In many aspects of formal education we expect Aboriginal children to think, learn and behave as white children. This is an unreasonable expectation because Aboriginal children in their home lives are seldom equipped with those skills which are necessary at school. Worse, teachers often don’t understand what skills are required in school learning because they are so fundamental to the task, and because white children display these skills so easily.

This paper looks at the reading process from this point of view and identifies areas where Aboriginal children need to be taught specific skills before they can read with purpose. Suggestions as to how to teach these skills are included.

The major aim of this paper is to look at ways in which teachers of Aboriginal children can improve reading ability. I believe that our teaching methods could be improved by concentrating on what I see as being the crucial difference between Aboriginal and White Australian (yolngu and balanda) children in the formal school setting. That is, that yolngu children do not expect to and do not participate in the school program in an active purposeful self-conscious way, but rather participate passively in the school learning process in the same way as they participate passively in their day-to-day home life. What I intend to do is talk first of all about this particular idea and then later about things that I hope or believe teachers can do about it.