A new bilingual Endangered Indigenous - English educational reader
Saturday, September 13, 2025 at 5:34PM This resource I created for young language learners of Barngarla, supports the revitalisation of endangered Indigenous languages through culturally responsive visual storytelling. Using sequential art, it nurtures oracy, literacy, and imaginative exploration of language.
Barngarla, is an endangered Indigenous language of the Eyre Peninsula Region of South Australia.
This resource blends powerful visual storytelling with culturally responsive pedagogy. Illustrated Barngarla text encourages oracy and literacy through vibrant sequential art, inviting learners to explore language with imagination and purpose.
Grounded in community collaboration with Barngarla Community Members and Professor Ghil'ad Zuckermann, each page offers more than translation, it tells a story that speaks to identity, connection, and revitalisation.
To create a text using your language for your students...
I used a fantastic template presented by the Language Lodge Program on CANVA offering a step-by-step guide to create e-zines and e-books.
To create the animals used in the presentation...
Constructing the animals life size provides learners with a real-life experience. I used industrial strength cardboard I purchased from an office supplier and drew the animals free hand with pencils followed by a darker outline using a black Sharpie Pen.
The animals are then painted as silhouettes with a touch of earthy colours. A handy hint once each animal is completed is to paint the reverse side of the animal in a neutral colour (in this case I used black), in doing this the reverse colour assists in stabilising the cardboard preventing the cardboard from bending or curling as the image dries.
Once each animal is completed, I used a sharp craft knife to cut each animal out of the larger cardboard sheet. To permit the animals to stand freely, I cut a slot at the base of each animal, on larger two slots and insert pre-cut cardboard rectangular strips that insert to the slots to form a base with one third of the strip length in front of the animal and two thirds behind the animal to provide stability.
Good luck..!