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Teaching and
Learning in
aboriginal
Education
neil harrison SECOND edition
Teaching and
Learning in
aboriginal
Education
neil harrison SECOND edition
1
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.
It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research,
scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered
trademark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other
countries.
Published in Australia by
Oxford University Press
253 Normanby Road, South Melbourne, Victoria 3205, Australia
Copyright © Neil Harrison 2011
The moral rights of the author have been asserted.
First published as Teaching and Learning in Indigenous Education in 2008
Second edition published 2011
Reprinted 2011
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford
University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by licence, or under terms agreed with the
reprographics rights organisation. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the
above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above.
You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on
any acquirer.
National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data
Harrison, Neil (Neil Evans)
Teaching and learning in Aboriginal education / Neil Harrison.
2nd ed.
9780195574593 (pbk.)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Aboriginal Australians--Education.
Learning--Australia.
Teaching--Australia.
371.8299915
Reproduction and communication for educational purposes
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Oxford disclaims any responsibility for the materials contained in any third party website
referenced in this work.
 Foreword

It is a great pleasure to support this work, which brings together so many

strands of Aboriginal education from the last thirty years.
There has been a great deal of research done over those years, not
all of it going back into the classroom as better ways to teach Aboriginal
children. There needs to be a response to what teachers require in facing
their classrooms day to day. This book helps fill that gap, giving practical
and concrete advice for those teaching Aboriginal children, as well as those
working to include Aboriginal perspectives in their programming.
Neil’s book carefully maps a range of strategies that teachers can
use in primary and secondary schools. These strategies are set in context.
A strategy for teaching reading and writing, for example, is described
alongside an appreciation of the relationships between the peoples of the
First Nations and other Australians, with an acknowledgement that these
relationships have often been complex and fraught.
A highlight of the book for me is its readability. It is written for pre-
service and beginning teachers who have two concerns in the forefront
of their mind: programming and the management of behaviour and
relationships within the school environment.
This work endeavours to do something different—to communicate
with teachers who often have had very little contact with Aboriginal
people. Another important aspect of this book for me, then, is how it
attempts to encourage and support teachers’ attempts to become involved
in Aboriginal education, no matter how small or large.
Included are an interesting mix of personal experiences and narratives
from Neil and others whom he has met since becoming a teacher in 1978.
These narratives help to bring the world of Aboriginal education alive and give
it a perspective that is challenging, humorous and often thought-provoking.
It is my hope that this book will build the groundwork for a far more
enjoyable and equitable experience of school for both children and their
teachers.
The Honourable Linda Burney MP
Minister for the State Plan
Minister for Community Services

iii
 Contents

Preface vi
Acknowledgments viii
Map of Aboriginal Australia x

1 Starting Out as a Teacher in Aboriginal Education 1

2 Recognising Our History: Dealing with Australia’s Past in

the Contemporary Classroom 17

3 Aboriginal Ways of Learning 39

4 Quality Teaching Practices for Aboriginal Children 57

Section 1: Quality Teaching Practices for Aboriginal Children 59
Neil Harrison
Section 2: Teaching Gifted Aboriginal Students 77
Peter Merrotsy

5 Teaching Reading and Writing to Aboriginal Children 87

David Rose

6 Incorporating Aboriginal English in Classroom Learning 116

7 Aboriginal Children as Powerful Mathematicians 130

Peter Howard and Bob Perry

8 Classroom Management 146

9 Building Community Trust and Collaboration 165

10 Teaching Aboriginal Perspectives 178

Bibliography 194
Index 209

v
 Preface

I have taught in Aboriginal education for over thirty years, and I continue
to find it inspiring and exciting. New challenges constantly arise and life
is rarely boring, even after so many years in the job. I like working with
Aboriginal kids and their parents because I can relax, and I love working
across cultures because I learn a lot about myself through other people.
I am sure that you will have the same enjoyable and fulfilling
experiences that I continue to have with Aboriginal people of all ages. The
longer you stay in Aboriginal education, the more people you meet and
the more rewarding it becomes. You will ‘meet’ some of these interesting
people in this book through the case studies titled ‘Learning from
experience’. These include Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal teachers, an
Assistant Principal, a writer of the National Languages Curriculum and
Aboriginal pre-service teachers.
Teaching and Learning in Aboriginal Education is for pre-service and
beginning teachers working in urban, rural and remote contexts. This
includes working with Aboriginal students, as well as teaching Aboriginal
perspectives to non-Aboriginal students. The overall aim of the text is to
encourage teachers to make Aboriginal Australia a significant and ongoing
reference point for all students.
This is the second edition of Teaching and Learning in Aboriginal
Education and it includes many new features:
•• a new chapter on Australian history
•• a new chapter on teaching mathematics to Aboriginal children
•• a new section on teaching gifted Aboriginal children
It has also been revised and updated throughout to incorporate
proposals from the national curriculum, and to examine new projects,
programs and research findings in Aboriginal education. The last chapter,
on teaching Aboriginal perspectives now covers literacy, history and
geography, with suggested activities that can be readily applied in any
classroom.
Throughout the book, I use the term ‘Aboriginal’ to refer to Aboriginal
students and their communities. It does not include or refer to people from
the Torres Strait.

vi
 Chapter 1 begins with a narrative of my own experience as a beginning
teacher. Following on from this is Chapter 2, a new chapter on history as a
way of setting the scene in Aboriginal education. So much of what happens
in the classroom today is governed by past events, and this link between
history and education becomes apparent as you read Chapters 3 and 4, on
teaching Aboriginal children.
Chapters 5 and 6 are about teaching English. The first of these
provides a practical step-by-step account of teaching Aboriginal students
to read and write Standard English. The next chapter explores ways of
incorporating Aboriginal English in classrooms with Aboriginal students.
Chapter 7 is an exciting chapter on teaching mathematics to Aboriginal
children. The results from teaching mathematics to Aboriginal children
have generally been poor, and we hope that this chapter will inspire
pre-service teachers to reflect carefully on how they can effectively teach
mathematics to Aboriginal students across Australia.
Chapters 8 and 9 should be read together and cover classroom
management and building relationships with the community. Both
chapters are easy to read.
The final chapter is specifically designed to assist teachers to incorporate
Aboriginal perspectives in their programs, for non-Aboriginal as well as
Aboriginal students. In this context, it provides a series of activities and
resources that could be used to make Aboriginal Australia a significant and
ongoing reference point for all students. Most departments of education
provide teachers with units of work related to Aboriginal Australia so I have
opted to provide ideas that could be implemented within a few minutes or
over a few hours at various stages from kindergarten to year 10.
I welcome your feedback on any aspect of the book. I would particularly
like to hear from those who are applying what they have read and learnt
here to their classroom practice. Please email me at <neil.harrison@
mq.edu.au>.
Neil Harrison
December 2010

Preface vii
 Acknowledgments

I want to begin by acknowledging that this book was written on the

ancestral lands of the Darug, the traditional owners of the land now known
as Sydney.
In many ways, this book has grown out of the recognition that good
teaching in Aboriginal education is about building strong contacts with
your local Aboriginal community, and I am therefore most grateful to the
Hon. Linda Burney, the Member for Canterbury, for writing the Foreword
to this second edition of Teaching and Learning in Aboriginal Education.
I would like to thank those who contributed learning experiences to
this book:

Harry Langes Gilgandra High School

Natalie Taylor Murray Farm Public School
Genienne Ellis Lightning Ridge Central School
Kathryn Prior Wilcannia Central School
David Browne Killara High School
Natalie Burns Institute of Early Childhood,
Macquarie University
Jaky Troy Australian Institute for Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS)
Cynthia Briggs
Rhonda Coopes Queensland University of Technology
Annie-Renae Winters Pre-service teacher,
Macquarie University

Julie Chapman and her two children JB and Anna have again been
instrumental in bringing Teaching and Learning in Aboriginal Education
alive with their photos in this new edition.
There are also many special people I have met along the way who
have quite unconsciously inspired me to reflect on my vision for Aboriginal
education, including one of my great teachers, Kathy Guthadjaka, as well as

viii
Stephen Harris, Terry Ngarritjan-Kessaris, Michael Christie, Merridy Malin,
Maxine Greenfield, Graham Gower, Martin Nakata and Susan Page.
The expert editorial assistance and guidance of Estelle Tang at Oxford
University Press has ensured that you receive a clearly organised and highly
accessible book. Many thanks to Belinda Leon, also at Oxford University
Press, for paving the way for this second edition.
Finally, I would like to make special mention of my partner Jackie
for her extraordinary support and patience throughout the writing and
rewriting of this text.

