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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-12-01 Daily Xml
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Children's Week Competition 2021

The Hon. J.S. LEE (15:47): I am delighted to rise today to speak about the 2021 Children's Week celebrations in South Australia. It was a great honour to join the Minister for Education, the Hon. John Gardner, on Monday 22 November 2021, for the prize presentation of the Ethnic Schools Association of South Australia's 2021 Children's Week Competition.

I wish to sincerely thank and congratulate Mr Binh Nguyen, chairperson and board members, Darryl Buchanan, executive officer of the Ethnic Schools Association, the Department for Education, the Multicultural Education and Language Committee, and all the staff, volunteers, educators, students and parents for being involved in the celebration and for their ongoing support to strengthen language studies and cultural activities to advance multiculturalism in South Australia.

The Ethnic Schools Association of South Australia is the peak umbrella body for ethnic and community language schools across our state. As the Assistant Minister to the Premier and the ambassador for multicultural affairs for the Liberal Marshall government, I have had the pleasure of working with hundreds of multicultural community organisations and ethnic schools in South Australia over the years.

I have personally seen the great work by these community schools in fostering language studies, arts and cultural activities for children of migrant families, and through dedication and hard work they have helped children to preserve a love of language and a sense of cultural identity among Australians of all cultural backgrounds.

The association provides support to 95 separately incorporated ethnic school authorities, which together teach a total of 47 languages in South Australia. I know that Minister Gardner has spoken passionately about the importance of how learning more than one language improves children's innate understanding of how language works and can help improve their English communication as well as educational achievements in other areas.

As a migrant from a non-English-speaking background myself, I understand that language is intrinsic to the expression of culture. Language is a means of communicating values, beliefs and customs. It has an important social function and fosters feelings of community identity and solidarity. Living in a multicultural state, we all appreciate that there are many children in our community who come from a non-English-speaking background but have grown up with English as their first language. For these children, learning the language of their culture is a wonderful way of connecting with and understanding their ancestry and heritage.

One of the all-time favourite events held by the Ethnic Schools Association each year is a children's day parade and concert to celebrate the annual national Children's Week festival. Children's Week focuses on recognising children's achievements and reminds adults of our responsibility to ensure that our young people are nurtured and encouraged physically, mentally and emotionally.

The ethnic schools children's day parade was first held in 1989 and has a long history in South Australia. It has been held every year since, but sadly due to the COVID pandemic it was not held in 2020 and 2021. This year, the Ethnic Schools Association designed a meaningful competition for students who attend community language schools and provided an opportunity for them to enter into various different categories of competition.

Four hundred and eighty four students from 44 ethnic schools participated in the Children's Week competition and celebrated their diverse heritage through writing, drawing, painting and creative projects. I was delighted to present some of the awards together with the Minister for Education, the Hon. John Gardner, and we were very impressed by the thoughtfulness, artistic talents, language comprehension and creativity in the winning entries.

I thank Minister Gardner for his longstanding commitment to language learning in South Australia and I am proud that the Marshall Liberal government provides key funding through the Department for Education towards a Children's Week competition and to all ethnic schools in South Australia.

Once again, I would like to convey my appreciation to the Ethnic Schools Association for their fantastic work and to the Adelaide Festival Centre for hosting this year's arts entries, competition and prize presentation. Congratulations to all students, parents and educators who were involved in the competition. You have made our state very proud of your collective achievements—congratulations.

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