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1. Home
2. Aboriginal Languages
3. Practical advice
4. Writing a teaching and learning program

Writing a teaching and learning program

Writing a program is a collaborative, team-building exercise. Each team member contributes their skills and knowledge. A truly collaborative program will take quite some time to write and develop. Between them, the people in your team need to have the following range of skills:

• Knowledge of language and culture of the local area, i.e. Aboriginal community members
• Processes for language revival
• Classroom teaching (ideally language teaching methodologies and strategies), classroom management, and creating Stage-appropriate resources.

Once an Aboriginal languages program team has been established, it can begin to write the teaching and learning program:

• Use the NSW Aboriginal Languages K-10 Syllabus. Download the syllabus here (Word, 74 pages, 812KB)
• Brainstorm culturally-appropriate themes and topics and draft a Scope and Sequence. Download a Scope and Sequence template (Word, 1 page, 24KB) here.
• Decide on language teaching activities and and suitable assessment tasks for units of work. Download a Unit of Work template (Word, 3 pages, 79KB) here.
• Map the draft units of work with Syllabus outcomes
• Make classroom materials to resource the program.

For support in writing the program, your Aboriginal languages program team can:

• Use the support materials available from the Board of Studies. Download Advice on Programming and Assessment for Stages 4 and 5 (Word, 55 pages, 1.3MB)
• Keep in touch with the curriculum support opportunities offered by the Department of Education NSW.
• Network with other schools with Aboriginal languages programs, especially schools and communities working on the same language/s as your team.
• Look at the sample units of work on the NSW Department of Education website. These units of work are part of the Australian Government Quality Teacher Programme (AGQTP) Literacy in Aboriginal Languages project. The website provides advice for schools starting Aboriginal languages programs.
• Look at the sample Scope and Sequence and Units of Work for each of the schools in the “Learning from each school’s experience” section of this website.
• Look at the sample COGs (Connected Outcome Groups) units of work and templates available on the Department of Education NSW website.