Aboriginal Education Strategy EAL/D Hub.

Angela Hancock, Aboriginal Education Director and Assistant Principal, Port Augusta Secondary School: Aboriginal English is the language some of the Aboriginal students here at Port Augusta Secondary School use. It is English, but there's a lot also of Aboriginal terms, words within their speaking vocab. Some of the students then transfer it to when they write. It's different from Standard Australian English. So students need to be able to code switch, like when they're with their friends or their family, and then when they come to school, being able to change over to Standard Australian English when they're writing.

Some of the struggles that the students had were they were coming into Port Augusta Secondary School with low level literacy, then had trouble accessing the curriculum at year 8. We introduced also two EAL/D classes this year, did a trial last year but introduced formally for year 8 students. So it's all about improvements for the students and them achieving. The EAL/D Hub is implemented in a few ways throughout the school.

The school services officers have actually been invited to do the modules. So they're working with lots of Aboriginal students within the school. So it's directly relating to the work that they do. That's one aspect. The second is the Aboriginal secondary education transition officers worked with the coach and they worked through the first eight modules, which have a big Aboriginal focus.

Sarada Surampudi, EAL/D Hub Coach, Port Augusta Secondary School: At Port Augusta Secondary School, the leadership has agreed to go on with the EAL/D Hub online with a team of teachers, and the teachers do their e-books in their own time. And I support them in facilitating the professional learning community. So each time we have the professional learning community, the teachers bring in a lot of expertise and we share around, and reflect around the key messages of that particular e-book. And I design an activity which can be transferred into the learning into the school context.

Ian Gentle, Aboriginal Secondary Education Transition Officer, Port Augusta Secondary School: Aboriginal English as a dialect to me is something that I've grown up with here in Port Augusta. Aboriginal English is used all over Australia and as different Aboriginal groups we use different words from the English dictionary to pronounce different words or meanings depending on where you are in the country. But I feel that, yeah growing up here in Port Augusta, you will use very similar words, you'd hear it throughout the community. Some people will come from other communities also into Port Augusta. And you'd hear different dialects from different places using Aboriginal English. So some of the simple ones is like using the word deadly as something that is good, awesome.

Angie Potter, EAL/D Class Teacher, Port Augusta Secondary School: What changed for me in the classroom is having those open, frank conversations with the kids about speaking different languages. So they haven't really, I don't think they have acknowledged before that they speak a different language. So we're having those conversations, they're a lot more open to what we're learning in the class. They know that they're not speaking English wrong, they're just speaking a different type of English. So for them having those conversations and learning about Aboriginal English, so they've definitely been open to more skills and how they can apply what we've been doing in our classroom into their other classes, because it's not always a conversation that they've had and they probably never had that conversation before.

So it's been really helpful for my teaching, for them to acknowledge that, for me to acknowledge it, to give them that validation that they're speaking a real language and then working on how we can progress their Standard Australian English. I've seen a positive impact on teacher capacity by doing or teachers doing the EAL/D Hub online, using the capability framework, which is part of the EAL/D Hub modules, is there's opportunity through the learning journals and the pre-assessment and the post-assessment.

Sarada Surampudi, EAL/D Hub Coach, Port Augusta Secondary School: It's a tool that you can use to improve your teaching practice or what you're doing in class. So it directly relates back to what the teachers are doing with students within their classes. The difference I have seen in teachers’ practice in the classroom is massive, as in understanding the culture of the school, especially our Aboriginal students, where they come from and what language they use in day-to-day life. And how can we transform that into Standard Australian English.

Angie Potter, EAL/D Teacher, Port Augusta Secondary School: Having the action tasks and having our little community to do with the EAL/D Hub has been really beneficial. I only started the hub this year and we've had it at our school for two years. So I came into that community where we've been talking about the different e-books and the different activities, and like what impacts they're having around all different subjects. So for me, I'm teaching English and I already kind of teach those skills, not in as much detail, but I've already been teaching them in the past. So to be able to see how they're applying in different subjects around the school and how different teachers are approaching it, it's really helpful to have those conversations and to really think about how we can help our students who don't have a high level of Standard Australian English, and how we can help them progress in the classes all over the school, not just in my single class.

Ian Gentle, Aboriginal Secondary Education Transition Officer, Port Augusta Secondary School: So the induction resource that I helped create alongside with the other ACETOs here at PASS, is something very beneficial, I think, to be able to reach out to other staffing members, if they're unsure about what the program is about or how it's going to benefit them or the students and the wider community. I feel that the introduction is an easy way for them to sit down and read it in their own time, rather than being more in their face about saying we have to get on board about it, but it's more of a soft approach. Start those small conversations to try and change their mindset on making changes within themselves and how they could benefit from using the EAL/D hub to better communicate with students.

Angie Potter, EAL/D Teacher, Port Augusta Secondary School: So the advice I would give to a school or a teacher considering using the EAL/D Hub is to really take it seriously and take it on board. So it's really beneficial. It made me think about the language I use in my classroom and how a lot of students wouldn't be able to access that kind of language to take on the hub and to see how it's actually going to benefit them in the classroom. Because I feel that to be able to teach somebody from a different culture, you first have to understand their culture.

Ian Gentle, Aboriginal Secondary Education Transition Officer, Port Augusta Secondary School: And it's really hard because there's a lot of say like issues behind the scenes that may happen. So even though it's not just EAL/D itself, like with the Aboriginal English and learning Standard Australian English, there's a lot more stuff embedded in Aboriginal culture that people do need to be aware of because a lot of things that might just come off and seem like behaviour management stuff, but really it is that deeper stuff that is happening. So yeah, for teaching staff or just people in general, I believe that if we're going to teach anything, we need to have a better understanding of their culture. And I think cultural awareness in any form is something that will benefit everybody and anybody.

Angela Hancock, Aboriginal Education Director and Assistant Principal, Port Augusta Secondary School: The thing I've noticed is that students are more engaged with their learning and more involved. They see themselves as a learner. The teachers that are involved with the EAL/D classes, as well as the modules are explicitly teaching the different content and going back to the students. So students are making improvements in different areas of the curriculum as well. And so it's having a flow on effect, not just in literacy as in English, but also in maths, science and the other curriculum areas. And also recognising that standard Australian English is used in schools, they can code switch. They can speak their own language, and they're both very valuable and important.

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