The author and the publisher wish to thank the following copyright holders
for reproduction of their material.
Photos: © Aboriginal Studies Press, AIATSIS. No reproduction
allowed without permission, p. xii; Olivier Rey Lescure, University of
Newcastle, p. 3; Author, pp. 12, 21, 48, 59, 63, 133, 149, 156, 160, 171, 186;
Newspix, pp. 28, 31, 32/Bill McAuley, p. 35.
Text: ABC for Transcript, “Hearing Loss in Aboriginal Children” by
Rae Fry, first published by ABC Online, 06 September 1999, is reproduced
by permission of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and ABC Online.
(c) 2009 ABC. All rights reserved; Association of Mathematics Teachers Inc
for Perry, B., & Howard, P. (2008) ‘Mathematics in Indigenous contexts’
from Australian Primary Mathematics Classroom, 13(4), 4–9; Cengage
Learning Australia for Howard, D., ‘Culturally responsive classrooms: a
way to assist Aboriginal students with hearing loss in urban schools’, in S.
Harris & M. Malin (eds), Aboriginal Kids in Urban Classrooms, Social Science
Press, Katoomba, NSW, (1994). Reprinted with the permission of Cengage
Learning Australia Pty ltd; Charles Darwin University Press for Hudspith, S.,
‘Visible pedagogy and urban Aboriginal students’, in S. Harris & M. Malin
(eds), Aboriginal Education: Historical, Moral and Practical Tales, Northern
Territory University Press, Darwin 1997; Gerry Stone for ‘Violence explodes
in racist town’ by G. Stone, Sunday Mirror, 21 February 1965; HarperCollins
Publishers for Man of All Seasons: An Aboriginal perspective of the natural
environment, by S. Davis, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1989. Reproduced
by permission; Patricia Scott for Of Mice, Lions and Elephants by P. Scott,
Macmillan Education, Melbourne, 1993.
Every effort has been made to trace the original source of copyright
material contained in this book. The publisher will be pleased to hear from
copyright holders to rectify any errors or omissions.

Acknowledgments ix
 Map of Aboriginal Australia

This map is just one representation of many other map sources that are available for Aboriginal Australia. Using published resources
available between 1988 and 1994, this map attempts to represent all the language or tribal or nation groups of the Indigenous people of
Australia. It indicates only the general location of larger groupings of people, which may include smaller groups such as clans, dialects
or individual languages in a group. Boundaries are not intended to be exact. This map is NOT SUITABLE FOR USE IN NATIVE TITLE
AND OTHER LAND CLAIMS. David R Horton, creator, © Aboriginal Studies Press, AIATSIS and Auslig/Sinclair, Knight, Merz, 1996.
No reproduction allowed without permission.

x
Starting Out as
1
a Teacher in
Aboriginal Education
Overview
This chapter is about what to expect as a teacher beginning in Aboriginal education. Much of it is
a narrative of my own experiences as a teacher and is presented here as a personal insight into the
first few months on the job. The aim of the book generally is to fill the gaps in your knowledge
until you get out there and meet some Aboriginal people and learn from them.
But I would like to highlight an important caution to begin. It can be easy to fall into the trap
of stereotyping, where one assumes that all Aboriginal students prefer to work in groups, or that
they never ask questions. We need to be careful not to jump to hasty conclusions based on one
or two experiences. Writing essays and doing presentations at university requires pre-service
teachers to make judgments about students in order to understand how to teach them, but in
doing so it is easy to produce generalisations that cannot be justified. We all need to be careful
about making up our minds too early. This is one of the great traps of stereotyping: drawing
premature conclusions about other people whom we do not understand.

1
 Topics covered
•• About the author
•• My first appointment
•• Learning from the community
•• Moving to New South Wales
•• Power relationships
•• The power of discourse
•• A word about difference
•• The search for a solution in Aboriginal education
•• A word of caution
•• Questions and Activities

2
About the author
I started teaching in the Northern Territory in 1978, and I have been teaching Aboriginal
students at primary, secondary and tertiary levels ever since. I come from a farming background
in western Victoria. I did my degree in Melbourne and then worked on the trams for six months
until I decided what I wanted to do.
Teaching hadn’t entered my mind, even though I had completed my Diploma in Education.
I saw an advertisement in the paper for a teaching job in the Northern Territory and, since I was
bored with the clubbing scene in Melbourne, I decided to apply. I had an interview with the
Education Department and was offered a job in a place that I had never heard of, so out came
the atlas.
The place is called Numbulwar, an Aboriginal school in Arnhem Land in the Northern
Territory (see Figure 1.1). It is around 600 kilometres south-east of Darwin and has both
Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal teachers.

Figure 1.1 Map of Australia

Ch 1 Starting Out as a Teacher in Aboriginal Education 3

 My first appointment
I arrived in Darwin on the Wednesday before Easter and went to the Department of Education’s
office in town. I explained to the woman behind the counter that I had been appointed to
Numbulwar school and wanted to know if there was a plane ticket waiting for me. She found my
file and asked me when I was going out, and I replied that I would be leaving the following day.
She said that Easter started on Friday, and I told her that I was aware of that. She then looked at
me as if I couldn’t put two and two together and she decided to be blunt: ‘Why are you going out
there for Easter?’ I said I wanted to spend a few days in the community before I started teaching,
although I wasn’t to know that I would be teaching a couple of hours after I arrived. The woman
finished by telling me that I was mad to go out there when I could stay in Darwin and have a
good time! But she added that there was a ticket waiting for me at the airport.
Of course, the Department had not told the principal that I would be arriving on the
Thursday before Easter, so when my flight landed on a gravel airstrip, no one from the school
was there to meet me. I had to hitch a ride into town and find the principal. He had no idea who I
was, but he soon found a place for me, since the two teachers I was replacing had left two weeks
before my arrival. I was in the classroom two hours later.
I managed to get through those two days before Easter with only chalk and talk, but the
following weeks were going to be far more difficult. I knew nothing about Aboriginal people and
nothing about the kids. I quickly found out that their learning strategies were very different to
what I knew (these learning strategies will be explored in Chapter 3). I had trained as a secondary
teacher, but during my four years in Arnhem Land I taught both primary and post-primary
students (12 to 18 years old) and most of my teaching involved early literacy and numeracy.
Moreover, I had to learn how to teach students to read and write, since English was usually their
third or fourth language.

Box 1.1 Incentives

There are many incentives available for teachers working in isolated schools across Australia. See
your own state or territory Department of Education website for information about incentives
like rental subsidies, retention benefits, additional annual leave, travel expenses, tax incentives,
promotion and priority transfers, and removal expenses.

In her Seven
Seasons in Aurukun My first class
(2009), Paula Shaw
provides an honest I started off with a post-primary class of around twenty 12- to 18-year-old students, who were
and open memoir
accomplished speakers of the vernacular (mother tongue), but experienced difficulties with
as a beginning
reading and writing Standard English.
teacher at Aurukun
on the tip of Cape Some of the kids had been coming to school for ten years or more and they still couldn’t read
York, Queensland. and write. What was the problem? I thought they needed a teacher who was vitally interested

4 Teaching and Learning in Aboriginal Education

in them, who wouldn’t give up and who would eventually discover how to teach Aboriginal
children. I hoped that my passion as a teacher would motivate the students. I tried intensive one-
on-ones, positive reinforcement, rewards and punishments, and I spent a lot of my own money It is easy for some
on new readers, cameras and videos. Yet I was becoming increasingly frustrated with the poor teachers to become
frustrated with a
outcomes and with my inability to change things. I had always fancied myself as a hard worker
lack of progress in
who could get things done, and yet it wasn’t happening for the students or for me. I wasn’t
the classroom, but
alone. Other teachers who were new to the scene were also getting poor results, while the more take it slowly. There
experienced ones seemed content with what they were doing. is a lot to learn.
Many teachers become frustrated with their lack of progress in Aboriginal classrooms, but
they often don’t realise that they have plenty of time to learn. Indeed there is much to know
about working with Aboriginal children and teaching non-Aboriginal students about Aboriginal
Australia. Working in Aboriginal education is one of the most rewarding jobs if you remain in
the area long enough to learn the ‘right ways’ and to meet so many interesting people, Aboriginal
and non-Aboriginal.

Box 1.2 Behaviour management

Children’s behaviour is not always governed by how the teacher teaches. Sometimes their
behaviour has more to do with the disputes at home that are subsequently brought to school.
Child A has a dispute with child B, then the extended families become involved, and the dispute
spills into the school. This occurs in schools across New South Wales as well as in Western Australia,
Queensland and the Northern Territory. It is a common experience for many teachers. Chapter 8 is
devoted to classroom management.

These experienced teachers knew some of the Aboriginal language and the new teachers Knowledge of
were encouraged to learn it. The students laughed their heads off at our mistakes, but they the first language
spoken by students,
always encouraged us to learn more. It was the way they supported and taught us that helped
including Aboriginal
us to decipher how they themselves learn. We were learning a teaching method through them English, will help
and they were teaching us what to expect from them. I will discuss teaching strategies in you to teach
Chapter 4. Standard English.

Box 1.3 Becoming frustrated

New teachers working in schools with significant numbers of Aboriginal students must ensure
that they do not become frustrated with the apparent lack of progress in the classroom. I hear
some teachers in these schools saying, ‘They don’t want to learn, so what can I do?’ Of course
they want to learn—otherwise they wouldn’t be there! Trial a variety of reading strategies and
work on different ways of communicating with the children. You need to find a way of making
learning and teaching work for you, in your classroom. This book has been written to help you
do this.

