The Australian Classroom: A Case Study

Australia is celebrated for its multiculturalism and acceptance of ethnic minorities, however, according to linguist Ben crustal ‘Australia…recaptured by a pervasive monolingual mindset which sees monolingualism as the norm and multilingualism as the exception even as a problem or deficit.’ Although ethnolects are viewed negatively by the mainstream society, its usage is both beneficial to ethnic minorities and has been adopted as the Lingua Franca in some situations. As a result of the majority’s consensus on the dislike of ethnolects, minorities are pressured to adopt Standard Australian English (SAE) in formal and public domains; limiting the usage of ethnolects. These observations are reflected in a recent interview with X; a forty-year-old

Curriculum is designed to develop successful learners. Confident and creative individuals and active and informed citizens (MCEECDYA, 2008, p.13). In 2008, the Australian Government promised to deliver a fair and equitable curriculum for the national’s educational system, taking the task away from the State and Local Governments. The purpose of this was to create an even level of education throughout the country whether in Hobart of Cape York, and to ensure our nations position into the 21st century. This essay will demonstrate the Nation’s curriculum, its structure and development ready for its initial implementation in 2011.

Many of their learning needs are similar to those of other children and young people learning in our schools. However, these learners also have distinct and different needs from other learners by virtue of the fact that they are learning in and through another language, and that they come from cultural backgrounds and communities with different understandings and expectations of education, language and learning”. (NALDIC, 1999).

When an educator walks into her classroom for the first time, she needs to be prepared to encounter students that come from a variety of backgrounds. The children will be in different stages of language development, and the educator must accommodate for each of these students. Magruder, Hayslip, Espinosa, and Matera (2013) state, “The US Census Bureau projects that by the 2030s, children whose home language is other than English will increase from roughly 22 percent to 40 percent of the school-age population” (p. 9). This increase in second language learners will cause the educator to accommodate for those needs. Second language learners “need teachers who welcome them and recognize their unique abilities, what they know, and what they need to learn” (Magruder, Hayslip, Espinosa, and Matera, 2013, p. 10).

The Australian Curriculum incorporates observations as one of the fundamental skills that students are required to learn (Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], n.d., ACAVAM106). Observations, such as the observational drawing of leaves completed in topic two provide students with an opportunity to develop their visual literacy skills and inquire about the world around them (Dinham, 2014, p. 39). During the different stages of drawing development, students draw upon prior learning, which they have gained through observations, to express their thoughts and make meaning. In the same way, the artist Henri Rousseau, who’s jungle paintings have been described as “…primitive and naïve” drew upon his developing catalogue of prior learning to

Regardless of background, culture, values or traditions, all students in the classroom setting have the right to access a constructive learning experience. The role of the teacher is the most vital in ensuring EAL/D students have the same learning opportunities as their English speaking counterparts. In Australian schools, learning is achieved and demonstrated through English, therefore it is essential for educators to be competent in teaching all students, including those who are bilingual or multilingual, from all backgrounds, with varying

The teaching resource selected to support diverse literacy and language learning in a grade one classroom is a children’s book ‘I’m Australian Too’ written by Mem Fox and illustrated by Ronojoy Ghosh (Fox, M. (2017) ‘I’m Australian Too’ Australia; Scholastic Australia). The book is available for purchase both online and at ‘Readings’ stores in Hawthorn, Carlton, Malvern and St Kilda for $19.99. It can also be accessed as an audio copy from http://memfox.com/books/im-australian-too/. The book details all the multiple cultural identities that can be found across Australia. It poetically details that no matter where our families come from, or the hardships that may have faced, we can all find a home in Australia. The resource is useful in

When delivering school curriculum, educators must meet the needs and strengths of all students. The Australian Curriculum allows educators to personalize their teaching and learning programs by selecting content that is stimulating, challenging and meets the individual needs and strengths of all students in a classroom (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], 2015). The Early Years Learning Framework (2010) explains how a student’s culture is central to who they are as a human being and gives them a sense of belonging (pp. 21-22). Using these two documents, educators can carry out learning programs that caters for all needs,

