By Tim China
INTRODUCTION: For years the education levels of Indigenous youth is below that of non-Indigenous. A school known as Djarragun College is giving Indigenous youth the chance of higher education. Djarragun College is 20km south of Cairns, it has approximately 600 students that come from various parts of Queensland. The majority of students come from the Torres Strait. A small group of Aboriginal students come from Aboriginal communities located around the Cairns and Cape York regions. The school also caters for non-Indigenous youth making it a place for multicultural learning. Djarragun College is very diverse in that there are several different languages spoken. These languages include those from Torres Strait, Papua New Guinea and the local language of the Yindinji. The aim of this report is to inform teachers the ESL students (English As a Second Language), and what recommendations the teachers can follow to help these students.
METHODOLOGY: The first step in writing this report was to explore Juanita Sellwood’s language story. In doing this we grasped the concept of writing a report for ESL students at Djarragun. We then studied an ESL class while working. After doing so we surveyed and interviewed students. We provided questions that gave adequate information about the person interviewed. From these protocols, we used the structure of Juanita’s story to give us a helping hand in writing our own.
FINDINGS: The information we gathered has shown that students are not aware of the language they were speaking. These students had not learned the difference between their home language and Standard Australian English (S.A.E). Our findings also indicated that the students were having difficulties learning, because they found it hard to understand what the teacher was saying.
The majority of students struggling were of Torres Strait Island background, also the teachers were not aware of the complexity of the language the students were able to speak. The teacher had very little knowledge about what the students ‘home language was. With our observation we have obtained this information. Our observations also show that the students were easily distracted.
DISCUSSION: From the findings we can assume that the majority of students were having trouble with their class work. These students didn’t ask for help mainly because they were afraid or too embarrassed possibly because their friends would make fun of them. Also they would feel insecure that the level of work they have done is not good enough. From time to time the student would ask another student for help, because they felt the teacher couldn’t really help them. As second nature students tend to imitate other students, pretending to be working, so it won’t be known they do not comprehend the teacher’s instructions.
In my opinion many Djarragun College students can speak a form of English but their vocabulary is relatively low. Where as when students use their home language, their variety of words increases exponentially. From experience, when students try to make a connection with their language and English, there is a collision with the grammar. With English being a complex language, learning English is rather difficult. Mainly because when growing up, English wasn’t the first language and the complex structure would be difficult to comprehend as the students got older. This being because the student has been taught their language from a young age and their language structure is totally unique.
Another point I have conceived is that students were not aware of the difference between S.A.E (Standard Australian English) and their home language. This being because the teachers or perhaps their parents are not pointing out the difference between the two. This might be because when their parents were in school they had not learned the difference between the two languages.
RECOMMENDATIONS: Teachers should identify the minority groups within the classroom, then find out what language they use when they communicate with each other. Further research on the language should be done. This would be a great idea because, knowing the students language can make the learning process a lot easier.
Another recommendation would be to have Indigenous teachers. This way the above recommendation would not be needed. Also a teacher of Indigenous background will understand the learning disadvantages of Indigenous students, therefore the bond between student and teacher is stronger.
In conclusion to my recommendations. Teachers should identify the students who are struggling and talk with them one on one. This way all distraction in the classroom cannot deter the student from giving an honest answer.
REFERENCE LIST:
Juanita Sellwood: Language Story Project (2007). Education Queensland Brisbane
Djarragun College website (2010) www.djarraguncollege.eq.edu.au
Tim in a less salubrious condition after a mud fight in 2009!
