About Us
Hunter Community Languages, established in July 1996, is an incorporated association dedicated to promoting and preserving language diversity in our community.
Governed by a committee of up to 11 passionate members, we work together to ensure the success of our organisation.
Led by our Chairperson, our committee includes individuals holding key positions such as Treasurer, Secretary, Public Officer, and dedicated general committee members.
Our current committee includes members from our Chinese, German, Nepalese, Polish, Spanish, Sri Lankan, and Tamil Indian communities.
To ensure effective communication and collaboration, we convene once each term, and in term 4, we hold our Annual General Meeting (AGM).
Our Education Officer plays a crucial role in reporting to the committee during our meetings, ensuring the smooth functioning of our programs and initiatives.
There are two ways you can support our work:
Innovation is at the heart of what we do at Hunter Community Languages. Using competitive grants and rigorous research, we create quality resources and training programs for excellence in language education. Our teaching courses are meticulously developed around the Australian Teaching Standards and evidence-based pedagogy such as Explicit Instruction.
A community language school (CLS) is a special and unique community-run school where people gather to share their heritage language and culture. These schools have a rich history in Australia, with the first school established by German immigrants in South Australia in 1839.
In NSW the Community Languages schools Program (CLSP) is funded by our State Government. This Program supports classes taught by over 3,000 volunteer teachers to approximately 37,500 students across 62 languages. These schools operate for a minimum of 2 hours per week, after school or on weekends. NSW Public Schools often host community language schools.
Australia-wide, more than 100,000 students are attending government-funded CLSs and over 10,000 volunteers are teaching in these schools. 96% of these teachers were born overseas, and almost 80% are tertiary trained.
In other parts of the world, Community Language Schools are known as Heritage Language Schools (USA), Complementary Schools (UK), and Ethnic Schools.
Education Officer Support
Kara Matheson BA Grad Dip Ed AMICDA Australian Progress 2020 National Fellow, is the Education Officer at Hunter Community Languages.
Kara is an accredited Proficient Teacher with NESA. Kara has been teaching languages (English and Japanese) to children and adults for nearly 30 years, in schools and at TAFE.
Kara is also a trained and experienced teacher of modalities that strengthen learners' Personal and Social Capability. This is a critical part of education, as described in the Australian Curriculum and in all NSW Curricula.
In her role as Education Officer, Kara:
- writes and delivers quality training for Community Languages Schools;
- provides advice and guidance on establishing new Community Language Schools;
- provides guidance with administering a Community Language School;
- liaises with host schools;
- promotes the NSW Community Languages Schools Program;
- administers Hunter Community Languages and reports to the Hunter Community Languages Board.
"I am constantly delighted and inspired by the work being done in NSW community languages schools."
This Program is supporting bilingual and multilingual Australians who seamlessly traverse cultures. What an asset for our country! I am proud to work in the Community Languages Schools Program.
Kara Matheson
Education Officer,
Hunter Community Languages
Meet the Board
Ms Basia Pinkowski
Chairperson
Dr Ayanka Wijayawardena
Secretary
Ms Caroline Ding
Treasurer
Mrs Massi Romero
Public Officer
Mrs Hari Gnana Sudha Duraiswamy
General Committee Member
Mr Beer Rai
General Committee Member
Dr Renate Thienel
General Committee Member
Mrs Gwendo Mooney
General Committee Member
Mrs Monica Njoroge-Eaton
General Committee Member
Mr Dhanasekaran Devaraj
General Committee Member
we’re grateful
Our Sponsors
Hunter Community Languages receives funding from the NSW Government through the NSW Department of Education to support the NSW Community Languages Schools Program.
We are grateful to these organisation for funding our projects and supporting our mission
