Promoting the study of language through culture

Mount Lawley Senior High School is one of the schools in Perth which have a special languages program under the title Gifted and Talented Education (GATE). I have been involved in their Languages Parent Support Group since my second child entered the program at the start of this year.

The most recent event at the school was organising an Oktoberfest at the end of term 3. There was cake and Bretzeln, there were Bratwuerste and Sauerkraut to sample.

I still have a traditional German costume (Tracht) from the Harz mountains which I made myself during a stint in a German folk club during the late eighties. I was surprised that it still fit me. Putting it on I joined in the festivities by playing more or less traditional German songs on the accordeon.

The year 10 GATE class is the last class to study German under the GATE program. The program has in the past two years been limited to students of Chinese and Italian.

The students were able helpers and many people had a go at the German language tongue twisters, putting the attempts on video. This class under their relief teacher Isabella also collated great displays on the origin of the Octoberfest and the fate of the Berlin wall.

All in all it was a phantastic day.

Learning the language through getting a glimpse at the culture increases motivation and is a good taster. If you like it you probably want some more. Sustaining the motivation of language students is a major factor in the success of the language learning.

Building bridges with ethnic providers, such with the Perth German magazine 'Treffpunkt WA' is another piece in the mocaic of successful language learning.

The many sponsors for cakes, bretzels and saussages demonstrated that ethnic culture is alive and thrieving.

Congratulations to the school for putting such an event on the agenda. And special congratulation to the language teacher Isabella for getting everything together and to the parents for volunteering on the day.

I think we are getting better at promoting language and culture and spreading the word about how beneficial it is to learn a second language! Let's do just that!

Never sing to strangers in a language you don't know well?

As  German living in Australia I have been a member of an Australian multicultural a capella choir for many years. It was very difficult for us to learn the first Japanese song. Our choir leader chose the well know Japanese children song: Genkotsu Yama No Tanuki San which she was taught by a Japanese friend. This was hard work, not only because the words were so different, but as well because the harmonies were unused to our ears as we learnt it set in three part harmonies. It took us about a year to master the song.

Around that time I attended an international women's conference in Perth and at the opening cocktail party spotted a lady wearing what I thought was a traditional Japanese dress. I went straight for her and without much introduction proudly sang her my newly acquired Japanese children song. She smiled broadly when she responded: "Thank you very much, but I am from Korea." I blushed and shook her hand warmly in a very German fashion, vowing never to sing to a stranger ever again.

The singing in other languages is good for the brain, it gives you a challenge not easy to master, as the words need to be remembered and the music often has a differet tune that is not used to our ears.

The choir now sings in about 15 community languages and we understand that all learning takes time. However, we cherish the rewards and meanwhile sing another Japanese songs easily. 

And my promise to never sing a foreign language song to strangers went out of te window a few weeks ago as well, as I met a friendly Ukrainian speaker at a 50th birthday party. I sang him a Ukrainian song Oj U Hurodi  and he could even understand that it was about a woman plucking rose petals in a garden. Never say never! I am proud to be able to sing songs in many languages.

Listen to a few of our multicultural songs on youtube. From this Greek song we only know the first verse. It's a happy new year song Tria Caravaggia about three boats arriving with golden sails to bring three girls and the luck for the new year. We are keen on singing the rest of the song. It must have a lot more verses. But both my attempts to find the song through my Greek speaking dentist and a Greek friend from the soccer club failed. Who can help?

Favourite Video for May 2011

Learn a few words of Chinese. It's easy and fun with Yangyang!

Helping children to make friends - Tips for parents of newly arrived migrants

I got a call this morning from the mother of a 10year old Chinese speaking girl who has only recently arrived in Australia. After a short period at her local primary school they have transferred the girl's schooling due to her lack of English skills into an ESL school, a few kilometres away from her home.

The mother is worried that her daughter did not make any friends yet. From her cultural upbringing the girl is not an outgoing person and she would not speak to anybody on her own account. The mother rang me with the aim to find out how to help her daughter make friends.

My first suggestion was to give her as much support as possible with the English learning. Once her English has improved she can move back into her local school and connect with children who live close around her.

I also suggested to enrol her daughter into a sports class after school where she would move and exercise and have an opportunity to meet new people. Benefits of physical activity are clearly demonstrated.

• The website of the Department of Sport and Recreation has a database of any sports clubs in WA.
• Kidspot.com.au lists several venues that offer children sport classes.
• Check out the website of the Government's Physical Activity Taskforce.
• Active After Schools Program, contact the WA program coordinator as follows: Administrative Officer, Australian Sports Commission, Active After-school Communities, 246 Vincent Street, Leederville WA 6007, PO Box 329, Leederville WA 6903, Tel: (08) 9492 9769, Email: kelly.dalgleish@ausport.gov.au

Kids in Perth is a free paper that shows events for children around the metropolitan area, sorted by date. It also has a few informative articles about raising children. The other free paper for parents in Perth is Perth's Child, although I am a bit worried about this magazine, as they suggest a cake and make-up as a perfect 12year old birthday pamper party.

Facebook nowadays connects most teenagers.

Social networking sites such as facebook would be a way to connect a high school child with 'friends". From my own teenagers I noticed that mainly their friends are people the know from school and the list grows around that group to include former school friends and people they know through sports programs. I allowed my children to publish a facebook profile under the condition that they include myself as one of their friends. This is working well as I can look at their profile and see what's going on without intruding too much into their privacy. I also noticed that they use facebook to communicate about school projects, due homework and for arranging visits.

Finally, Bilingual Families Perth offers to publish any friend request for children to practice English or the mother tongue in its website with the aim to connect people across cultures. Best is to get in touch via e-mail.

Having arrived in Perth as a new migrant with children poses lots of challenges and assisting your child in making friends is probably not a high point on the agenda for your family. Many of the proposed strategies need money, although the state government has vowed to help families with getting their children into physical activity if they do not have the funds. I understand that the financial support will be paid out directly to the sports club for children in need.

Please comment and share your suggestions for children of newly arrived migrants to make friends. I am looking forward to your posts.

Favourite Video for April 2011

The first month of learning Chinese

Learning a language at home by yourself is not easy. It takes a lot of experience to establish a learning routine that it tailored to your abilities and then a lot motivation to stick to your learning routine. I guess it is easier to learn with a bunch of people and meet regularly to practice and practice. I have not established such processes and I begin to see that I need them.


Xin Mao - Year of the Rabbit


My boy got a very useful schedule at school that outlines the teaching and learning activities for each week of his Chinese Language learning. The schedule identifies the text type and linguistic resources, the Chinese charqcters introduced and the way how the his progress is assessed.

Part of his journey is intercultural understanding. the children lean about China, how to respectfully address a person and how to communicate well. They also celebrate the festivals as they happen, such as Chinese New Year. They got presents, special food and money. This resulted in high motivation. What a change in comparison to the old way ot learning languages. How far our education system has come! I feel grateful to experience this journey as part of a public school in Western Australia!

My own learning journey has followed his learning. I now can say the numbers until 10, although he can count to hundred and also write the numbers. I can ask for a person's name and respond telling my name and asking how that other person is. Not a bad start, but a long way to go! At times we practice together and I am happy that I can help him with the homework when he is stuck.

Today when he was playing playstation he sung me a Chinese song, replicated the sounds and the melody beautifully. And I did not even ask him to do so, he just started sining out of his own soul while still being focused on playing his game. I felt honoured to witness that and it motivated me to learn a Chinese song. He said the song was about a jasmine flower.

Favourite Video for March 2011