Project will build cultural literacy and language capability in Hindi, Punjabi and Tamil across Australian communities.
La Trobe University has secured support from the Maitri Grant Program for the Language Link Project, a new initiative to build cultural literacy and language capability in Hindi, Punjabi and Tamil across Australian communities.
The project will connect Indian literary stars with Australia’s Indian-language teachers and the wider Australian community through marquee events and workshops. Together, they will produce co-designed educator resources, bilingual story kits, modular curricula and an open repository of classroom materials to carry the program’s impact well beyond any single event.
The successful researchers are Director of La Trobe Asia Dr Ruth Gamble, Hindi Program lecturer Dr Ian Woolford, and Dr Divya Rama Gopalakrishnan from the Department of History and Archaeology. All researchers are part of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences.
“Hindi, Punjabi and Tamil are spoken in homes across Australia every day, but our classrooms haven’t kept pace with that reality.” says Ruth Gamble, Director of La Trobe Asia. “The Language Link Project will give teachers the tools, and the connections, to change that.”
“La Trobe University has a long history of strong engagement with India, from culture to politics and sciences,” says Dr Ian Woolford, Project Lead and Hindi Lecturer. “Language has always been at the heart of that relationship, and with La Trobe being one of only two universities in Australia with a Hindi Program we are well placed to continue that relationship through this grant.”
“The Language Link Project is a fantastic initiative from La Trobe researchers, and a real demonstration of the University’s strength in humanities and social sciences,” says Professor Aniruddha Desai, Associate Pro-Vice Chancellor Research (India) at La Trobe University. “It builds on the already strong links between La Trobe and India, connecting not just the two countries but the diaspora between them.”
The Maitri Grant Program is administered by the Centre for Australia-India Relations on behalf of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
The Language Linkage Project is led by La Trobe University and the Australian National University (ANU), the only two Australian universities teaching modern Indian languages, in partnership with community institutions in both countries. Together they build the communicative confidence, cultural literacy and professional networks that prepare graduates to thrive across the Australia-India corridor.
