Originally from Parkes, Sally McGrath has been awarded the 2024 Premier's Teachers Mutual Bank Aboriginal Education Scholarship and has spent some time recently in Parkes and the Central West learning how the Wiradjuri language is taught in local schools.
"I chose Wiradjuri because the Wiradjuri languages have been taught for about 20 years so it's a really strong language program out here," Sally said.
"I have connections to the teachings of the Wiradjuri language as my uncles were some of the first teachers to teach the language so it was easy for me to access the right people to further develop my understanding.
"As a teacher, oral language is the basis of everything, it's the basis of literacy, numeracy and that gives us access to the world."
Sally began teaching in 2016 and said she absolutely loves her job as it is such a privilege.
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"I saw the scholarship was advertised and thought it was a good opportunity for me," she said.
"We don't often get a chance to visit places outside of our own school setting, even our own classroom, so I just thought it was a really good opportunity to get to watch other teachers in action.
"As educators we're constantly trying to better ourselves and we're always looking for what's new and what's innovative and what's working and a lot of the time too what's not."
Sally visited Parkes High School, Middleton Public School and Parkes East Public School while on her tour and said it was a fantastic experience.
"Teachers are doing such good work out here, it's so nice to see the program really continuing," she said.
"I was really blown away by how much you are already doing out here, I knew the languages were pretty good out here but I've really been impressed by the resources and things that the teachers and Aboriginal education officers have created."
Sally noticed how much students love learning about Wiradjuri.
"I heard one of the kids before we went into one of the lessons at a school go 'yes it's Wiradjuri time' and the deep respect that the kids have for the Wiradjuri teachers is also really special," she said.
A principal reached out to Sally while on her tour and told her that one of the reasons teaching the Wiradjuri language works so well out here is because there are Wiradjuri kids learning Wiradjuri language on Wiradjuri country.
"You've got a full circle which is really nice," Sally said.
Sally aims to have languages heard in her school and learning community back on the Central Coast.
"Trying to start really small but starting immediately," she said.
"I want language to be part of everyday practice, I don't want it to be just a stand alone once a week thing I'd really love for some of the language to be shared and for the kids to be hearing the language all the time just in conversation and little things like good morning, goodbye and thank you.
"I've been so inspired by it, it's definitely made me feel like I'm going to go back to my classroom tomorrow and do things differently," Sally added.
