Training

At the heart of my work is a passionate belief in the importance of sharing skills in linguistics and in the best available methods for revitalising and maintaining languages. To that end, I have trained Indigenous community members, and Indigenous and non-Indigenous linguists at all stages of their careers in Australia and internationally (in the USA, Canada, Indonesia and the Netherlands).

The sections below provide links to other web sites that give additional details on the various training programs, and also link to my publications describing these training initiatives.

Australia

Commencing in 2009, I created the Documenting and Revitalising Indigenous Languages (DRIL) Training Program at the Resource Network for Linguistic Diversity and delivered workshops in all Australian states and territories. This program was created to empower and support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to work autonomously in developing, managing and running their own language projects themselves. Up to 2017, this grassroots program trained over 600 Indigenous people and supported approximately 150 separate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages.

In order to increase the professional capacity of Indigenous people engaged in language work, I created a Professional Development Program at the RNLD. Six Professional Development workshops were held between 2014 and 2017. These workshops aimed to strengthen the participants’ knowledge of linguistics, language documentation, and language revitalisation methods.

In my role as Training Director at the RNLD, I also led the development of two nationally accredited certificate programs:

  • Certificate II in Master-Apprentice Language Learning Program (10124NAT)
  • Certificate III in Aboriginal Languages for Communities and Workplaces (10541NAT)

I’ve discussed the development of the RNLD training programs and their ethos in the following articles:

2018 Florey, M. “Transforming the landscape of language revitalization work in Australia: The Documenting and Revitalising Indigenous Languages training model”. In Bischoff, S. T. & C. Jany (Eds.) Insights from Practices in Community-Based Research: From Theory To Practice Around The Globe, 314-338. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton.

2018 Gessner, S., M. Florey,  I. Slaughter, & L. Hinton. “The role of organizations in Language Revitalization”, in Hinton, L., L. Huss & G. Roche (Eds.). The Routledge Handbook of Language Revitalization: 49-60. New York: Routledge.

I explored the application of the Master-Apprentice Program to the Australian context in the following article:

2018 Hinton, L., M. Florey, S. Gessner & J. Manatowa-Bailey. “The Master-Apprentice Language Learning Program”, in Hinton, L., L. Huss & G. Roche (Eds.). The Routledge Handbook of Language Revitalization: 123-136. New York: Routledge.

International training activities

CoLang: Institute for Collaborative Language Research

(formerly InField: Institute on Field Linguistics and Language Documentation)

I was a founding member of the Advisory Circle for InField / CoLang and have trained at five of the biennial Institutes held at different campuses across the USA.

2020 CoLang, University of Montana – POSTPONED due to COVID-19. Stay tuned for new dates

    • Project Planning (to be co-facilitated by Margaret Florey and Kevin Martens Wong)
    • Grant-writing (to be co-facilitated by Margaret Florey and Jenny L Davis)

2018 CoLang, University of Florida, 18-29 June

2016 CoLang, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, 20 June – 1 July

2014 CoLang, University of Texas, Arlington, 16-27 June

2010 InField, University of Oregon, 21 June – 2 July

2008 InField, University of California, Santa Barbara, 23 June – 3 July

CILLDI Canadian Indigenous Languages and Literacy Institute

University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

2010 CILLDI, 5-23 July 2010

  • Language Policy and Planning for Indigenous Language Communities INT D 311 (taught by Margaret Florey)

2009 CILLDI, 6-24 July 2009

  • Language Policy and Planning for Indigenous Language Communities INT D 311 (taught by Margaret Florey)
    This course included components on project development, an overview of language endangerment, language data sources, language contact and language shift, negotiating loss, international policy responses, assessing linguistic vitality, language documentation, ethics and responsibilities, partnerships, collaboration and  roles, new media and  new technologies in revitalization and maintenance, language activism, capacity building, strategies for revitalization.
First Nations and Endangered Languages Program

University of British Columbia, Canada, 15-30 June 2009

  • Endangered Language Documentation and Revitalization FNLG 448H (taught by Margaret Florey)
    This course included components on recording and capturing digital data (Audacity), transcription of data (ELAN), data, metadata and archives (IMDI), ethics and responsibilities, assessments of linguistic vitality, language activism, methods in language revitalisation, grant-writing.
Training Workshops on Language Documentation, Bali, Indonesia

These workshops were co-created with Nikolaus Himmelmann and funded by a grant from the Volkswagen Foundation. A team of international trainers volunteered to work with Florey and Himmelmann to teach the sessions: I Wayan Arka, Michael Ewing, Anthony Jukes, Sri Jani Kuhnt-Saptodewa, Claudia Leto, Betty Litamahuputty, Antonia Soriente, Jan Wohlegemut.

