ALNF’s Indigenous First Language program seeks to promote the human right of First Nations peoples to enjoy the freedoms offered by literacy, to have an education in their mother tongue and to participate and thrive in public life using their Language.

With a vision to bring about change by merging innovation, traditional knowledge, community leadership and technology, the program is at the forefront of Indigenous Language revitalisation efforts in Australia and across the globe.

The multi-faceted nature of the program involves ongoing collaborations with community in the development and expansion of ALNF’s multi award-winning Living First Language Platform, the development of interactive digital literacy game apps for youth and community, and the creation of dynamic literacy and educational resources and teaching strategies in Language, embedding ALNF’s signature Two-Way approach to early language and literacy.

The program is community-led, enabling Indigenous community members to take ownership and drive the process of Language revitalisation, while fostering cross-generational collaborations between students, local educators and community Elders to build transgenerational capacity.

The success of this approach has seen it expand to over 17 Indigenous Language Communities including Erub, Pitjantjatjara, Yankunytjatjara, Warumungu, Warramiri, Adnyamathanha, Thaynakwith, Gangalidda, Bunuba, Mudburra, Karajarri, Yulparija, Nyangumarta, and Nyikina.

When we lose our languages, we lose our identity and our connection to our world.

The need for First Language revitalisation efforts has never been more urgent, driven by a global call to action as enshrined in the UN's International Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022-2032).

Here in Australia, our rich linguistic diversity is severely threatened with languages disappearing at a faster rate than anywhere else in the world. Home to more than 250 Indigenous First Languages, there are now less than 120 Indigenous Languages spoken, with only 13 considered strong.

The benefits of fostering environments where Indigenous First Languages can thrive go far beyond simply preserving the language.

The right of Indigenous peoples to have an education in their mother tongue and to participate in public life using their language is a fundamental human right. It is also the key to realising socially inclusive and cohesive societies where sustainable development, environmental preservation, peace and social justice flourish.

In Australia, making connections between Indigenous First Languages and English is vital for the development of personal and community health, welfare and education. First Language reading and writing instruction provides learners with the relevant and essential brain stimulation that can assist English language and literacy learning, retention and fluency.

The Living First Language Platform is a multi award-winning innovation that records, revitalises and celebrates Indigenous First Languages and turns them into dynamic, community-led and interactive digital literacy apps.

In Australia, First Languages are disappearing at a faster rate than anywhere in the world despite a universal acknowledgment that Language plays a vital role in the health, wellbeing, education and future of Indigenous peoples.

The Living First Language project harnesses technology in order to stem the tide of loss of First Languages and empower children to become learners in their Mother Tongues. ALNF’s technological solution offers a faster and more scalable means to efficiently and effectively capture and share languages.

Within Australia alone, 81,100 people identify as the speaker of an Indigenous Language and there are 276,300 people who identify language as part of heritage. Globally, there are over 370 million Indigenous people across 90 countries worldwide.

The impact of this ground-breaking initiative goes beyond preservation of Language- the platform serves to strengthen communities, bridge cultural divides, foster resilience, encourage literacy and put First Language back into community members’ hands.

By making First Languages more accessible, the Living First Language Platform offers the potential to create countless opportunities for First Nations communities to thrive, harnessing the use of their Language across many industries and sectors like tourism, business, education, and environmental sustainability.

We are thrilled that our work with the Living First Language Platform has been recognised internationally on multiple occasions. So far, ALNF has been named as the winner at the 2020 World Summit Awards in Vienna in the category of ‘Culture and Tourism’, and has also won the GOLD Award at the prestigious Edison Awards in the ‘Social Innovation’ category as well as the ‘Empowerment Platforms’ subcategory. These wins come after the Platform’s immense success in 2019, when ALNF won the prestigious Solve - MIT Challenge in New York in the category of ‘Early Childhood Development’ and took out first place in the ‘Innovation in Connecting People’ category at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Innovation Awards in Austin, Texas.

These awards are not only testament to the hard work of our team, but also to the diligence and determination of Indigenous communities who have taken ownership of this Platform and recognised its potential to revive First Languages. We are humbled and honoured to have received these awards and hope that, in doing so, we have shed some light on the importance of revitalising and celebrating Indigenous Languages in Australia and beyond.

At the heart of the CALIL Program is the nationally accredited 10756NAT Certificate III in Coding Aboriginal Languages for Indigenous Literacy training course (delivered by ALNF through Ninti Training Limited (NTL), RTO 70018). The Program equips community participants with the skills to collect, categorise and convert oral First Language elements into effective reading and writing resources.

To develop and refine the CALIL process, ALNF collaborates with Indigenous Elders who indicate the correct pronunciation of letter strings and words. To facilitate quick and accurate print pronunciation representation whilst reading, ALNF and CALIL participants devise an accurate reading code for the local language(s).

By converting oral First Languages into reading and writing courses, ALNF and local communities can provide community members with the teaching and learning skills and strategies that empower them to teach their own children to read and write in their First Languages.

Literacy in First Language(s) can also help children by giving them the skills to make comparisons and contrasts with English language and literacy.