For First Nations children in remote Australia, there is an enormous and long-term positive impact of having access to culturally relevant books, audio stories, and animations in First Languages. Abundant research shows that if you learn to read in your First Language, you have more success learning a second, third or fourth language, like English.
A current project at ILF is the translation of several well-known titles such as The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Where is the Green Sheep? into up to 10 languages! Imagine the thrill a child will get when they open one of their favourite books and it is written in the language they speak at home!
Learning your First Language can also help to strengthen identity, pride, culture, and connection to Community and Country. This year, our Community Publishing Projects program is on track to publish 40 books in 22 First Languages, helping to preserve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages and stories for generations to come.
Can you imagine not having access to books to read to the young children in your life?
Access to books in remote Communities is challenging, as there are often no libraries or bookstores. ILF’s Book Supply program meets this need by providing new, culturally relevant books to remote Communities across Australia. Schools, Community, health, and women's centres working in remote Communities, can order books to distribute to children and families.
Transitioning to big school is challenging at the best of times. At ILF, we know it can be easier if children and their families have had access to books and reading materials in their First Languages.
This year, we have 90 playgroups registered for our Book Buzz program. It’s hard to imagine a playgroup without these books and learning resources. The value of getting mums, dads and bubs into a space to read to their little ones, to teach them how to hold a book, turn the pages, and guess what happens next, is vital for early literacy development and future reading success.
The Los Pintos Declaration, the roadmap for UNESCO’s Decade of Indigenous Languages 2022-2032, emphasises Indigenous peoples’ rights to freedom of expression, to an education in their mother tongue, and to participate in public life using their languages, as prerequisites for survival of Indigenous languages. The ILF works to meet the wishes of remote Communities across Australia, to assist with the publishing of books created by Community, many in First Languages as well as to fund the development of digital, audio, or other learning resources and workshops.
We rely solely on the generosity of donors like you. This helps us stay dynamic and responsive to Community needs and plan for long term and sustainable impact.
Reading opens doors and a generous donation can open doors to a planet of possibilities.
Please donate generously to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation this end of financial year and together let’s STAND UP for literacy and First Languages. Donations are 100% tax deductible.
The Indigenous Literacy Foundation works as an initiative of the Australian Book Industry with the support of:
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Indigenous Literacy Foundation is registered with the ACNC and is a Public Benevolent Institution with DGR1 and TCC status.
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