Several programs have been developed in Australia recently designed to help Aboriginal children to be more comfortable in the Standard English situation of the classroom. These programs are concerned particularly with children whose first language is not an Aboriginal language but rather a form of English which differs in some respects from Standard English.

One such program has been developed by the State Department of Education in Queensland with some funding from the Bernard Van Leer Foundation. The program is intended to cover many aspects of the curriculum during the first two years of schooling. Teachers’ Handbooks for the first year of the program have been produced and the following extract is taken from the introduction to the first Teachers’ Handbook.