Australia's present and future is multilingual.
Every child in Australia should grow up at least bilingual.
Languages education starts before school life and should continue throughout.
All Aussie kids must be given a chance to be literate and numerate, to make music, play sport, do science… but not all can be guaranteed a second language.
It can’t be mandated because it can’t be resourced. There are not enough LOTE teachers, especially of the right kinds in the right places – and may never be, to judge by the effect of recruitment campaigns throughout the English-speaking-world.
So what can be done?
Of course the purpose of visiting art galleries is to appreciate weird and wonderful works of art, but at the current exhibition of European Masters at the National Gallery of Victoria, my family and I were also in for a pleasant linguistic surprise. Apart from trying to figure out the German and French titles of the Staedel Museum’s collection without the aid of the English translations, my grandsons, whose LOTE is German, particularly enjoyed the language activity that was incorporated in the display. Selected works were accompanied by questions to engage the younger generation, and these were labelled from A to Z, each letter linked to an English word and then its German equivalent, e.g. L for lonely – einsam, which expressed a feeling in Max Klinger’s painting of a woman on a rooftop in Rome.
The exhibition opened on 19th June and runs to 10th October, 2010, so there’s still plenty of time to enjoy this cultural experience and to get some basic German lessons as a bonus.
Tags: European Masters, German lessons, language activity, language learning, NGV, Staedel Museum
This link takes you to Maria Zijlstra’s ‘Lingua Franca’ program on ABC Radio. The main topic of discussion is Camberwell Primary School, a bilingual English/French school in Melbourne – HOWEVER – the other good news is that multilingual picnics also get a mention – a general reference to the efforts of Irma Lachmund in Perth, Mandy Scott in Canberra and Philip Mahnken in Queensland, and more specifically, the Melbourne Language Picnic 2010.
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/linguafranca/stories/2010/2850694.htm
Tags: multilingual picnic
The Melbourne Language Picnic - 2010
The Melbourne Language Picnic is on again!
Date: Sunday, 21st March, National Harmony Day 2010, from 9 am to 5 pm.
Venue: Collingwood Children’s Farm, St. Heliers Street, Abbotsford.
Bring your family and friends, your lingo and share in some multilingual fun and games.
For further information, follow this link:
http://www.melbournelanguagepicnic.wordpress.com/
Tags: multilingualism
For those not able to attend the recent RUMACCC (University of Melbourne) seminar on raising bilingual children, the link below will take you to the handouts for the sessions on what parents can do to encourage language learning beyond the home, for their children and community alike.