Ch 1 Starting Out as a Teacher in Aboriginal Education 5

 An excursion to Cairns
The principal asked me at the end of first term if I would take my students on an excursion to
Cairns. It had been arranged long before I arrived and I had replaced the teacher who was meant
to go with the group. I would be going with two Aboriginal teachers and 30 children.
There was a famous story going around Arnhem Land at the time about a teacher from a
nearby school who had taken a class to Sydney and visited the Gap. A terrible tragedy occurred
where one of the children fell to his death, and the teacher was threatened with the same end if
he returned to the community. This did not give me any confidence.
Nevertheless, we set off with great anticipation and excitement. We visited the Great Barrier
Reef, animal sanctuaries and various workplaces around Cairns to give the kids an insight into
the range of employment opportunities available. They were so good at looking after themselves
that I didn’t have to worry, and they always knew which way was home.

Learning from the community

Ros Moriarty has There is always enormous pressure to get things done, to show results and to demonstrate that
written a beautiful you are doing your job. But don’t be distracted from the broader goal of getting to know people
book about
in the community with whom you can talk and feel comfortable. If you are in the community for
what it means to
a few years, then there is no hurry and you have a chance to watch and listen without making
belong. She is a
non-Aboriginal mistakes all the time.
woman married to I was fortunate enough to meet a great man in Aboriginal education when I first arrived in
an Aboriginal man the Territory and he gave me sound advice on the plane to Numbulwar: ‘Don’t rush in there and
from Borroloola
try to do everything at once; just take your time.’
in the Northern
Territory. They now
Taking time out to watch and learn is not an easy task, because when we see that things are
run a successful not working, we want to try new activities and methods. However, it is worthwhile to wait and
business in see what Aboriginal people want, what they think about the school and what other teachers have
Adelaide. The book done. Don’t reinvent the wheel!
is titled Listening
to Country and is
a must-read for
anyone wanting Moving to New South Wales
to work with
Aboriginal people. When I moved to Armidale in New South Wales in 2003 to teach at the university, I was told that
‘things are very different down here’. Yet I am constantly aware of the similarities: the town politics,
the relationships between the families who have lived in the area forever and those who are new,
Find out about the and the division in the town between those who live on the old mission and those who live in the
families in your
new part of town. Similarities also exist in the way kids bring their disputes from home to school,
community: where
they come from
and in the clear distinction between the language spoken at home and that spoken at school.
and who gets on Teachers are faced with the same issues in southern Australia as they are in the north: low
with whom. outcomes in literacy and numeracy, attendance, suspensions and, above all, frustration over how

6 Teaching and Learning in Aboriginal Education

to teach Aboriginal kids. In my visits to schools, teachers want to know two things: ‘How should
I teach Aboriginal kids?’ and ‘How can I include contemporary Aboriginal perspectives for non-
Aboriginal children?’ I explore the first question in detail in Chapters 3 and 4, and I provide a
range of strategies for teaching Aboriginal perspectives in Chapter 10.

Learning from experience 1.1

Chris Sarra, former principal
In his article ‘Young and black and deadly: strategies for improving outcomes for Aboriginal
students’ (2003), Chris Sarra, a highly successful Aboriginal principal at Cherbourg State School
in Queensland from 1998 to 2004, revealed that one of the first things he did when he arrived at
the school was to find out ‘who was who in the community’. There are usually some very powerful
families in the town, and this will affect how the children perform at school. Sarra (2003) added
that when he first arrived, the political issues were far more crucial than the teaching programs. He
outlined his approach to involving the parents:

A lot of the Elders in particular came into the school—they had a part in informing
development of the Aboriginal Studies program and they had a lot to do with the delivery
of the program. We set about honouring their presence in the school and their role in the
community by having special functions for them. The parents became involved because I
would get out and talk to them—for most of the first six months I spent more time out of
the school than inside it. (Sarra 2003)

Chris Sarra’s approach is examined at length throughout this book. See ‘The search for a solution
in Aboriginal education’ later in this chapter. He has written a very readable, and popular, article
about his time as principal at Cherbourg State School called ‘Young and black and deadly:
strategies for improving outcomes for Aboriginal students’ (2003).

Box 1.4 Learning from Aboriginal people

It is worth noting that most teachers in New South Wales spend very little time with Aboriginal
people outside school (New South Wales Department of Education and Training, and New South
Wales Aboriginal Education Consultative Group Incorporated 2004). Beresford (2003) reports
a similar situation for teachers in Western Australia, as do Zeegers, Muir and Lin (2003) for
Queensland teachers.
Aboriginal people will always be your best teachers. Try to spend some time with Aboriginal
people outside work. This makes your relationship with the kids and the parents completely
different. Talk in the street or go to the footy, and talk about anything, like the weather; or make a
joke, just to make a connection. If you get a knock-back, try again later. Don’t give up!

Ch 1 Starting Out as a Teacher in Aboriginal Education 7

 Power relationships
The creation of There has been an unequal power relationship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal
reserves and the people over the last 220 years. The two key events in Australian history that have significantly
Stolen Generations
contributed to this relationship are the forced removal of Aboriginal children from their parents
have an ongoing
and divisive impact
and the relocation of Aboriginal people from their homes to reserves. Other events that express
on learning for this unequal power relationship include the requirement that Aboriginal people wear ‘dog tags’
many Aboriginal (identification tags) (see Chapter 2) and the massacre of Aboriginal people (for example, the
students. Myall Creek Massacre in 1838 and the Coniston Massacre in 1928—see Chapter 2).
It is therefore understandable that many Aboriginal people resent the ways in which they
have been treated by successive (white) governments and individuals over the last 220 years.
This resentment has been built up and passed down through the generations. But of course,
many Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people have strong positive relationships with each other,
and work together in a range of jobs.
As teachers, we need to remember the history between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal
Australians and the unequal power relationship that exists between them. We also need to
remember that this relationship has had a significant impact on what has been, and still is,
taught in schools (see this page, Linda Burney’s school experience). For example, hundreds of
generations of Aboriginal people knew about places like Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth,
Darwin and Adelaide long before the Macassans and the Europeans first arrived in this country.
Your students need to be alerted to this fact and they need to recognise that English names have
been written over the Aboriginal names for these places.
One of the great paradoxes of working in cross-cultural education is that while we need to
recognise that Aboriginal kids learn in different ways, we also need to be careful not to make
these differences so enormous that we create an insurmountable gap between Aboriginal and

Learning from experience 1.2

Linda Burney, Member of Parliament, New South Wales
In a speech given to the New South Wales Teachers’ Federation Conference in 2007, Linda Burney,
Member of Parliament for Canterbury, New South Wales, recalled:

I have often recounted my own experience as a 13-year-old schoolgirl sitting in a class-

room being taught that my people were savages and the closest example to Stone Age
man living today. I felt ashamed and embarrassed. I vividly recall wanting to turn into a
piece of paper and slip quietly through the crack in the floor … It was only in 1972 that the
authority to exclude an Aboriginal child from school, based solely on their Aboriginality,
was removed from the New South Wales Teacher Handbook.

8 Teaching and Learning in Aboriginal Education

non-Aboriginal Australians. We can only really do this through how we talk and perform in
the classroom. Our job is to unite people from different cultures in how we teach, talk and act
in front of the children. We need to show kids how to get on with one another, and we can do
this by developing good relationships in the classroom and with Aboriginal adults inside and
outside the school.

The power of discourse

Most of the thought and talk about Aboriginal education falls into a deficit model: it is assumed
that Aboriginal kids lack something and hence are deficient. It is similar to talking about a
friend who has been going through hard times and feeling that you are better off than he or
she is. If you talk about others like that for long enough, they really do become deficient in the
eyes of the people with whom you talk. Your choice of language rubs off on others and creates
an impression for anybody who listens. This is the power of discourse to position people in a
negative place.
Teachers can sometimes sit around in the staffroom talking about the failure of Aboriginal
kids at school and this conversation can leave an impression of Aboriginal students as deficient.
This way of thinking can become ingrained, and if you’re not careful, you can end up repeating
these negative thoughts when you talk about the students.
Many reviews and articles about Aboriginal education represent Aboriginal students as
being behind the non-Aboriginal kids at school and needing to be brought up to their standard.
This creates a non-Aboriginal standard against which Aboriginal students are compared. This Avoid language
is a way of maintaining power over others: to think about them as deficient, as not as well off as that positions
you. Current government policies of Closing the Gap on Aboriginal Disadvantage (MCEECDYA Aboriginal people
in deficit or lacking
2010; Australian Government 2009) are a case in point here because they position Aboriginal
the things that
people as deficient in health, education and housing as compared with non-Aboriginal people.
have been attained
An alternative would be to assess the needs of Aboriginal people for these services, rather than by non-Aboriginal
setting non-Aboriginal people as the benchmark to be attained. people.

What can teachers do about a deficit discourse?

