malay Archipelago. (2 vols). London: Macmillan.

CONTRIBUTORS

Coleen Sherratt is a Project Officer for Aboriginal Languages, with the Western Australia Department of Education. She co-presents Aboriginal Languages Teacher Training, coordinates and supports Aboriginal languages programs in schools in the mid-west, metropolitan, south-west and rural regions in Western Australia. Tracey Cameron is a Gamilaraay woman who is an advocate for Aboriginal languages and a member of the Gamilaraay/Yuwaalaraay Language Working Group. She is currently working part-time to review course materials for a new Gamilaraay Language course in New South Wales. Mercurius Goldstein is engaged as a languages teacher in NSW Secondary Schools and as Principal Consultant of Australian Postgraduate English Language Services (APELS). Kylie Farmer is a Languages Education Consultant in Victoria, with a special interest in bilingual education. Simone Smala is a Lecturer in Teacher Education at The University of Queensland with research interests in multilingual schooling, multiliteracies and social media. Jen McKendry and Ulla Freihofner are both secondary teachers in a Content and Language Integrated Learning program in a state secondary school in Queensland. Melissa Gould-Drakeley is Dean of Studies and teacher of Indonesian at Macarthur Anglican School in Sydney. Irina Braun is a French and Spanish languages teacher and currently holds the position of Studies Coordinator at International Grammar School in Sydney.

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Andrew Blumbergs currently works as an MYP/IB teacher in South Korea and previously worked in state and independent schools teaching German and ESL in Melbourne, Australia. Curtis Hwang is an early career secondary school teacher of Japanese, Chinese and English as a Second Language, in the Sydney metropolitan area. Sally Mizoshiri is a secondary school teacher of Japanese at North Sydney Girls High School, an academically selective girls' school in New South Wales, Australia. Kylie Ha is a Chinese and Japanese teacher in metropolitan Sydney. She hopes to continue developing her skills as a language teacher through incountry experiences, further studies and professional development. Jian Lian Liang teaches Chinese at Primary School level in both a bilingual program and in regular language classes in New South Wales. Emily Matters is Head of Classics at Pymble Ladies' College, Sydney, current President of the Classical Languages Teachers' Association and an experienced syllabus writer and examiner in Latin and Classical Greek. Mala Mehta, OAM, is the Honorary Coordinator and Founder of the Indo Australian Bal Bharathi Vidyalaya (IABBV) Hindi School, which is supported by the New South Wales Department of Education and Communities Community Languages Schools Program. Caroline Mahoney is Education Officer for the Hunter Parents' & Teachers' Association of Community Languages Schools and works closely with the New South Wales Department of Education and Communities Community Languages Schools Program. Enaam Darido is the Languages Other than English Coordinator at Saint Maroun’s College and Curriculum Coordinator at the Saturday School of Community Languages. Benjamin Gibb currently teaches Japanese and English as a Second Language at the Hills Grammar School, Kenthurst, New South Wales.

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Contributors

Kate Reitzenstein is a secondary Indonesian Teacher at Scotch College, Perth Western Australia. Lesley Harbon is an Associate Professor in Languages Education in the Faculty of Education & Social Work at the University of Sydney. She speaks Indonesian and German, and prior to moving into teacher education, taught Indonesian at primary, secondary and tertiary level in four Australian states/territories. She teaches in the postgraduate programs and supervises higher degree research students. Robyn Moloney is a Senior Lecturer in Languages Education in the Faculty of Human Sciences at Macquarie University in Sydney. She speaks Japanese, French and German and taught those languages for many years in secondary schools. She teaches in the postgraduate programs and supervises higher degree research students.

INDEX Aboriginal, 17–21, 24–34 community, 18, 28–29 Elders, 18–19 Gamilaraay, 24–34, 138 heritage, 33–34 language revitalisation, 2, 8 Ngoorabul, 42, 47 Noongar, 17–21 ACARA, 4, 8, 135 Arabic, 149–58 Beginners, 155 colloquial, 151 Continuers, 155 literature, 149 syllabus, 150, 152, 153 Art and Craft, 60, 75 Asian Languages, 103 NALSSP, 92, 175 authentic language, ix, 88, 98, 104, 107, 133, 136, 154, 165, 173 authenticity, 171 avatar, 88 belonging, 11, 145 Bengali, 141 bilingual Asian languages, 64 Chinese, 118, 127 German, 57–65 Japanese, 49–56 literacy, 55 boys' education career options, 95, 96, 98 research project, 91–99 boys’ education, 91 Cambridge Latin Course, 133 Cantonese, 112

