Because Punjabi matters: Australian High school teacher's passion for Punjabi

Gurmeet Kaur is a high school teacher in Sydney who has been teaching Punjabi in Australia for many years now.

A school in NSW where Punjabi is being taught as a second language. Source: SBS

Gurmeet Kaur was instrumental in the development of the Punjabi syllabus for Kindergarten year 10 students in New South Wales.

This syllabus incorporates Punjabi culture, dances, and dresses, apart from rote learning. The language is taught as a major aspect of the school's educational modules. Students learn the language as well as history, beliefs, culture and much more. There are excursions and incursions to make the learning more exciting for students, and even activities like cooking in class, or outings to Gurudwaras and eateries.

Ms. Kaur says the emphasis is to teach the students not just the language but its history and culture as well to give them a holistic understanding of Punjabi. There are excursions and incursions to make the learning more exciting for students, and even activities like cooking in class, or outings to Gurudwaras and eateries.

This year, Gurmeet Kaur is teaching Punjabi to 21 students from varying cultural backgrounds; Vietnamese, Chinese, Arabic, Italian and Fijian but none from a Punjabi background.

Ms. Kaur says her students enjoy the learning methods which include alphabets, songs, religious convictions and so on. As a feature of their evaluation, students need to outline and distribute a travel leaflet about Punjab in Australia and plan a menu for their Punjabi restaurant - the Dhaba.

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