Teachers can deal with the problem in multiple ways. Ask:

1 How can I avoid framing Aboriginal people as victims? Think about the resources you
choose to use in your classroom, and how you talk about Aboriginal people. For examples,
avoid pictures which show Aboriginal people as ‘down and out’.
2 Do I have low expectations of Aboriginal people generally—in health, education, living
standards or employment? If you have low expectations of someone you know, what
picture forms in your mind about that person? I am not suggesting here that high
expectations is the answer, but I am stating that low expectations of Aboriginal people

Ch 1 Starting Out as a Teacher in Aboriginal Education 9

 will keep them in a position of disempowerment. This point will be developed further in
Chapters 3 and 4.
3 How do I talk about Aboriginal children? Be aware that many Aboriginal children and
their parents are highly sensitive to teachers talking about Aboriginal students as lacking
knowledge and skills, as the following story from a teacher shows:

Kerry (the non-Aboriginal mentor) would ring and get 90 per cent of parents involved. The
Aboriginal STLA [Support Teacher Learning Assistance] would ring and not get so many
parents. Kids and parents are wary of the STLA and say ‘I don’t need that support’. The
kids associate a deficit with this position [STLA] in the school.
Be sensitive to how
your language and
For these parents and their children, it is not about who rings them at home to discuss
actions are
their child’s progress, it is more about perceptions; that is, how the parents and children
being perceived
by children interpret the teachers to be perceiving them (in this case, being perceived in negative ways
and parents. and requiring special support).

A word about difference

There are many different groups of Aboriginal and Torres Strait people across Australia. For
example, there are Murris from south and central Queensland and northern New South Wales,
Kooris from parts of New South Wales and Victoria and Palawa from Tasmania. Aboriginal
people from the south-west of Western Australia may call themselves Nyungar, whereas if they
are from the north of Western Australia, they may use one of many names, depending on the
language. There are also Nungas from the south of South Australia, Anangu from the north of
See activity 3 at the South Australia and Central Australia, while Aboriginal people from the Northern Territory use
end of this chapter. various names depending on where they are from.
Aboriginal kids, like non-Aboriginal kids, come in all shapes and sizes and have different
experiences. There will be big differences in teaching Aboriginal kids in Redfern and Kalgoorlie,
Adelaide and Ballarat, Brisbane and Mt Druitt, Broome, Bourke and Katherine. However, for all
these children, learning becomes significant in the context of the community in which they live.
I hear some students at university asking: ‘What’s the difference in teaching Aboriginal
and non-Aboriginal children? Do I need different strategies? How can teachers talk about
differences with their students?’ In attempting to answer these questions, we need to remember
that Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people often communicate effectively because they want to
get on with each other.

Language and dialect differences

Most Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students speak different dialects or languages at home
(see Chapter 6). For example, Aboriginal kids speak Aboriginal English or another Aboriginal
language at home, while Anglo-Saxon children speak Standard English.

10 Teaching and Learning in Aboriginal Education

 One of the most important points that I have learnt from Aboriginal people about Many Aboriginal
communication is poignantly articulated by Ian Malcolm (1992). He says that Aboriginal students students in the
classroom focus on
in your class will probably focus on who is saying what, to whom and how it is being said, rather
who is saying what,
than the content of what you are teaching. I have found this to be true wherever I have lived and to whom and how
worked in Australia, and some of my colleagues reinforce this observation daily in meetings and it is being said.
negotiations at work. Also see Merridy Malin’s (1990b) brilliant ethnography of Naomi and her
teacher in an Adelaide classroom. These rules of communication will be less important for the
non-Aboriginal students because they will be preoccupied with the knowledge and skills being
taught, rather than analysing the language at work in the classroom.
Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students usually have different views of the world, and
therefore think differently about school work. Aboriginal students will rarely attack their
school work with a passion. They are more likely to work at it quietly, slowly and carefully while
observing how others are doing it (see Chapters 3 and 4). One of the problems for teachers in
cross-cultural classrooms is that the students can be working at a different pace. Some will work
deliberately and purposefully while others will approach the task carefully, meaningfully and in
an unhurried manner, and yet others (but probably not too many!) will work at breakneck speed. Aboriginal students
Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal families often bring up their children in very different may not follow
ways, and they therefore think, behave and talk differently at school (see Chapters 3 and 4). the same rules of
politeness that
For example, at school, Aboriginal students may not follow the same rules of communication
most teachers come
and politeness that most teachers come to expect. In addition, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal to expect. This
kids often have different views about rewards and feedback at school, and they sometimes seek can be a recipe for
information from the teacher in different ways (see Chapter 3). conflict.

Learning from experience 1.3

Natalie Taylor, primary teacher
Natalie Taylor is a Yuin woman from the south coast of New South Wales and teaches at Murray
Farm Public School, Sydney. She writes about beginning teachers:

It can be difficult to assert yourself when you are a beginning teacher—I know it took me
a while to find my confidence. Some teachers have negative ideas and opinions about
Aboriginal education. In my experience, this is not limited to a general age or demographic—
you just never know what you’re going to get! I have found that this negativity usually
comes from past negative experience, family prejudice and, most importantly, lack of
education. ‘Baby steps’ worked for me. Change in attitude and behaviour takes a lot of
time—perhaps years! Don’t be frustrated with the slow pace, think of it as how you’re
creating a positive change.
Aboriginal education in any school is added in value from strong leadership, so my
first points of call are the principal and executive teachers. I usually give an example of

Ch 1 Starting Out as a Teacher in Aboriginal Education 11

 something positive going on in another school and suggest that we could do something
similar. I always use the Aboriginal Education and Training policy [New South Wales
Department of Education and Training 2009] as a reference—this is terrific for those
teachers who imply Aboriginal education is optional. Networking is fantastic—consult
with other teachers you know and trust about your questions on Aboriginal education.
I have learnt that some teachers don’t want to change. It’s something I have difficulty
accepting, but hope that as students progress through classes and have different teachers,
the majority of experience is positive. Often we underestimate the ability that students have
to identify prejudice. As students grow in knowledge and confidence, they themselves will
choose to disregard negativity about Aboriginal education.

The search for a solution in Aboriginal

education
People have been looking for answers in Aboriginal education for a long time, and teachers
continue to be frustrated over the lack of outcomes for Aboriginal students. A lot of what you
learn in other areas of education will not work in Aboriginal education. See Learning from
experience 1.4 for the elements of a successful model for Aboriginal education.

Figure 1.2
JB and Anna Wommatakimmi Chapman–getting
to know the students and their families is
perhaps the most important advice for a teacher
in Aboriginal education

12 Teaching and Learning in Aboriginal Education

 I was having dinner with people I had recently met and they asked me what I did for a
living. I said I was writing a book on Aboriginal education, and after a brief chat about my
background, one of the people asked: ‘Well, what’s the answer, then?’ I said there was one thing
we could rely on: education is a very effective tool for incorporating people into the dominant
culture (of the school). School teaches discipline, respect for authority, and how to fit in with
mainstream society. These things are learnt, usually without the student knowing that they are
learning them.
I added that many Aboriginal students are not convinced that school is worthwhile because
they cannot see themselves in the pictures of the future that teachers usually paint for them. They
do not understand the significance of what they are expected to learn. Many schools therefore
try to make their curriculum culturally friendly for Aboriginal students, but this hasn’t really
worked in terms of improving student outcomes and retention.
In the end, teachers make a decision about whether they are with or against Aboriginal
people, or alternatively, they may not care one way or the other. But remember, the children will
be influenced by your decisions. You will never be able to hide your thoughts and values from
them, so what you think really counts.

Learning from experience 1.4

Mick Dodson, Australian of the Year, 2009
In a presentation titled ‘Whatever happened to reconciliation?’ (2007) Mick Dodson remarked that
in education, the common elements of every successful model where Aboriginal kids are finishing
school are:

•• intense community involvement

•• local decision-making
•• locally controlled resources
•• respectful support by non-Aboriginal parts of the community.

Some schools work hard to include Aboriginal parents and Elders in all aspects of their
curriculum and this has produced outstanding results for some of these schools, increasing
attendance rates and radically reducing suspensions. One school (Biraban Public School in New
South Wales) recently achieved 100 per cent parental involvement (see Chris Sarra’s Stronger
Smarter Institute site: www.strongersmarter.qut.edu.au). This school also ensures that Aboriginal
knowledge is consistently incorporated in its curriculum by scheduling parents and Elders into the
program to tell stories about their place and history. The students are not only learning about place;
they are learning about Aboriginal identity and its connection to country as it is performed in front
of the children. The children learn in place and in context though these stories, a nice change from
readings about Aboriginal people in books (Harrison and Greenfield 2011).

Ch 1 Starting Out as a Teacher in Aboriginal Education 13

Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 FRANCIQUE OU THÉOTISQUE

Sous Charlemagne, la langue des Francs était devenue d’un

emploi général dans le Nord de la France. Dans le Midi, au contraire,
le Latin était resté en usage, mais en s’altérant beaucoup. De ces
divers changements sortit la langue Romane, et le langage des
Francs prit le nom de Théotisque, qui n’est qu’une altération de celui
de Teutonique.
En effet, comme personne ne l’ignore, la langue des Francs était
un dialecte du Deutch, langue mère, d’où dérivent l’Allemand et tous
ses dialectes. On en trouve une preuve, d’ailleurs, dans le recueil
des Capitulaires des rois de France qui contient le traité de
Coblentz, conclu en 860 entre Louis le Germanique et Charles le
Chauve, publié en langue Théotisque ou Francique et en langue
Romane, avec une traduction latine.
Si l’influence des Francs n’a pas été aussi grande dans le Midi
que dans le Nord, il n’en est pas moins vrai qu’elle s’est affirmée de
deux manières: l’une générale, en altérant le Latin et le transformant
ainsi en une nouvelle langue, le Roman; l’autre particulière, en
introduisant dans le dialecte Provençal, dérivé du Roman, un certain
nombre de mots et de désinences qui, évidemment, sont sortis de la
langue Francique.
On attribue en grande partie ce résultat aux tribunaux mixtes,
c’est-à-dire composés de magistrats ou clercs francs et provençaux.
Ceux-ci furent obligés d’étudier les deux langues et durent
nécessairement les confondre. On a remarqué, en effet, que les
termes de Palais furent les premiers à subir les conséquences de ce
mélange. Cependant, même dans le Provençal courant, un grand
nombre de mots franciques sont arrivés jusqu’à nous, ayant mieux
conservé leur forme primitive que dans le Français. Nous donnons
ci-après un aperçu des mots les plus usités de nos jours.

