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Rosemary McKenry |
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Bruce Mitchell |
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Rosemary has taught all age groups in a wide variety of settings including Victoria, the Kimberley region of Western Australia, and PNG. She is also a trained teacher-librarian. As a language consultant she has presented workshops in Brisbane, Canberra, and regional and urban Victoria. In partnership with the Goulburn Valley Aboriginal Consultative Group she wrote Deadly eh Cuz! Teaching Speakers of Koorie English, published in 1998 by Language Australia. Other publications include Assessment and Reporting - Koorie Students for the Victorian Department of Education (1998), Nyikina Language and Culture Project for Madjulla Inc. (2004) and a wide variety of educational reports, plans, curriculum documents and school policy and procedures manuals. She has also taught at Latrobe University and Bendigo Regional Institute of TAFE in recent years. Rosemary's success as a language consultant in environments where there are Indigenous and Torres Strait islander students is based on her belief that all students need knowledge about the various forms of language. These may include Standard Australian English, Kriol and Aboriginal English. With a curriculum based on language awareness, students develop control as to which form to use, according to need. This means, for example, that students for whom Kriol is the first language will benefit from schools where Kriol is acknowledged and respected, where the learning environment supports them in developing the skills of language separation and code switching If the student's home language is available to students during the first few years of school, they will gain understandings and concepts in the language of their thoughts. Having already acquired basic concepts, they can then succeed in accessing standard English. Without this basis, students may struggle. Language awareness enables students to succeed. This also applies to non-Indigenous students who speak and think in non-standard English. Rosemary is currently creating Sound English, a series of reading resources designed specifically for pre-literate adults who have not had the opportunity to attend school. It is due for release by Publishing & Data in 2008. |
After 18 years teaching in Australian and overseas schools, Bruce spent 15 years developing and publishing educational software for publishers Wiley, Greygum Software and Nelson Thompson Learning. During this time he worked on some of the most popular and educationally effective software yet published in Australia. These include Goldfields, Dinosaur Discovery (both still in print after more than twenty years), The PM Story Books CDs, the Maths Circus series, Spinout Stories and The Fitzroy Readers CDs. More recently he has adapted the Spinout Stories for use by people learning the Nyikina language. His wide experience in education, computing, photography, technical writing and publishing is available to clients requiring Internet services, brochures and manuals (in traditional print or electronic formats), advice about educational software, computer support and training.
Bilingual story book written and
illustrated |
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