The development of this workshop program is analysed in the following articles:

2010 Florey M. & N. Himmelmann “New directions in field linguistics: Training strategies for language documentation in Indonesia”, in Florey, M. (Ed.) Endangered Languages of Austronesia: 121-140. Oxford: Oxford University Press [download PDF]

2008 Florey M. “Language activism and the “new linguistics”: Expanding opportunities for documenting endangered languages in Indonesia”, in Austin, P. K. (Ed.) Language Documentation and Description, Vol. 5, 120-135. London: SOAS [download PDF of article]

Workshop 1, 10-20 July 2006

  • For this workshop, I developed a training model appropriate to the Indonesian setting, co-planned the curriculum, coordinated the participation of twenty-five Indonesian linguists and language activists and eleven international trainers, taught workshops on Writing grant applications and Speakers and speech communities, and tutored in workshops on the capture of audio and video data (Audacity), transcription and analysis of data (ELAN), dictionary making (Toolbox, MDF), archiving and metadata (IMDI).

Workshop 2, 21–27 July 2007

  • For this workshop, I co-planned the curriculum, coordinated the participation of Indonesian linguists and language activists and eight international trainers, taught workshops on Transferring skills in language documentation (training the trainer) and Developing local language and culture centres, and tutored in workshops on the capture of audio and video data (Audacity), transcription and analysis of data (ELAN), dictionary making (Toolbox, MDF), archiving and metadata (IMDI).
Maintaining Indigenous Languages: communities and institutions working together

These workshops in Indonesia were co-created with Michael Ewing and Betty Litamahuputty. They were co-supported by Pattimura University, Ambon, Darussalam University, Ambon, and the Ambon State Library, and funded by a grant from the Endangered Languages Documentation Program.

I described the development of these workshops in the following article:

2009 Florey M. “Supporting Indigenous languages and Indigenous knowledge: developing community training approaches for the 21st century”, in Bates, P., M. Chiba, S. Kube & D. Nakashima (Eds.) Learning and Knowing in Indigenous Societies Today: 25-37. Paris: UNESCO. [download PDF]

Workshop 1, Mari Belajar Bahasa Tanah (Let’s study indigenous languages) workshop, Masohi, Seram Island, Indonesia, 31 January – 6 February 2005

  • For this workshop, I developed the methods and materials for a residential training program in language learning and revitalisation methods, planned and organized all practical aspects of the workshop, coordinated the activities of the four trainers and the 24 participants, who included eight staff members from Pattimura University, Ambon, Darussalam University, Ambon, and the Ambon State Library, and sixteen members of four ethnolinguistic communities from eastern Indonesia (Alune, Allang, Tulehu, and Rutah).

Workshop 2, Siwalima Museum, Ambon, Indonesia, 29 June 2006

  • For this workshop, I developed a training program in language awareness for approximately thirty staff members of the regional Siwalima Museum, Ambon, prepared training materials, and supported the four previously trained Indigenous language activists who acted as group leaders throughout the workshop.
Bahasa Tanah Maluku Tengah (Languages of the Central Moluccas) workshops

These workshops in Indonesia were co-created with Aone van Engelenhoven and Betty Litamahuputty. They were held at the Moluks Historisch Museum (formerly in Utrecht and now in the Hague), the Netherlands and were funded by a grant from the Australian Research Council.

Workshop 1, June 2001

  • For this workshop, I developed the methods and materials for beginner level classes in three Moluccan (Indonesian) languages which are represented amongst the Moluccan minority in the Netherlands (Haruku, Allang, Amahei), trained the four elders who led the language groups. coordinated the four support linguists, and organized the participation of 53 Dutch-Moluccan participants from various parts of the Netherlands.

Workshop 2, September 2003

  • For this workshop, I developed the methods and materials for advanced classes in three Moluccan (Indonesian) languages which are represented amongst the Moluccan minority in the Netherlands (Haruku, Allang, Amahei), trained the elders who led the language groups, coordinated the four support linguists, and organized the participation of 67 Dutch-Moluccan participants from various parts of the Netherlands who were taught at three workshop levels.