MOTS FRANCIQUES QUI SONT RESTÉS DANS LE PROVENÇAL

PROVENÇAL FRANCIQUE FRANÇAIS

Cat Kater Chat

 Cherpo Schœrpe Écharpe
Cooulet Kohl Chou
Esteri Stier Fixe
Flascou Flasche Flacon
Fremo Frau Femme
Garbo Garbe Gerbe
Harnesch Harnisch Harnais
Machoto Nachteule Chouette
Matou Mat Fou
Meouffo Milz Rate
Mesclar Mischen Mêler
Muscle Muschel Moule
Nuech Nacht Nuit
Nas Nase Nez
Neblo Nebel Brouillard
Oustaou Haus Maison
Raisso Reis Grosse pluie
Ranzi Ranzig Rance
Reinard Reinhard Renard
Relukar Lugen Regarder
Rodo Rad Roue
Rooubar Rauben Dérober
Tasquo Tasche Poche
Tastar Tasten Tâter

BOURGUIGNON

Lorsque les rois de Bourgogne eurent la souveraineté d’Arles, le

Provençal ressentit le contre-coup de ce changement politique,
éphémère d’ailleurs. Nous ne citerons qu’un petit nombre de mots
qui émigrèrent du Bourguignon dans le Provençal, simplement pour
prouver que ce dernier n’est pas dénué de toute analogie avec les
idiomes populaires de la Bourgogne et du Jura.
La cerise dite de Montmorency s’appelle gruffien en Provençal, et
nous trouvons greffion en patois du Jura ou Bourguignon. Nous y
trouvons aussi désignés sous le nom d’escousseri ceux qui battent
le blé sur l’aire, et en Provençal on appelle escoussous les fléaux
avec lesquels on bat l’avoine, le seigle et les légumes secs.
Destraou est, dans les deux idiomes, le nom donné à la hache.
Enfin, la lessive que l’on désigne en Provence par le mot bugado est
appelée bua dans le Jura.
Parmi les autres idiomes qui ont laissé des traces en Provence,
nous trouvons, pour le Slave, le mot roupiar, ronfler; gnigni, petit
objet; bedé ou bedec, un sot; en Slave: hropit, migni, budaca, avec
la même signification.
Des Arabes ou Sarrasins, le Provençal a conservé: quitran, poix;
endivo, chicorée frisée.
Les mots arabes suivants, qui font partie du Provençal, ont passé
dans le Français avec très peu de variantes. Ce sont:
EN PROVENÇAL EN FRANÇAIS

Artichaou Artichaut
Almanach Almanach
Magazin Magasin
Masquo Masque
Assassin Assassin
Caravano Caravane
Mousselino Mousseline

Du Turc, nous avons:

EN PROVENÇAL EN FRANÇAIS

Bazar Bazar, marché

Carat Carat ou once
Pelaou Pilau, plat de riz au
safran
Coutoun Coton
Café Café (en Turc
cahoué)
Safran Safran

Nous n’insisterons pas sur les mots génois, italiens ou catalans

qui ont émigré dans le Provençal par l’effet naturel des relations
commerciales avec Marseille. Solleri assure que, de son temps, le
Provençal de la côte méditerranéenne était très voisin du Génois.

LANGUE ROMANE

Lorsque Constantin transféra d’Italie en Orient le siège de

l’Empire Romain, il ne se rendit pas compte qu’il devait résulter de
cet acte un affaiblissement de sa puissance militaire, et qu’il privait
désormais son gouvernement d’une force qui l’avait aidé à établir sa
domination dans le monde: la propagation de la langue latine.
En effet, les habitants qui restèrent dans l’antique cité dépouillée
de son titre de capitale perdirent peu à peu cet esprit public et cet
orgueil national qui avaient fait des Romains les maîtres du monde.
Non seulement ils n’étaient plus propres à agrandir leur territoire et à
imposer et répandre leur langue, mais ils ne purent même soutenir le
choc des peuples qu’ils avaient conquis et qui, ne se sentant plus
maîtrisés, envahissaient et franchissaient impunément leurs
frontières trop vastes, trop éloignées et trop dégarnies. Rome était
définitivement déchue et, comme tout s’enchaîne, la langue Latine
dut subir à son tour l’influence des idiomes des vainqueurs. Elle
s’altéra avec l’invasion des Goths, et cette corruption ne fit que
s’accentuer par la suite; elle se mêla aux langages divers des
envahisseurs; à tel point qu’elle forma une nouvelle langue que l’on
appela Romane.
Les écrits les plus anciens dans cette langue ont été recueillis en
Italie et remontent à l’année 730. Depuis cette époque, ils se
succèdent sans interruption jusqu’à la fin du Xe siècle. Luitprand, en
728, comptait en Espagne, parmi les langues qui s’y parlaient, le
Valencien et le Catalan, reconnus pour être des dialectes de la
langue Romane. En 734, l’ordonnance d’Alboacem, fils de Mahomet-
Allsamar, fils de Tarif, qui régnait à Coïmbre, fut publiée en Roman.
Enfin, il était, à la même époque, parlé en Portugal, où il portait le
nom de langue romance.
En ce qui concerne particulièrement la France, il faut remonter au
commencement de la monarchie pour se rendre compte du
développement du Roman et de l’importance qu’il a pu y acquérir
après le Latin et le Francique ou Théotisque, qui étaient les langues
primitives.
Contrairement à ce que l’on a cru longtemps, le Roman n’est pas
né seulement d’une corruption du Latin; il s’est formé, comme nous
l’avons dit précédemment, peu à peu, des mots et des locutions que
le passage des Goths, des Francs, des Lombards et des Espagnols
avait introduits dans le Latin. Si l’on compare les textes du Roman
ancien avec notre Provençal actuel, on est amené à reconnaître
que, dès l’époque des troubadours, il devait y avoir deux langues
romanes, l’une qui s’étendait sur les provinces du Nord et l’autre
particulière au Midi; ce qui donnerait une raison d’être à cette
opinion, c’est que, dans le Roman des côtes du Rhône, de la haute
et basse Provence jusqu’à Nice, on retrouve des mots, des locutions
et des expressions qui ne figurent pas dans le Roman du Nord et qui
proviennent du Ligurien, du Grec et de l’Arabe, langues qui se sont
pour ainsi dire cantonnées dans les provinces méridionales. Et, alors
que le Roman de la monarchie franque s’est transformé peu à peu
en Français, le Roman du Midi, parlé et écrit dans un pays quasi
indépendant, ou qui, tout au moins, avait conservé ses franchises,
prit le nom de Provençal et s’est perpétué jusqu’à nous.
Si l’on tient compte des mœurs, des usages, du climat, des
occupations des habitants de l’Ibérie, de la Gaule cisalpine, de la
Lusitanie, on peut dire qu’à l’époque du démembrement de l’empire
de Charlemagne, le Roman parlé dans ces divers pays commença à
se transformer et que l’Espagnol, l’Italien et le Portugais en furent
tirés, dans les mêmes conditions que le Provençal, et avant que le
Français eût acquis cette forme et cette pureté qu’on lui a connues
depuis. A partir de cette époque, on appela langue d’Oïl le Français
tiré du Roman parlé au-delà de la Loire, parce que cette affirmation
s’y prononçait Oui; et langue d’Oc le Roman parlé en deçà de ce
fleuve, parce que ce même mot s’y prononçait Oc. Ce n’est que vers
le Xe siècle que cette distinction fut faite. Jusque-là, à la cour des
rois de France, comme en Italie, en Espagne, en Portugal et en
Provence, on avait fait usage de la langue Romane.
 La langue d’Oc fut aussi appelée langue Provençale, non
seulement parce que le Roman s’était conservé dans cette province
avec plus de pureté que partout ailleurs, mais encore parce que
c’était le pays où le gai saber, c’est-à-dire l’art d’instruire en égayant,
était le mieux cultivé et le plus considéré.

