Werta Pertame. Unta marra?
We are so proud to send through our half-year update report on our activities, achievements and progress towards our goals on the first half of this year. Check out our Report.
We could not have achieved this alone. We are blessed with so many dedicated supporters who have generously given us their time, advice, resources, connections and backing to make our Elders' dreams become a reality. Every little bit of your support counts and goes a long way in helping our grassroots community project continue to grow a future where our languages will once again in the life breath of our thriving, proud and connected communities.
Key highlights for 2023 so far:
- We brought together over 40 Pertame Elders and emerging leaders for our Elder's Advisory Meeting in March.
- Two Pertame educators received their Cert IIII in Training and Assessment
- Pertame staff have travelled to Adelaide, Sydney, Darwin, Melbourne, Ballarat, Canberra and Brisbane to represent the program at various conferences, trainings and meetings, including the The Wiyi Yani U Thangani (Women's Voices) National Summit, the National Directions Group on the International Decade of Indigenous Languages and The Closing the Gap National Reference Group on Target 16 on language and culture.
- We have raised just over $100,000 of the $300,000 we need to build a classroom on Pertame homelands, to create a permanent home for the language, on the land the language came from. We have enlisted the help of the Fulcrum Agency, a social enterprise with architecture expertise that will assist us in the construction elements of the classroom.
- Launched the first complete Immersion Language Nest in Australia, modelled after the most successful language revival programs in the world.
- We have 8 incredible young mothers and 12 Pertame 0-5 year old babies who are dedicated to learning their language and raising their children as first language speakers.
- We have immersed our children in over 80 hours of Pertame within the Language Nest playgroup and trained our young mothers to become fluent speakers for over 100 hours.
- We have a strong team of three Elder fluent speakers, 4 conversational educators, 8 young mothers, and 5 grandmothers that are employed by the Pertame School, gaining work experience, training and skills. For most of our staff, the Pertame School is their first time employed.
Hear what our Elders are saying:
"For me, I'm so happy to be with my relations to see the great steps the Pertame School has taken with launching the Language Nest for our 0-5 year olds and the young mums. It makes my heart sing to see it working and growing and hear our babies and mothers speaking their language. I now have hope that our language is not going to be lost, with the commitment the young mothers and children are showing" - Kathy Bradshaw Swan, Pertame Elder and Teacher
Hear what our young mothers are saying:
Here are some of the comments our young mothers have made about the progress their child has made in the Language Nest in just 3 months:
"I can see my child loves being at the Language Nest when we attend and is recognising the songs that we are learning. I can hear my child copy when I or someone else says things in Pertame at the Language Nest and at home. My child gets really happy when they hear their language""I think the immersion part is working, I can see my child look at a person differently when they are talking Pertame, like they are understanding already. I love my child being around the language more because there aren't any fluent speakers around at home""My son's development on our Pertame learning is improving more and more as we come. We try to use Pertame everyday as well as Pitjantjantjara at home""I enjoy coming to socialise with other family as well as learning Pertame. Its challenging but nothing can beat speaking your own language""Thank you for creating this opportunity for me and my family. Just remind yourselves how privileged you are to be a part of this, you have this opportunity to keep this language going. Some people don't have their culture or language and that makes them feel like they don't have an identity. So I hope this will go on for many years to come"
We look forward to continuing to work together for the rest of the year to honour the legacy, language and life of our Elders who have past and those who are still with us.
Kela marra
Vanessa and the Pertame School team
MORE:
Pertame School (PESC)
Centre for Australian Languages and Linguistics (CALL)Vanessa Farrelly, Arrernte Project Officer,