Salish Fluency Transfer System Workshop

Salish community members of the Salish School of Spokane.
Image: Salish School of Spokane.

17-19 June 2025- Batchelor Institute, Mparntwe

Sector Strengthening Workshop – 17th June

Salish Fluency Transfer System Workshop – 18th-19th June

About the Salish Fluency Transfer workshop- 18-19 June

First Languages Australia is excited to be hosting the Salish Fluency Transfer System Workshop in Mparntwe (Alice Springs) in June this year. This workshop will be presented by the team from The Salish School of Spokane, USA, alongside members from the Pertame School in Alice Springs, who have successfully implemented the Fluency Transfer System within their language program.

The Salish School of Spokane has successfully trained new, advanced speakers of ̓nsəlxčin which has allowed them to establish and operate a high quality ̓nsəlxčin ‘immersion school in Spokane, Washington. They will be travelling to Australia to share their story and methods with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. The workshop will provide inspiration and skills to help our language communities to create and deliver the fluency transfer system in our languages and create new, advanced fluent speakers.

This exciting event represents a valuable and rare opportunity for community members to access professional development on Indigenous pedagogies and perspectives. We will be providing support for a limited number of community members to attend, including flights and accommodation in Alice Springs. Further details of who is eligible to attend and how to submit your Expression of Interest can be found below.

Who is the workshop for?

The Salish Fluency Transfer System has been designed in the context of languages with confident speakers and people with technological capability who are interested in teaching their language to other community members. This training workshop is for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander language teams of two, one of whom fit each of the above criteria, and want to work together to implement this program through immersion classes of adults in their home communities. If you are not sure if this method of teaching will suit your language community, please get in touch with us.

Sector Strengthening Workshop- 17 June

This year, national consultations are taking place to help clarify the needs at local, regional, and national levels to ensure the continued strength of your languages into the future. A report will be prepared based on the feedback received and shared with your nominated language organisation. The information will support a national development plan which will be presented to the Government. Your input is vital to ensuring that the Sector Strengthening Plan is shaped by the voices of language speakers, workers, and other key language partners. First Languages Australia will also be hosting a Sector Strengthening workshop in Mparntwe on the 17th of June.

We hope that all of the Salish workshop participants will join us for the Sector Strengthening workshop. Accommodation will be covered to support attendees to stay for all three days. We will be asking you to confirm your attendance for this when you complete your expression of interest.

You can read more about the Sector Strengthening Plan here.

Learn more

  • COMING SOON- First Languages Australia will be hosting an online information session, presented by the team from the Salish School of Spokane. Stay tuned for details on how to register for this webinar.

  • To find out more about the team from the Salish School and their work, visit their website- Salish School of Spokane

  • Learn more about the Fluency Transfer System Curriculum and view copies of the resources here- Interior Salish: Enduring Languages of the Columbian Plateau

  • You can watch Vanessa Farrelly from the Pertame School talk about their language nest and give a demonstration of the Fluency Transfer System in this Professional Development Webinar- Pertame Ngetya untya – Pertame school

  • Download our event flyer here.

  • First Languages Australia will manage all participant travel in line with our Travel Policy. You can download a copy here.

Children graduating from the Pertame School. Image: Pertame School.

Language learning at the Pertame School. Image: Pertame School.

Expression of Interest

Please get your Expression of Interest in as soon as possible. We will not accept EOIs after Friday, 2 May 2025, or once the spaces have been filled. In order to ensure all bookings are able to be confirmed, we will be asking successful applicants to work with us as quickly as possible to submit all required travel forms.

The EOI form will require you to provide details for both of your nominated attendees. As we have limited capacity to support attendees, we ask you to please only submit one EOI for your language community. Communities can self-fund additional attendees (subject to capacity). If you wish to do self-fund, please indicate this in your EOI.

We are happy to discuss your EOI and who might be the best attendees from your community, please get in touch via the details below if we can help.

Contact us

To discuss the workshop further please email our team at First Languages Australia - fnl@firstlanguages.org.au, and we will be in touch with you as soon as possible.

FAQ’s

  • Your travel dates will depend on your location and city of departure. We anticipate participants arriving in Alice Springs on Monday, 16 June and departing on Friday, 20 June.

  • We have limited funding to support workshop attendees and as such, are trying to ensure as many communities as possible can participate.

    Subject to venue capacity, we should be able to accept some self-funded participants. Catering will be covered for all who attend and you can talk to us about opting for shared accommodation to include those who have funded their own travel.

  • Our team, along with our community delivery partners, will be reviewing all EOI’s and hope to provide outcomes by early May at the latest in order to ensure ample time for bookings.

    All those not successful will automatically be placed on our waiting list and will be contacted should a place become available.

  • The Fluency Transfer System is a language teaching method that utilises immersion learning strategies. You will be guided through the process of creating a set of resources necessary for the implementation of the system. Some things to consider include:

    • How does the implementation of an immersion learning program align with my communities’ aspirations and do I have the community support needed to deliver this.

    • Is there a confident speaker of my language who could participate in elicitation recordings.

    • Is there a community member who has technical skills to work with the speaker to develop the curriculum.

    • Are both these people ready and available in the next six months to begin this work.

    • Do I have enough documented language available to complete the Level 1 resources.

    You can read more about the curriculum and view copies of the resources you would be developing here.

    If you would like to discuss your context with us, please get in touch.

  • For those supported to attend, FLA will cover:

    • domestic flights to and from Alice Springs

    • transfers to and from the airport and to the workshop venue each day

    • accommodation in Alice Springs for the duration of the workshop

    • all meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner), provided either at Bachelor Institute or on-site at the accommodation.

    Note: FLA will not cover any alterations or extensions to your travel for personal purposes. Any changes to your flights that incur a cost must be covered by you. To request a copy of our full Travel Policy please contact us.

  • First Languages Australia is developing a national plan to strengthen the languages sector. The plan will identify the gaps and priorities for the languages sector, and will set out specific actions that will increase its strength.

    The development of the plan will be informed by in-person community consultation workshops, which will be delivered in partnership with local language organisations around Australia. These in-person consultation workshops are essential to the development of the plan as it will give communities the opportunity to have direct input, ensuring it reflects the needs and priorities of the language sector.

    We hope that everyone who attends will join us and participate in the sector strengthening workshop to have your voices heard.

    Read about the first workshops held in Zenadth Kes here.

Artwork

Gathering places for teaching and sharing knowledge

Artist: Kyah Walker (Instagram- @kyyarrt)