NOTES:
[46] Il nous a paru nécessaire, pour la clarté de nos explications
sur la langue romane, de consacrer à chacune des langues qui l’ont
précédée un résumé historique qui en marquera l’esprit et la portée.
Nous avons pensé qu’il ne serait pas inutile d’y joindre une sorte de
vocabulaire abrégé des mots et des principales expressions que
chacune de ces langues, dans des proportions différentes, a fournis
pour la formation du Roman et du Provençal. Le lecteur y retrouvera
ces mêmes mots et ces mêmes expressions employés encore de nos
jours, que le Provençal parlé dans nos départements méridionaux,
particulièrement dans ceux du Sud-Est, nous a transmis à travers les
siècles.
[47] Adelung, savant allemand qui, entre autres ouvrages, fit un
tableau universel des langues.
[48] On remarquera, en parcourant ce vocabulaire, que nous
avons évité de donner l’orthographe nouvelle, afin de démontrer
l’ancienneté des mots, et empêcher toute confusion.
[49] Cet ouvrage est intitulé:
Recueil alphabétique de mots provençaux dérivés du Grec,
renfermant les termes particuliers au peuple de Marseille et surtout
ceux relatifs à la marine et à la pêche.
[50] Barbares, pour guerriers.
[51] De Villeneuve.
[52] Frédéric Schoell, Tableau des peuples qui habitent l’Europe,
p. 62 (Paris, 1812).]
[53] Wœlfel, connu sous le nom d’Ulphilas, évêque des Goths, de
Dacie et de Thrace, au IVe siècle, a traduit la Bible en idiome
gothique. Il existe des fragments de cette version dans un manuscrit
de la Bibliothèque de l’Université d’Upsal, sous le nom de Codex
argenteus. Il y en eut plusieurs éditions, dont la 5e a paru à
Weissenfels, en 1805, in-4o, avec traduction latine interlinéaire,
grammaire et glossaire par Fulda, Reinwald et Zahn.
 VII
ÉTAT DE LA PROVENCE LORS DE
LA FORMATION DE LA LANGUE ROMANE

De l’influence de la chevalerie et des croisades sur le développement de

la langue Romane.—Période des Trouvères et des Troubadours.—Les Trouvères.
—Les Troubadours.

Sous la suzeraineté des rois mérovingiens et l’administration

paternelle des ducs d’Aquitaine, qui avaient abandonné le soin
immédiat des affaires à la direction des comtes indigènes, la
Provence, grâce à sa situation géographique, put jouir des bienfaits
d’une paix relative, si on la compare aux autres provinces françaises
dévastées par de continuelles guerres civiles ou étrangères.
Après le partage de l’empire de Charlemagne, l’autorité de la
couronne était à peine reconnue. Victimes de ministres ambitieux,
les princes, d’un caractère faible ou adonnés aux plaisirs, ne furent
plus entre leurs mains que de simples automates. Les ducs, comtes
et autres gouverneurs de provinces, toujours prêts à empiéter sur la
prérogative royale et à l’usurper au besoin, proclamèrent
publiquement leur indépendance. Les tenures féodales disparurent
violemment et les vassaux immédiats de la couronne se levèrent
tous à la fois, comme autant de souverains allodiaux et héréditaires.
Les gouverneurs des provinces méridionales, et particulièrement de
la Provence, n’hésitèrent pas à profiter d’une occasion aussi
favorable pour réaliser un projet qu’ils nourrissaient depuis
longtemps. Le promoteur de cette revendication armée fut le célèbre
Boson.
Le fondateur de l’indépendance provençale était le fils de
Théodoric, premier comte d’Autun. Par ses talents politiques et
militaires, il sut plaire à Charles le Chauve, qui le nomma gouverneur
de Provence et du Venaissin. Quand le roi de France vint visiter le
pays, Boson lui présenta sa sœur Rachilde, dont l’éclatante beauté
produisit une profonde impression sur le monarque. Ébloui, captivé
par les charmes de cette femme, Charles, pour la posséder, dut lui
offrir sa main. Les projets ambitieux de Boson furent servis par la
nouvelle reine de France, qui le fit nommer gouverneur des
provinces italiennes, titre équivalent à celui de vice-roi. Ce n’était
pas là le dernier mot du programme du beau-frère de Charles le
Chauve.
De connivence avec sa sœur, il contracta un mariage secret avec
Hermengarde, fille unique de Louis II, roi d’Italie. Cette union, qui
devait, à la mort de son beau-père, le mettre en possession de son
trône, ne pouvait rester longtemps cachée. Quand Charles le
Chauve en eut connaissance, il en fut gravement et justement
offensé. Mais l’influence de Rachilde était sans bornes; elle
intercéda en faveur de Boson et son succès dépassa même le
résultat espéré. Elle obtint, non seulement que le roi de France
approuvât le mariage, mais encore qu’il consentît à ce qu’une
nouvelle célébration de la cérémonie nuptiale eût lieu, avec toute la
pompe royale.
Après la mort de Louis le Bègue, successeur de Charles le
Chauve, qui avait maintenu Boson dans tous ses grades et
honneurs, l’anarchie se répandit dans toute la France. La réputation
que ce dernier avait acquise en Provence, l’ascendant qu’il exerçait
dans toute la région en sa qualité de gouverneur, fonction qui, durant
deux règnes consécutifs, l’y avait fait estimer et aimer, devaient
amener prochainement la réalisation d’un projet longuement médité.
En 879, il convoqua un synode de tous les évêques du Lyonnais,
Dauphiné, Languedoc, Provence et autres diocèses. Les prélats
s’assemblèrent dans son château de Montaille, sur la rive gauche du
Rhône, entre Vienne et Valence, et, préalablement gagnés en sa
faveur, procédèrent à son élection comme roi[54]. Ni la noblesse ni le
peuple ne prirent part à cette nomination, à laquelle cependant ils
acquiescèrent tacitement. Telle fut l’origine de la séparation
complète de la Provence et de la couronne de France. Cet état de
choses fut accepté par le roi, car nous voyons Charles le Gros
intervenir, en 883, comme médiateur entre Boson et Louis III qui
avait envahi le nouveau royaume avec son frère Carloman,
médiation qui eut pour résultat d’attribuer à Boson, en souveraineté
absolue, la Franche-Comté, le Dauphiné, la Provence et la Savoie.
Après quelques combats heureux qu’il eut à soutenir contre divers
compétiteurs, il demeura possesseur de ces pays jusqu’à sa mort,
qui advint en 888.

Arles: l’Amphithéâtre.

Son fils, Louis Boson, qui lui succéda, envahit l’Italie, augmenta
ses possessions et fut couronné empereur par le pape Jean IX.
Après lui, Hugues, gouverneur de Provence, et Rodolphe, roi de la
Bourgogne transjurane, se disputèrent ses États. Alternativement
vainqueurs et vaincus, les deux partis signèrent en 930 une
convention par laquelle Hugues céda à Rodolphe, sous condition de
réversibilité, la totalité de ses États transalpins, ce dernier renonçant
en faveur de son rival à toutes ses prétentions sur l’Italie[55]. Conrad,
qui fut le successeur de Rodolphe en 944, réunit sous son sceptre
les deux parties de la Bourgogne comprenant, la première, tout le
pays suisse, depuis Schaffhouse jusqu’à Bâle, la partie occidentale
de la Suisse depuis le Rhin jusqu’au Rhône, toute la Savoie, la
Franche-Comté, le Lyonnais, le Dauphiné, la Provence, plusieurs
villes du Languedoc; l’autre partie comprenait la Bourgogne
proprement dite.
Par l’exposé qui précède et qui n’était pas inutile pour expliquer
la parenté de la langue Romane ou provençale avec certains mots
ou locutions des dialectes du Nord, on a pu voir que la seconde
dynastie du royaume d’Arles avait singulièrement agrandi ses
possessions. L’importance de ses populations et l’étendue de son
territoire justifiaient la prépondérance que la langue Romane exerça,
dès cette époque, sur toute l’Europe latine.
Des descendants de Rodolphe, Conrad fut le seul qui établit sa
résidence royale en Provence. Il avait choisi à cet effet la ville
d’Arles, et vivait en paix avec ses voisins. Aimé de son peuple, il se
contentait de la sujétion, plutôt nominale qu’effective, des ducs et
comtes qui possédaient des fiefs héréditaires dans chaque district
du royaume, et mérita à juste titre le surnom de Pacifique, que ses
contemporains et la postérité lui ont décerné. A part les incursions
fréquentes des pirates maures, qu’il finit par exterminer, son règne,
qui dura quarante-trois ans, fut un des plus heureux dont jouirent les
Provençaux.

LA LANGUE ROMANE
DANS LE NORD ET LE MIDI DE LA FRANCE

Comme nous l’avons déjà dit, le Latin, corrompu dans l’usage

courant par les dialectes des peuples envahisseurs, était resté la
langue privilégiée de l’Église, qui l’avait conservée dans ses formes
les plus pures. Par un étrange revirement d’esprit, encore difficile à
expliquer, ce rôle de protectrice du Latin, qui avait été une force pour
l’Église, fut à un moment, non seulement renié par elle, mais blâmé
en toutes circonstances. Ce fut en effet un pape qui, le premier,
tâcha d’expulser la langue Latine du refuge qu’elle avait trouvé dans
le clergé. Grégoire le Grand ne pouvait admettre qu’une langue dont
un peuple païen s’était servi pour implorer ses idoles fût également
employée par la religion chrétienne pour exprimer les louanges de
Dieu.
Son mépris pour la grammaire latine le poussait à écrire ces
paroles:
«Je n’évite point les barbarismes; je dédaigne d’observer le régime des
prépositions, etc., etc., parce que je regarde comme une chose indigne de
soumettre les paroles de l’oracle céleste aux règles de Donat[56] et jamais aucun
interprète de l’Écriture sainte ne les a respectées.»

