The Resource Network for Linguistic Diversity (RNLD) workshop, held in late March at the Aurukun Indigenous Knowledge Centre, was timely and empowering, giving the Aurukun ICLDC5 delegates an opportunity to follow up their inspiring and informative experience in Hawaii with some practical strategies and methods for revitalising and maintaining their languages.
The Documenting and Revitalising Indigenous Languages (DRIL) workshop-a shared initiative of PLC, RNLD and State Library of Queensland-was conducted by the RNLD (www.rnld.org) as part of their DRIL training program.
RNLD trainers, Ebony Joachim and Andrew Tanner, led the Workshop.
Participants shared their language expertise and learned about language maintenance techniques at the workshop, including learning about language nests and master-apprentice models and how these methods might be applied in the Aurukun context.
(Further information about the master-apprentice model and its origins is available from RNLD at rnld.org/ MALLP.)
We also learnt about how to write the sounds of a language and different techniques for teaching languages.
Rose Warsaw, Indigenous Languages Project Officer from the State Library of Queensland, also presented at the Workshop about State Library resources for Indigenous Languages.
This was an excellent workshop-we hope the first of many DRIL workshops at Aurukun-and were are deeply thankful to RNLD and the State Library for making it possible.