Shannon Bowe and his family began online Guugu Yimidhirr lessons with linguist Jan Goetesson in May 2017. Shannon’s lessons are supported by video demonstrations recorded by Guugu Yimidhirr teacher Lillian Bowen. Shannon is a descendant of the Daarrba Warra in north Guugu Yimidhirr country, but he was born in Toowoomba and has always lived far from his country.

Jan and Shannon use ZOOM video conferencing to study and practice the lesson materials. They also discuss Guugu Yimidhirr language and culture. On this screenshot Jan and Shannon are watching a video of Lillian Bowen saying the word Nguudhurr (kinship word).

If you are interested in learning Guugu Yimidhirr you are welcome to join our Zoom lessons. 


Shannon’s comments on his first two Zoom lessons:

Hi Karin

Here are my initial reflections.

Lessons 1 &2

Tuesday 9th & 16th May 2017

What was great?

Jan’s and Karin’s teaching styles compliment each other well, providing a range of explanations and examples that they know I can relate to in order to understand key concepts, sounds, systems and structures. Jan provides a deep wholistic perspective of language, history and socio-political factors, past and present, which takes me on a learning journey which is highly engaging and informative. 

Time Allocation

I think we had set aside 1 hour but in total the lesson was close to 2 hours and quite frankly I would have been happy to keep going it was just so interesting and exciting and both teachers were very accommodating. Lesson 2 went for 1h 30min. Karin was great in identifying pieces I could/should progress out of session.

I thought lesson two was close to perfect. Everything is coming together really well.

General Reflections?

Lesson one was the perfect start to our learning journey. It’s clear already that a lot of thought and expertise has been invested in both the production of the material and structuring the learning plan.

Starting with some foundational knowledge including the fundamental differences and commonalities between English and Guugu Yimidhirr was important. The interactive activities and homework tasks I was set were perfect.