Kalamunda Senior High School eNewsletter

Languages

Languages Week 2022! Lets celebrate!

Languages Week is held in the second week of August each year and is designed to raise awareness of the benefits of language, and highlight the linguistic diversity in our community. Around 240 languages and dialects are spoken in Western Australia and ours is one of the most culturally diverse states in Australia. With an increasingly multicultural community and interconnected world, learning a language is becoming an even more essential skill for life. At Kalamunda SHS we celebrate linguistic diversity and believe studying languages is a way to connect to the world and its people.

Western Australia is home to people of many cultures – in fact our state is one of the most culturally diverse places in Australia.

Around 240 languages are spoken in Western Australia. These include the many languages and dialects of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, the languages of communities who have migrated and settled here over generations, and our most recent migrants and refugees who come from all corners of the globe. These voices, accents and intonations can be heard across our vast state, creating a rich tapestry of stories that make up our community and reflect the spirit of what it means to be Western Australian.

New and emerging communities

New and emerging communities are those which are not yet strongly established in Australia. They tend to be the most recent migrants or refugees, many of whom arrived in the country through humanitarian programs or through family visa streams. Some of the newest communities in WA include people from the following countries:

Country languages spoken

Afghanistan Hazaraghi, Dari, Persian and Pashto Albania Albanian, Italian Burma Burmese, Karen, Chin Haka Democratic Republic of the Congo Swahili, French Eritrea Arabic, Tigrinya Ethiopia Amharic, Tigrinya, Oromo, Somali Iraq Arabic, Kurdish Libya Middle Eastern Semitic languages Republic of Congo French, Lingala Somalia Somali, Arabic South Sudan Sudanese Arabic, Dinka, Nuer, Bari, Acholi and many others Syria Arabic, Hebrew.

Primary School Visits

It was lovely to visit Kalamunda Primary School, Maida Vale Primary School, High Wycombe Primary School and Gooseberry Hill Primary School. I was fortunate to be accompanied by Ibu Miska. We presented to various year groups about the 'point' and the academic and personal benefits of learning languages. Students also gained an insight, the highlight was Ibu Miska’s amazing dance performance and teaching the Kembang Kipas Dance from Jakarta.