Language+-+In+the+media

 **Push for teaching Aboriginal native language in schools **


 * From:[|//The Daily Telegraph//]
 * April 28, 200812:00AM

**PRIMARY school students may learn Aboriginal languages as part of bold plan to //improve education on the country's cultural heritage//. ** That's one topic to be discussed today at the National Brains Trust forum, hosted by the National Trust. Forum moderator Simon Molesworth believes children would //gain a deeper appreciation about Australia's cultural mix// if Aboriginal words and phrases were taught.

"There is whole body of Aboriginal words that have become part of the lexicon//, many place names and outback names for landforms//," he said.

"I think it would be of great value to the students to know where these names, such as Wagga Wagga and Murrumbidgee came from." He said a plan to discuss the Australian flag at the forum could prove "divisive" and may be put on the backburner.

Mr Molesworth said the forum was initiated as a way of bridging the gaps left by the recent 20/20 Summit.

<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">"This forum really sprang out of the failure of the summit to address the issue of cultural heritage," he said.

<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">"What we do about our cultural heritage was not even on the agenda. It's a great pity we don't realise the way ahead should be largely focused on where we have come from."

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