The is an SBS Radio initiative to encourage and celebrate a love of learning languages in Australia. Visit to enter.
Holy Family Primary School in a suburb of Bell Park in Geelong, Victoria, has been offering Croatian and Italian language classes since 1980.
Teachers Katica Perinac and Grace Daniel have been in charge of language and culture lessons at the school for 37 years, working together and supporting each other.
Croatian teacher Katica Perinac says that her talian teacher colleague has been instrumental in the birth of the Croatian language program.
" When I started teaching Croatian, we did not have many resources because under the Yugoslav government books and other resources were not available to us. The Italian program was already developed by the Italian Catholic Education Office.
They researched how children learn and maintain a language and developed a program using stories, songs, and games. Grace helped me translate the program which we adapted and used in teaching Croatian. I am very grateful to Grace."
Their collaboration continues to this day. They share an office and their teaching plans. Grace Daniel says their planning process is deeply intertwined.
"The Croatian teacher and I plan everything identical. We plan together and we execute the same lesson. So, if we learning about the family that means that Croatians are learning about family and the Italian students are learning about the family."
Forty years ago this unique combination of languages reflected the ethnic background of migrants settling in the area. Even now the numbers are well-balanced with about 200 hundred children learning each language.
Holy Family Primary School Croatian/Italian Day Staff Room Source: SBS Croatian
The teachers say that while the majority of students learning Croatian usually have some Croatian heritage, Italian learners come from migrant families from all over the world and Australian backgrounds. The weekly school lessons are often their first contact with a new language and culture.
"I believe it is very important to learn a language. It makes you more appreciative and understanding of all cultures. It helps you to understand and accept the differences in people. That although we do not speak the same and have different cultures, we all need to be respected", says Daniels.
School principal Peter Brunt says Holy Family says that Holy Family is the only school in Australia that offers Croatian as a part of the curriculum. The school is proud that can teach two languages, says principal Brunt.
" It is a real advantage if children can start learning in primary school. The oral development of the language is very important, that they can actually converse in the second language."
Every second year the school organizes the Croatian and Italian day celebrating both languages and cultures with the help from parents and community members.
Holy Family Primary School Croatian Italian Day Source: SBS Croatian
This year, the celebration included degustation of "fritule" - traditional Croatian doughnuts, and a workshop on creating a model of a Roman amphitheater, like Coliseum in Rome and Arena in the Croatian city of Pula.
The is an SBS Radio initiative to encourage and celebrate a love of learning languages in Australia. Visit to enter.
