Native American fluency model reaches Central Australia in fight to save languages

Australia Broadcast Center

a day ago

A cross-continental partnership that could help to revive dozens of Australia's most endangered First Nations languages is taking root on Arrernte country.
In a modest classroom at the Desert Peoples Centre in Alice Springs, Native American language educators from Washington State are sharing a method they say can do what once seemed impossible: create fluent speakers of endangered languages within a single year.
The Fluency Transfer System (FTS) was developed by the Salish School of Spokane, an Indigenous immersion school that teaches preschool through to year 8 entirely in the Salish language.
Last month the team behind that system landed in Mparntwe (Alice Springs) to share the blueprint with more than 45 Aboriginal language groups from across the country.
Among the group is workshop organiser Vanessa Farrelly, the coordinator of the Pertame Language Nest, a preschool-style immersion program aiming to raise a generation of fluent speakers.
She says the FTS is set apart by its track record.
"It's like a road map to take someone who knows no language – a complete beginner – to being an advanced, fluent speaker," Ms Farrelly said.
"And they've been able to do it reliably in just over a year."
Ms Farrelly says her infant and toddler students will be the first generation in 50 years to be fluent in the language.
"There are only about 20 speakers of Pertame left — they're all in the grandparent generation," she said.
The FTS pairs confident speakers with learners and moves them through structured lessons given entirely in the target language.
There is no translation, just repetition, body language and culturally embedded storytelling.
For Salish School of Spokane executive director LaRae Wiley the approach is deeply personal.
"I'd never heard my language growing up … [when] I turned about 35, I decided that I wanted to learn my language," she said.
With only two fluent speakers of her language – Nsəlxcin – left in the United States, LaRae travelled to Canada with her husband Chris Parkin to live with a fluent elder and begin recording.
They developed the FTS together and opened a school in her sister's basement.
Fifteen years later the school has 48 students, including 23 intergenerational families and is the only three-generation Salish-speaking household in the US.
"It's not just about language," Mr Parkin said.
"It's about healing. It's about reclaiming identity, connecting with ancestors and rebuilding community.
Grahm Wiley, Ms Wiley's son, teaches years 3 to 5 maths, science and reading entirely in Salish.
His daughter is one of his students.
"[My children] have a much better sense of self than I did when I was their age," Mr Wiley said.
"When you're grounded in your culture … it allows you to go out into the world in a different way."
The relationship between the Indigenous peoples of Central Australia and the Salish tribe started when a group of Pertame speakers, including Ms Farrelly, visited a Salish-led workshop in Montana.
The two groups soon found they were deeply connected by shared histories of colonisation, dispossession and survival.
"When we were presenting in Montana and they came to that workshop, we were flabbergasted," Mr Wiley said.
"We were like, 'You came from where?'"
Ms Farrelly said the Salish team's visit to Australia could not have been more timely.
"It is critical that our Australian endangered language groups come together and look to Indigenous peoples globally to learn from the most successful pathways to grow new fluent speakers."