Blog
Building Bridges: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Workers
In the 25 years since they were first introduced into Australian schools, Indigenous Education Workers have actively and tirelessly acted as a crucial bridge between non-indigenous teachers, their students, parents and the community. Knowledge of local environmental and community dynamics, kinship principles, values and languages, compounded by their deep concern for the success of their students,…
Beginner reading in English as a Second Language (ESL)
It is extremely difficult to learn to read in a language that we don’t speak. Imagine how frustrating it would be for an Australian child, living in Sydney, to decipher their very first learn-to-read book if it was about nomadic life in Mongolian language. Or perhaps a little close to home, learning to read in…
Transforming the Teacher in Indigenous Education
TED talks is a wonderful online resource, which shares videos from a global set of conferences formed to disseminate “ideas worth spreading”. At the independently organised TEDx conference, “Blood, Sweat and Ideas” held in Darwin in August this year, senior NT school teacher, Chris Garner, talked about just one of these ideas that we at…
Early Childhood Education:HAR used in Ngaanyatjarra Lands School
It’s always exciting to hear from teachers and community members about how they use the Honey Ant Readers program. We recently heard from Catherine Reed, an Early Childhood Teacher at Ngaanyatjarra Lands School who described the exciting results of introducing the Honey Ant Readers to her classroom and how she has adapted the learning space…
HAR in use:pre-school books for teaching ESL and building oral language
Jill is a teacher of a very lively transition class of Australian Aboriginal school children in the Northern Territory. She uses the Honey Ants Readers program to build oral language and to stiumlate her students’ interest in reading and books, starting with stories in Aboriginal English and then moving across to reading standard English. Watch her interview by…
Honey Ant Readers author, Margaret James NT Australian of the Year Finalist 2012
Today the Northern Territory Australian of the Year 2012 finalists were announced and Margaret James, author of the Honey Ant Readers was selected among 3 other finalists. Everyone involved in the Honey Ant Readers project feels extremely honoured and thrilled that this nomination highlights the challenges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students face on entering school,…
‘Focus Schools Next Steps initiative’
Last weekend, Margaret James was invited by Chris Sarra, director of the Stronger Smarter Institute to introduce the Honey Ant Readers program at a forum bringing together Next Steps School Principals and Indigenous Community members from across the country to discuss strategies for improving outcomes in education. Within minutes of her presentation, Margaret had 186…
Colours book -every colour of the rainbow for every kind of learner
The Honey Ant Readers, as a research based program is constantly evolving and developing in new and exciting directions to best support learners in their reading. Colours is the first of our new and innovative pre-reading series, “Honey Ant Speaking Books”, that complement the Honey Ant Readers education program. It can be used by teachers…
Little voices
A school teacher sent me a message saying that as he walked around the school grounds today he heard “Nana nana dig” being sung by the preschoolers while they played in the sand! I will put a recording on the webpage as soon as I can work out how to do that! We had fun…