Bilingual Resources Development Unit
The Bilingual Resource Development Unit was established at Yuendumu School in 1974 to assist with the production of Warlpiri teaching materials, like Warlpiri story books, readers, phonic charts, song books, and so forth
What We Do
Below are the different resources on our website that we make right in the heart of Yuendumu.
About Us
Over the years the BRDU has built up a solid collection of Warlpiri resources which are used in all schools in the Warlpiri areas, such as at Lajamanu, Willowra, Nyirrpi, Yipirinya and Yuendumu Schools.
The school encourages high levels of participation by Warlpiri speakers and all interested people to ensure that suitable teaching materials can continue to be produced.
Today we are starting to focus more on greater digitisation of resources for interactive online teaching use. To see all our resources and books; as well as learn the Warlpiri language, check out the BRDU website
The Warlpiri Theme Cycle
The Warlpiri Theme Cycle is a local language and culture curriculum that was developed by Warlpiri elders and educators from Yuendumu, Lajamanu, Willowra and Nyirrpi in the 1980s.
It is also known as the Warlpiri Knowledge Cycle. At the time, elders were concerned about Warlpiri knowledge being passed on to younger generations. Their aspiration was for children to learn strong Warlpiri language and culture. Elders did not want children to lose their language and their cultural knowledge. All the ideas that the Elders gave in the early days about what kids should learn fell roughly into themes, and so their ideas were organised into twelve themes. It was decided that each term, a different theme would be the focus. There are twelve themes in the Warlpiri Theme Cycle and to cover the 12 themes takes a three year cycle.
