New ILF app to help children in remote WA community read in their first language

The Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF) has launched a new app in Ngaanyatjarra and English languages for the Warburton community in Western Australia.

The app, which was developed as part of the ILF early literacy program Book Buzz, is a translation of Eric Hill’s Where’s Spot that allows children to listen to the story in English and in their first language.

In a statement, ILF said ‘research has proven that listening to stories read in the first language is one of the most significant factors in successfully learning to read and write’.

ILF executive director Karen Williams said the project was ‘a great collaboration between many different talented and hardworking parties’. A group of Pearson Australia staff secured seed funding from the Pearson Global Challenge Fund, before partnering with ILF and Penguin Random House UK to produce the app. The book was translated into Ngaanyatjarra by local Indigenous woman Beryl Jennings, and is narrated in English by ILF ambassador Justine Clarke.

Category: Junior Local news