Arrangkerra marra? I hope you are all going well,
Pertame School (PESC) are excited to share our mid year Newsletter report for 2024, reflecting on and celebrating the incredible year so far of growing the next generation of proud Pertame speakers in the first total immersion Language Nest in Australia.
Our Language Nest creates the one space in the world where our young children can be raised in their severely endangered Indigenous language through meaningful interaction with fluent Elders, family and community educators. We leave English at the front door, and fill our children's ears with their language all day.
So far this year we held 67 Language Nest sessions and 15 after school program sessions for a total of 298 hours of language teaching. We have taught 12 Pertame 0-5 year olds and 32 school aged children, while employing 3 Elders, 9 young parent educations and 3 grandmother supporters.
We have hosted First Nations visitors from across America, including Diné, Prairie Band Potawatomi, Cherokee and Bemidji Minnesota First Nations in our Language Nest. Then in return we have been hosted by the Māori people in Aotearoa, graciously sharing with us the most successful Indigenous language revival movement in the world, that all started with Language Nests.
We have made significant progress on our on-country classroom build from the generous donations of our crowdfunder campaign. And now, we have just won a grant that will allow us to complete a fit-for-purpose building that will be a lasting legacy for generations of Pertame children to come.
We have created a bush tucker garden, reintroducing important food sources and medicines of our ancestors into the daily lives of our children. Finally, we brought 65 Pertame Elders, leaders and community members together to create a united ambitious 5 year plan for where our language, school and community will be by 2030.
- To hear more, check out our newsletter.
We could not have achieved this without the beautiful partnerships and collaborations that support our work everyday. We thank you deeply for believing in our dream, and supporting grassroots community development work.
Kela marra,
Vanessa and the Pertame School team
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Pertame School (PESC)
Centre for Australian Languages and Linguistics (CALL)Vanessa Farrelly, Arrernte Project Officer,
Batchelor Institute would like to acknowledge and pay respect to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sovereign people of the lands on which our campuses are located. As we share our knowledge, teaching and learning and engage in research practices within this Institution and/or conduct business with a variety of external agencies and organisations, we must always pay respect to the sovereign status of our hosts. May their Ancestors always be remembered and honoured, their Elders listened to and respected, all members treated with dignity and fairness — in the present and well into the future.
We also acknowledge and pay respect to the knowledge embedded forever with our hosts, custodianship of country and the binding relationship they have with the land. Batchelor Institute extends this acknowledgment and expression of respect to all sovereign custodians — past, present and emerging. By expressing Acknowledgement of Country we encourage all to extend and practice respect to all First Nations people wherever their lands are located.