Jaky Troy (2012) mentions, “without knowledge of our language we feel culturally and spiritually diminished.” There are over 250 original languages and majority of indigenous people in Australia belong to one or more of them. Nonetheless majority of them cannot remember or hardly speak it (Troy, 2012). Consequently, many Aboriginals do not speak their languages but rather speak one or more forms of Aboriginal English. This results in Aboriginal students feeling uncomfortable regardless of the amount of good teachers that were there to help them (Troy, 2012). According to (Hanlen, 2002) Aboriginal kids are given next to nothing in terms of learning Western literacy or the English language, resulting in separation from the Mainstream society inevitably leading to marginalisation. When Aboriginal students use Aboriginal English they feel inadequate and inferior. In relation to intelligence, students are said to be or even been given the impression, that they lack and must seek intelligence (Shipp, 2012). Throughout

In exploring the Australian Curriculum, it becomes apparent that this curriculum was developed to encompass a wide range of skills and abilities that will be needed to enable young Australians to become productive and successful members of society of the future. The influence of a range of different curriculum models and education theories has bought together a comprehensive overview of what the Australian education system will deliver and how this can be accomplished.

Students are often the first people to call teachers out for being disconnected. A prime example is displayed in chapter two of Milner. Mr. Hall, a science teacher working in an urban school believed that he just needed to know his content area to be a successful educator (49). However, he discovered that he also need to know his students deeply to get his students to respond to him in meaningful ways. Disconnect can be defined as a lack of personal connection between teachers and students. Disconnect can come at any stage of the school year. It can happen at the fault of the teacher or at a cultural level. The two types of disconnect that I will discuss in this paper are cultural and linguistic disconnect. Cultural disconnect refers to the customs, music, and pop culture of the students and ways that teachers do not understand their students’ culture or depreciate it. Linguistic disconnect refers to the phrases, words, sayings that are used amongst students and can include Ebonics and other cultural languages. This paper will attempt to expose the impacts of disconnect and discuss what measures first year teachers can take in order to be a culturally and linguistically responsive.

In the past, it was common to divide immigrant children from indigenous and gather into an ESL classroom to conduct separate English classes. However, this approach is not educational not only because it makes them separate and isolate from others, but also it leads them to miss other important lessons during ESL class. Therefore, ESL has been absorbed into the general curriculum, and delivered by well-experienced ESL teachers with effective teaching methods. When it comes to Languages Other Than English (LOTE), this program was taught only in secondary schools until 1970s, and at that time it was focused only on European languages such as French, Latin, German and Spanish. From 1981, the Australian Department of Education and Training has implemented mother tongue education programs in public primary schools for migrant children. This programs are taught by teachers who have both Australian teacher certification and native language teacher certification. Language learning aims at the maintenance and development of the mother tongue, or the second additional language

Despite Australia’s ever-growing multiculturalism, it has been found that ‘monolingualism is extraordinarily common in Australia throughout the general population and all occupational levels (Bostock, 1973).’ With such an array of cultures present, one would assume that Australian education systems would have endless bilingual programs in place. However, this is not the case. Despite the successes of bilingual education on a global scale, little effort has been made to preserve any Australian languages, meaning that language death has become an everyday factor that Indigenous individuals have to deal with (Wurm, 1991). This paper discusses the concept of bilingual education and its faults in the transition from theory to

That many classrooms in Australia are culturally and demographically diverse is simply a reflection of Australia’s multi-cultural society. This diversity is not reflected in school staffrooms (Reid et al., 2004, p. 306) and indicates a teaching profession based on the dominant white Anglo Celtic culture. This dominant culture has informed much of our educational discourse and it has marginalised students by creating deficit discourses not only for Indigenous Australians and students of different ethnic backgrounds but also those of different socio-economic backgrounds, disabilities, genders and religions (Duchesne, McMaugh, Bochner, & Krause, 2013, p. 381).

Learning can be a constructing process throughout one’s life. People learn through different ways in different stages of their life. Specifically, in Australian secondary education context, activities can be one of the most important ways for secondary students to learn, since it allows them to achieve knowledge, skills, and different abilities. The paper will particularly focus on how the learning theory applied on the activities. It is evidenced by an instance of the remix activity in the music composition class for year 8 students. Four sections will be included in this essay. The first section will be the critical analysis of mixing activities. It extent to the ways in cognitivism and social constructivism are evident in the learning activities