Chinese, 114–19, 121–28 Australian-Born Chinese, 112 bilingual, 118 heritage, 114–19 identity, 127 Saturday School, 112, 113, 117 choice of subject, 73, 97, 155 Classical Greek, 129–38 Classics, 129–38 CLIL, 8, 57–65, 85, 88, 90 communicative pedagogy, 32–34, 52, 106 Community Language school, 141– 48 Community of Practice, 46 computer, 85, 87 culture shock, 161 Darwin, Sir Charles, 168 Dewey, John, 170 dialogue Intercultural, 77–81, 128 Socratic, 44 Digital Game-Based Learning, 85– 90 interactive, 85 Digital video gaming, 85–90 discovery learning, 85, 132 Endeavour Language Teacher Fellowship, 84, 165 engagement, 84, 85, 88 exchange visits schools, 65 students, 58, 63, 101, 108 teachers, 59 excursions, 108, 156 extrinsic benefit, 172

180 film, 107 gamer, 85–90 games, 150, 151 Gamilaraay, 24–34, 138 communicative approach, 32–34 endangered language, 24, 30, 34 immersion, 29 literacy, 27–32 oracy, 27–32 pedagogy, 26, 32 research project, 30–32 revitalisation, 25–30 gaming, 85–90 gender, 94, 97, 98 motivation, 94 Generation Y, 84, 90 German, 82, 83 bilingual, 57–65 Gifted and Talented, 101–10 girls' education, 101–10 global citizen, 70, 127 grammar-translation, ix, 68, 132, 151 Higher School Certificate New South Wales, 93, 117, 147, 155 Hindi, 141–48 ICT, 85–90, 109, 145 identity, 2, 3, 8, 10, 11 ILTLP, 68 immersion Aboriginal languages, 18 Gamilaraay, 29 Japanese, 49–56 Noongar, 20 inclusive, 71, 79 in-country experience, 103, 164, 166, 169, 170, 171 incursions, 108, 156 India, 141–48 Indigenous, 17–21, 24–34 community, 19, 28–29 Gamilaraay, 24–34, 138 heritage, 33–34

Index language revitalisation, 2, 8 Ngoorabul, 42, 47 Noongar, 17–21 Indonesia, 168–75 Indonesian, 67–74, 168–75 integrated, 85–90 Intercultural approach, 8, 77–81, 103, 104, 106, 109 assessment, 70–74 Indonesian, 67–74 intercultural competence, 68–71, 126, 159 intracultural, 69 questioning technique, 69, 77, 79 scope and sequence, 70 values, 2, 6, 9, 46, 68, 70, 72, 107, 121, 127 interdisciplinary, 84, 85–90 Japan Japanese schools, 105 whaling, 43 Japanese, 38–56, 101–10, 159–66 bilingual, 49–56 immersion, 49–56 Key Learning Areas, 104, 105, 156, 174 Kramsch, Claire, 7, 109, 171, 172 Languages Other Than English, 50, 76, 101, 150, 170 Latin, 129–38 Latvian, 82, 83 life-long learning, 59, 103, 123, 157 Local Area Networks, 87 Malay Archipelago, The, 168 Mandarin, 40, 112, 113, 114 Metaphors, 4–6 Middle Years of Schooling, 87 multi-level class, 114–19, 171 multilingual, 9, 10, 77–81 multilingualism, 141 multimedia, 85–90, 107

Language Teachers Narratives of Practice Native English Teacher, 102 Ngoorabul, 42, 47 Noongar, 17–21 immersion, 20 revitalisation, 18 oracy Communicative approach, 27–32 Gamilaraay, 27–32 participation, 85–90 PCK, 170, 173 Pedagogical Content Knowledge, 170 Primary education, 49–56 literacy, 55 professional development, 8, 59, 61, 65, 83, 127, 163, 165 professional learning, 54 Professional Standards Project, 68, 70

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Rural education, 42 Secondary education, 84, 85 self-narrative, 3 Steiner, Rudolf, 60 Stolen Generation, 17, 22 survival kit, 170, 173 task, 171 Teacher Training, 19, 21 teaching and learning, 8, 30, 69, 85, 110, 157, 160 CLIL, 63 DGBL, 87 Teaching Standards, 50, 68, 164 teaching-learning, 173 TESOL, 83, 102, 150 translation, 132, 136 Vygotsky, Lev, 103, 152 Wallace, Alfred, 168

reflection, 69, 71 research project, 127 retention rates, 76, 92, 99, 175

Zone of Proximal Development, 152