ClassNotes Profiles
Herbert Howell
After graduating from, what was then, the Northern Territory University I spent the rest of the year at Warburton Ranges, a remote Aboriginal Community in the Gibson Desert of Western Australia. Warburton had been my abode, with my wife and children, since the 60's and though we spent 8 years in Alice Springs, my wife and I returned to Warburton Ranges when our sons left home to go on to apprenticeships in other states.
When the year was completed my wife and I shifted to Esperance where I took up a teaching position in a non-government all Aboriginal school.
Wongutha CAPS School is a V.E.T. school for years 11 and 12 students from all over W.A. Most of our students come from the Kimberley region with several coming from the Eastern Goldfields, the Pilbara and a small number from the South West of the state. I teach a literacy program called Scaffolding in W.A. and Accelerated Literacy in the N.T. This is because our students are all ESL speakers and most have very low literacy levels. It is very encouraging to have students increase their literacy levels, in some cases dramatically, as they are all in their last years of school and are considered 'at risk'. I really appreciated the studies I did in TESOL with NTU and they have stood me in good stead.
Now I am starting on doing a Masters in Applied Linguistics and trust this will also help the students at the school in the long run.
