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All’s Well at Milingimbi

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 July 2015

D. McClay
Affiliation:
Milingimbi School
S. Harris
Affiliation:
Milingimbi.
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Extract

One day a teacher came to me declaring he was totally unable to teach oral English to his Grade 1 class. A young teacher in trouble. Of course I must give a demonstration lesson. I sat the children on chairs in a circle and started out with the patter, “I’m David, you’re Fred”, “I’m David, you’re Jane”, “I’m David, you’re Bill”. As we proceeded I noticed one lad, even by this early stage, was attempting hand-stands on his chair. “Come on. Stop that nonsense and sit down”, I growled, after my quieter pleadings had been ignored. The little five-year-old, knowing virtually no English, stopped, looked me straight in the eye, then grinning, gave himself three light pats on the bottom and sat down. I got out of that lesson as fast as I could, hoping the teacher was satisfied with the demonstration. He wasn’t.

Type
Across Australia …… From Teacher to Teacher
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1980

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References

Dickinson, A., Leveque, J. & Sagot, H., 1976: All’s Well. Paris, Didier.Google Scholar
Harris, S.G., 1977: Milingimbi Aboriginal learning contexts. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Silva, C., 1975: Recent theories of learning acquisition in relation to a semantic approach in foreign-language teaching. English Language Teaching, Vol. 29, July.Google Scholar
Vygotsky, L., 1962: Thought and Language. M.I.T. Press, Massachusetts.Google Scholar