Ayant appris que Didier, évêque de Vienne, donnait des leçons

de l’art connu alors sous le nom de grammaire, cet illustre pontife lui
en fit une vive réprimande:
«Nous ne pouvons, écrivait-il, rappeler sans honte que votre fraternité explique
la grammaire à quelques personnes. C’est ce que nous avons appris avec
chagrin, et fortement blâmé... nous en avons gémi. Non, la même bouche ne peut
exprimer les louanges de Jupiter et celles du Christ. Considérez combien, pour un
prêtre, il est horrible et criminel d’expliquer en public des livres dont un laïque
pieux ne devrait pas se permettre la lecture. Ne vous appliquez donc plus aux
passe-temps et aux lettres du siècle.»

Le dédain que ce pontife professait pour la littérature latine,

exalté encore par la haine du paganisme, le porta à faire rechercher
et brûler tous les exemplaires de Tite-Live qu’il put découvrir. Il est
heureux pour la gloire des lettres qu’il ait pu en échapper à la colère
de ce vandale que l’Église a canonisé. Saint Antonin, commentant
cette action, la donne comme honorable pour la mémoire du pontife
romain. Si ce zèle par trop ardent peut être considéré comme
l’erreur du siècle, on ne s’explique pas bien le vœu de Jean Hessels,
professeur à Louvain, qui s’écrie à ce sujet: «Heureux, si Dieu
envoyait beaucoup de Grégoire!»
Le résultat de cette campagne menée contre le Latin fut que,
sous le pontificat de Zacharie, il se trouva tel prêtre qui ne le
connaissait pas assez pour exprimer convenablement la formule du
sacrement du baptême. Ce pape eut à prononcer sur la validité de
ce sacrement conféré en ces termes: «Ego te baptiso in nomine
Patria et Filia et Spiritus sancti.»
Saint Boniface, évêque de Mayence, avait ordonné de baptiser
de nouveau; le pape décida que le baptême était valable si les
paroles sacramentelles avaient été mal prononcées par ignorance
de la langue et non par esprit d’hérésie.
Corrompu par les dialectes des peuples barbares qui envahirent
les Gaules, renié par le chef de l’Église, délaissé par les princes et la
royauté, le Latin devait se fondre insensiblement dans une nouvelle
langue qui, tout en s’enrichissant de certains mots empruntés aux
idiomes étrangers, conservait cependant une marque originelle dont
elle tirait son nom: le Roman.
La langue Romane, connue dans le Nord de la France dès le VIIIe
siècle sous le nom de lingua romana rustica, avait emprunté aux
idiomes des peuples nouveaux venus de la Germanie un caractère
de force et de dureté dans les mots et les expressions que n’avait
pas et ne pouvait avoir le Provençal. La langue Romane du Midi
éclose, sous un soleil brillant, dans une atmosphère tiède et
parfumée, tout imprégnée de la poésie du Grec et du Latin, inspira
les Troubadours, poliça les mœurs et les usages, chanta les faits
glorieux et créa les cours d’amour. Elle fut l’expression la plus belle
et la plus haute de la civilisation de la Gaule latine. Cependant,
quoique subissant moins que dans le Midi l’influence du Latin, les
Francs, en y mêlant leur dialecte, formèrent un idiome intermédiaire,
un autre Roman, qui se répandit et s’épura peu à peu. Les écrits de
cette époque qui sont parvenus jusqu’à nous et qui émanent de
personnalités marquantes dénotent le soin avec lequel on
l’enseignait et le propageait dans le royaume. On cite saint
Mummolin, évêque de Noyon, qui écrivait non seulement dans la
langue Théotisque, mais aussi dans la Romane; saint Adalhard,
abbé de Corbie, était dans le même cas. Enfin, en 813, un concile
tenu à Tours prescrivait aux évêques de ne pas composer leurs
homélies en Latin, et d’avoir soin de les traduire en «langue romane
rustique et en Théotisque».
On peut avoir une idée de ce qu’était le Roman du Nord sous le
règne de Charlemagne par un passage des litanies qui se chantaient
alors au diocèse de Soissons. Lorsque les prêtres invoquaient Dieu
pour faire descendre sa protection sur l’empereur, le peuple se
joignait à eux et répondait: Tu lo juva[57]. Ces trois mots suffisent
pour montrer que, si le latin dominait encore dans ce langage, il était
déjà bien altéré.
Enfin, le document principal qui atteste l’emploi de la langue
Romane dans le Nord de la Gaule est la convention ou serment
conclu entre Charles le Chauve et Louis le Germanique, pour
déjouer les vues ambitieuses de leur frère Lothaire. Ils se
rencontrèrent à Strasbourg, et là jurèrent avec leurs soldats de
rester fidèlement liés l’un à l’autre. Afin que chacun d’eux fût
entendu par les troupes de son frère et que l’engagement eût ainsi
un caractère plus grave et plus sincère, Louis, le chef des Germains,
prononça son serment en langue Romane, et Charles, le chef des
Gaulois, dit le sien en tudesque; quant aux deux armées, chacune
d’elles se servit de sa propre langue. Nous donnons ci-après les
deux textes, roman et français, de ces serments célèbres[58], qui
furent prononcés à Strasbourg en 842 et qui sont les plus anciens
monuments connus, non seulement du Français, mais aussi de ses
sœurs les autres langues néo-latines (Italien, Espagnol, Portugais).
SERMENT DE LOUIS LE GERMANIQUE[59]

Pro deo amur et pro Kristian poblo et nostro commun salvament, d’ist di in
avant, in quant Deus savir et podir me dunat, si salvarai-eo cist meon fradre Karlo,
et in adjudha et in cad Huna cosa, si cumo om per dreit son fradre solvar dist in o
quid il mi ultresi fazet; et ab ludher nul plaid nunquam prindrai qui, meon vol, cist
meon fradre Karle in damno sit.
Si Lodhwig sagrament quæ son fradre Karle jurat conservat, et Karlus meo
seudra de suo part, non lo stanit, si io retournar non l’int pois ne io, ne seuls cui eo
retournar int pois in nulla adjudha contra Lodhwig nun li iver.

Dans cette forme primitive, la langue rustique du Nord de la

France—car c’était bien du Nord qu’étaient les troupes de Charles le
Chauve à l’assemblée de Strasbourg—ne différait pas beaucoup du
Roman provençal, parce que celui-ci était également à la première
période de son développement, et que ce fut seulement par la suite
qu’il acquit la pureté et la perfection grammaticale avec lesquelles il
nous a été transmis.
Cent ans après, c’est-à-dire environ vers le Xe siècle, le Roman
du Nord avait fait des progrès sensibles. On peut s’en faire une idée
par l’extrait que nous donnons ci-après d’une cantilène en l’honneur
de sainte Eulalie[60]. Certains mots et d’autres indices permettent d’y
voir avec quelque vraisemblance un premier pas vers la
transformation de la langue rustique en Français:
Buena pulcella fut Eulalia[61],
Bel avret corps, bellezour anima,
Voldrent la veintre li Deo inimi,
Voldrent la faire diavle servir,
Elle n’ont eskoltet les mals conseillers.

Le plus ancien texte que l’on connaisse de la langue Romane du

Nord, après les deux que nous venons de citer, est celui des lois
publiées en 1069, pour les Anglais, par le duc de Normandie,
Guillaume le Conquérant. Elles commencent ainsi:
Ces sount les leis et les custumes que le rei Williams grentot a tut le puple de
Engleterre après le conquest de la terre, iceles mesmes que li reis Edward sun
cosin tint devant lui. Co est à saveir: I. Pais à saint yglise. De quel forfait que home
ont fait en cels tens e il pout venir a sainte yglyse, ont pais de vie et de membre,
etc., etc.

Peu à peu, le Théotisque disparut du sol gaulois, et le Roman qui

s’était formé pour ainsi dire par l’usage du peuple prit possession de
la France neustrienne. Enfin, vers le XIe siècle, il devint la langue
nationale, et les troubadours survenant lui donnèrent une régularité
de forme, une pureté et une harmonie qui lui avaient manqué
jusque-là.

