Blog
The problem with standardised testing…
We love this cartoon, especially in relation to the NAPLAN tests in Australia where all children, even the most remote Aboriginal children who speak their traditional languages, and who hear and speak very little Standard Australian English have to write tests in standard English! If they were asked to respond through painting or their mother tongue…
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Meeting the board of the Puuya Foundation
Margaret enjoyed meeting the dynamic and committed board of the Puuya Foundation last week ,where everyone had a lot to share and to discuss. The Puuya Foundation aims to build partnerships,programs and activities that enable Indigenous Australians to access the same life opportunities as other Australians. www.puuyafoundation.com.au/
Read MoreHAR author Margaret to speak at QUT’s Oodgeroo Seminar Series on April 23rd
Margaret was delighted to accept an invitation from Queensland University of Technology’s Oodgeroo Unit to present in their innovative Oodgeroo Seminar Series on Thursday, April 23 2013. The Oodgeroo Seminar series is a forum to showcase exemplary work by leading academics and scholars in the field of Indigenous studies, hosting influential presenters such as Mai Katona, Garrick Wayne Cooper…
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Reading Workshop at Gillen School, Alice Springs
We had great fun running our reading workshop at Gillen School in Alice Springs last term, with a big group of parents and their beautiful, bright children. During the session parents read the HAR ‘Colours’ book to their children, then played colours bingo and a colours memory card game with together. We had fun with…
Read MoreLearning through developing our Central Arrernte readers
Highly respected Central Arrernte elder, Margaret Heffernan, and literacy parent-child trainer, Joyce Palmer, very generously helped us to make final changes to our Central Arrernte books last week. We learnt a lot from the ladies, and had a few good laughs at our very English ways of doing things! We feel very privileged to…
Read MoreThe beauty of reading.
These are REAL letters that went between a lovely 5 year old, with a great sense of humour (“Princess”!) and the tooth fairy today. The tooth fairy initiated the contact. The child responded by dictating her response and then reading it back very easily .. of course because it was HER story! Tonight her tooth…
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Two weeks at Ngaanyatjarra Lands School (March 11-23)
The Honey Ant Readers team have just returned from an extremely rewarding trip to the Ngaanyatjarra Lands School in Western Australia. The Ngaanyatjarra Lands is an area of approximately 250,000 square kilometres located 1, 542 km from Perth between the Great Gibson Desert to the North and West and the Great Victoria Desert to the…
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Commemorating International Mother Tongue Day, Feb 21st
We recently came across this article, by South African educator Dr Carole Bloch about the importance of mother-tongue in teaching reading, fostering confidence, transferable skills and a life-long love of books. In her article,”Why We Need Mother Tongue and Other Languages to Grow Our Children’s Literacy” Dr. Bloch makes a powerful argument for education in first language. Despite the…
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