High praise for community-language schools

The NSW Deputy Premier and Minister for Education, Prue Carr, has praised the work of the Federation of Community Language Schools which is supported by around 3,500 teachers teaching sixty-one community languages to 36,000 students at 500 schools across the state.

The Minister was opening the Federation’s Annual Teachers Conference at Sydney University on Saturday 26^th April.

Speaking to the conference in a prerecorded video message, Ms Carr, described the organisation as a powerhouse: “The impact you have on children all across the state cannot be underestimated.

“You help kids stay connected to who they are, keeping language alive in homes and hearts for generations.

“The NSW Government is so proud to be backing your work to be as wide ranging as possible.

“In 2024 the Government boosted support for the eligible community language schools with an extra $100 per student to ease the load on families and to support the Federation’s work even further.

“The new funding will help ensure students can maintain connection to their heritage and alleviate some of the costs that parents face in supporting their children’s language education”, she said. (You can access the video message via this link: https://f.io/UaMPhtHf)

The Minister’s remarks were supported at the conference by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Attorney General, Hugh McDermott, the Shadow Treasurer, Damien Tudehope and the NSW Director General of Education, Murat Dizdar.

The Conference also heard from Keynote Speaker, Professor Beniko Mason of Shitennoji University, Osaka who argued that the most effective method of teaching children language was through storytelling or what she also referred to in the lecture as “story listening”.

She encouraged teachers to engage students through “compelling storytelling and fostering natural language acquisition without forced output or drills”.

Associate Professor Aniko Hatoss University of NSW University told the conference: “Teachers today need to be reflective and open to questioning old methods and assumptions and to shift their strategies to respond to the numerous challenges posed by our digital era”.

She said technology (including AI) can be a game-changer, as it “allows for innovation not only in material development but also in developing new course design strategies and strengthening trans-local connections”.

The CEO of the Federation, Michael Christodoulou AM, has thanked the Deputy Premier for her video message.

“We very much appreciate her time, her thoughtful words, her support and her sincerity expressed in that message which addressed all participants at the conference.

“New South Wales has the largest number of language schools and the most community language students in the country”, he said.

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