DE L’INFLUENCE
DE LA CHEVALERIE ET DES CROISADES
SUR LE DÉVELOPPEMENT DE LA LANGUE ROMANE
 PÉRIODE DES TROUVÈRES ET DES TROUBADOURS

Une des causes qui contribuèrent le plus directement à la

propagation et au développement des dialectes romans, aussi bien
comme langues vulgaires qu’au point de vue littéraire, fut le rôle que
joua la Chevalerie dans la société à partir du Xe siècle. Dépouillés du
caractère barbare, plutôt brutal, qu’ils avaient eu jusqu’alors, les
chevaliers, à partir de cette époque, manifestèrent des idées et des
tendances d’un ordre plus élevé. Ils se firent les redresseurs des
torts de l’humanité, les protecteurs des faibles et surtout des
femmes. Sans nous arrêter aux récits fantastiques des poètes et des
chroniqueurs, il est hors de doute que c’est la Chevalerie qui a été
l’un des premiers instruments libérateurs de la condition du sexe
faible. Sous la royauté féodale, la femme avait constamment vécu
sous la dépendance de l’homme. Les Goths, les Lombards, les
Francs, les Germains et autres peuples du Nord, jaloux à l’excès de
la chasteté de leurs épouses, les tenaient dans une étroite sujétion.
Mariées ou non, les femmes vivaient dans un état de tutelle
perpétuelle. Elles ne sortirent de l’obscurité où elles avaient été
retenues si longtemps que lorsque la noblesse se fut séparée de la
royauté. Elles exercèrent alors leurs droits comme tutrices, et surent
bientôt prendre dans la société un rôle prépondérant, soit au foyer
de famille, soit dans les affaires civiles, et même sur le trône, dans la
direction de la politique du pays. Les faveurs les plus grandes
qu’elles pouvaient accorder furent regardées comme le juste prix de
leur émancipation. Le serment imposé aux Croisés, en mettant sur la
même ligne Dieu et la femme, consacrait à son profit un culte qui,
disent les ménestrels, ne le cédait en rien à celui de Dieu.
Cette élévation du sexe faible devait adoucir le caractère militaire
des chevaliers, qui, gagnés par la tendresse féminine, perdirent la
rudesse, la brutalité, l’âpreté qui les avaient caractérisés jusque-là.
Pour plaire, ils s’adonnèrent au culte de la musique et de la poésie;
la noblesse princière, se reposant des fatigues de la guerre,
employa ses loisirs à étudier et répandre la langue Romane, soit
pour chanter l’amour, soit pour célébrer les exploits guerriers des
croisades, soit enfin pour faire connaître les mœurs du clergé, pour
qui la religion n’était plus qu’un prétexte et l’Église un repaire
d’intrigues. La conduite des prélats était non seulement la violation
flagrante de tout principe de morale, mais elle attestait encore
manifestement que le christianisme, sous le masque de l’hypocrisie,
n’était plus qu’un simple rituel de cérémonies, un commerce, où l’on
vendait fort cher l’absolution de tous les crimes.
C’est au XIe siècle environ que l’on croit pouvoir fixer l’institution
du Gai-Saber comme art. De même que les chevaliers, les
Trouvères dans le Nord, les Troubadours dans le Midi, s’inspirèrent
dans leurs actes comme dans leurs poésies des sentiments que
reflétaient celles qu’ils avaient choisies comme épouses ou comme
maîtresses. La femme fut une de leurs principales préoccupations.
Ils chantaient sa grâce, sa beauté et, en même temps que ses
qualités physiques, ils ne manquèrent pas de célébrer ses qualités
morales.
Des sentiments si nobles, si élevés, ne pouvaient être exprimés
que par des mots choisis, des phrases appropriées; et c’est ainsi
que, sous l’inspiration poétique des Troubadours, la langue Romane
s’épura, se transforma, obéit à une orthographe et à des règles
grammaticales qui en fixèrent l’esprit. Cette transformation ne fut pas
sans influence sur notre belle langue Française, que ses qualités
maîtresses, l’harmonie et la clarté, devaient un jour faire préférer à
toute autre, comme instrument diplomatique.
Si, dans leurs poésies, les Troubadours chantaient la délicatesse
et la vivacité de l’amour, ils y exprimaient également leurs
sensations morales, leurs opinions politiques, leur enthousiasme
pour les personnages illustres qui exécutaient de grands exploits. Ils
ne craignaient pas non plus, dans leur juste et courageuse
indignation contre les erreurs et les fautes de leurs contemporains, si
haut placés fussent-ils, de fustiger par une ironie mordante et une
satire vengeresse tout ce qui n’était pas empreint d’idéal, de bonté et
de charité chrétienne.
Cette nouvelle littérature n’emprunta rien aux leçons et aux
exemples des anciens. Si les chefs-d’œuvre littéraires des Grecs et
des Latins n’étaient pas tout à fait inconnus des Troubadours,
cependant, leur goût n’était peut-être pas assez formé ni assez
exercé pour les admirer utilement et s’inspirer de leurs beautés
classiques. Ils procédèrent, pour ainsi dire, avec des moyens
indépendants et distincts. Les formes qu’ils employèrent, les
couleurs étrangères ou locales dont ils les revêtirent, l’esprit
particulier où dominait la pensée religieuse dont ils étaient animés,
les mœurs chevaleresques, une politique spéciale, les préjugés
contemporains et comme une sorte d’idée nationale qui commençait
à germer en eux, donnèrent à leurs œuvres un cachet d’originalité
qu’on ne peut leur contester.

LES TROUVÈRES
 Un Trouvère.
Dans le Nord, l’enthousiasme que produisirent la Chevalerie et
les Croisades fit éclore les Trouvères. Si, comme on l’a constaté, les
œuvres de ces poètes manquent absolument d’art, du moins elles
rachètent ce défaut par une grande imagination et une tendance à
ne célébrer que les faits héroïques, la guerre, les aventures
lointaines et prodigieuses, les grands coups d’épée donnés ou reçus
pour l’honneur de sa foi et de sa dame. Bientôt devenus populaires,
c’était sur les places publiques, entourés par la foule, que les
Trouvères récitaient ou chantaient leurs vers en s’accompagnant de
la mandore. Lorsqu’un sujet traité par un poète plaisait au peuple,
les autres s’en emparaient et l’arrangeaient à leur goût. Il en résultait
des compositions interminables. La moyenne de certains romans de
Chevalerie devenus populaires atteignait trente mille vers. On cite
comme exemple d’une longueur sans pareille la fable de Guillaume
au Court-Nez (ou Cornet), héros très aimé, qui se faisait gloire d’un
coup de sabre par lequel il avait perdu une partie du visage. Cette
fable se divisait en dix-huit parties et ne comptait pas moins de trois
cent dix-sept mille vers.
Le rythme ordinaire, pour les compositions chevaleresques, était
le vers de dix syllabes. La rime n’était marquée que par une sorte
d’assonance et, au lieu de plusieurs rimes s’entrelaçant
gracieusement de manière à flatter l’oreille comme dans les vers
provençaux, les Trouvères prolongeaient la même rime en raison du
développement consacré à une idée, fût-ce pendant cinquante vers;
elle ne changeait qu’avec le ton de l’accompagnement. De là une
monotonie fatigante pour tous autres que les fervents de ces sortes
de poèmes. On ne peut nier cependant que, dans quelques-uns, ne
se trouvent çà et là quelques belles scènes, des situations
dramatiques et un sentiment profond. Dans la chanson des
Lohérains, de Raoul de Cambrai, l’ardeur belliqueuse et l’âpreté
féodale sont dépeintes avec une énergie surprenante. Les grands
romans chevaleresques des XIe et XIIe siècles sont généralement
sans noms d’auteurs, probablement parce que, devenus populaires,
ils appartenaient à tout le monde. Il en est d’autres, au contraire,
dont l’origine est certaine; on peut citer: le Brut d’Angleterre et le
Rou, de Wistace; l’Alexandre, de Lambert et d’Alexandre de
Bernay[62]; le Chevalier au cygne, de Renaud et Gander; Gérard de
Nevers, par Gibert de Montreuil; Garin de Lohérain, par Jehan de
Flagy; le Roman de la Rose, par Guillaume de Lorris et Jehan de
Meung, dit Clopinel.
Les Trouvères ont aussi laissé quelques poésies lyriques, telles
que lais, virelais et ballades, mais leurs œuvres les plus nombreuses
et les plus importantes sont les fabliaux et les romans historiques.
Dans ces derniers, il ne faudrait pas prendre le titre à la lettre, car on
a, la plupart du temps, travesti les faits à tel point que l’on ne peut en
tirer aucun document pour l’histoire et qu’ils ne présentent plus de
vraisemblance historique que dans les noms des principaux
personnages. On y trouve cependant une peinture des mœurs, non
pas du temps où la scène est placée, mais de l’époque où elle fut
écrite, soit des XIIe et XIIIe siècles.
De toutes ces compositions, il en est une qui prime toutes les
autres, aussi bien par l’ancienneté que par la beauté du sujet et le
mérite du poème: c’est la Chanson de Roland ou Chanson de
Roncevaux, de Théroulde, modèle du genre héroïque. Elle est
parvenue jusqu’à nous comme la plus haute expression du génie
littéraire de cette époque, et les belles traductions de Vitet, de Génin
et de Bouchor, que l’on trouve dans tous les recueils d’histoire et de
littérature romane, sont bien faites pour en mettre la valeur en relief.
L’Angleterre, l’Italie, l’Espagne et l’Allemagne s’inspirèrent non
seulement de la Chanson de Roland, mais aussi des poésies
légères du XIIe siècle, pour célébrer leur gloire et les événements les
plus importants de leur histoire, pour louer les charmes des nobles
dames et chanter les louanges des princes. Hommage aussi
spontané qu’éclatant rendu au génie poétique de la France féodale.

LES TROUBADOURS

Dans les provinces méridionales de la France, la langue Romane

avait assez fait de progrès pour que son influence se fût exercée
dans le Nord avant la première Croisade. Dès cette époque, des
poètes s’essayaient dans le genre lyrique, sans attacher toutefois
une grande importance à leurs œuvres.