When the Year 5 class at Darwin's Leanyer Primary School files into their classroom and sits on the floor, the most remarkable thing is the silence.
It's a "voices off" — or Auslan only — zone.
The school is the first in the Northern Territory to include Australia's sign language Auslan in its curriculum, meaning it's now the primary language subject for all students from Years 1 to 6.
The school made the switch from Chinese this school year after years of hard work prompted by one particular student named Sophie.
Currently in Year 5, Sofie is one of two deaf students at the school.
Assistant principal Eboné Coats, who has been one of the main advocates for introducing the Auslan program, said she knew when Sofie started preschool how important it would be to get Auslan in the school.
"She was entitled to three hours of support, and there was no way she was going to learn her first language through three hours a week," she said.
The biggest challenge for the school was finding the perfect teacher, but since Auslan teacher Clayton Hanson arrived, Sofie's excitement has been palpable.
She finally feels understood at school, in more ways than one.
"Do you like having Clayton as a teacher?" Sofie is asked with the help of an interpreter.
"Yeah, because he's deaf," she says.
"That's right, we're the same," Clayton adds.
For Eboné, the classes are about more than just teaching kids how to sign.
"For Clayton to teach Auslan successfully, it was really important that we had an isolated space where students could walk into the room, turn their voices off and be immersed into that deaf world, into that deaf culture, and really gain an understanding of what it's like for someone else," she said.
Eboné said before the program, Sofie would only use Auslan with one other student. But now the school is a more inclusive place.
"They often used Auslan in isolation … they were often shy to use it, shy to have interpreters here," Eboné said.
"Having the program at the school has increased their use out in the playground. They're not shy to show off their Auslan skills now."
Struggle to meet growing demand for interpreters
For Clayton, his hope is that his Auslan classes will also open career doors for his students and encourage them to join an industry of desperately needed professionals.
"[In] the future it would be great to have more children, students who do learn Auslan to then become interpreters one day," he said.
"At the moment, there is a huge shortage and limitations to interpreters in the workforce."
Brett Casey, chief executive of Deaf Connect, said that shortage was mainly being driven by rising demand.
"What we've seen is a lot more demand for interpreters, particularly with the introduction of the NDIS … [and] we're seeing more of an investment from governments in terms of language services," he said.
"So we're seeing the demand for interpreters increase and its supply unfortunately hasn't been able to sustain that increase, and that's where we're seeing the issue."
The shortage is particularly severe in the Northern Territory, which had no locally-based interpreter for more than two years after the previous one resigned in 2019, after which the position was defunded.
It meant there was no in-person Auslan interpreter for a number of years of pandemic press conferences.
In early 2022, following a commitment from the NT government, a Sydney-based interpreter was appointed to Darwin for a three-year term.
Mr Casey said the then-disabilities minister Kate Worden "made it her mission" to implement a program to train NT locals to become interpreters, and ensure ongoing access for deaf people in the territory.
"We had 13 people come into the course last year. I believe 11 of them have now started the Diploma of Interpreting, and are on their journey becoming certified interpreters," he said.
"So it's a great outcome, and hopefully we'll have 11 more interpreters in the Northern Territory as a result of this initiative over the next 12 months."
Hopes for more inclusive future
Although Leanyer is the first school in the NT to teach Auslan as its language, Mr Casey said its program was part of a growing trend around the country.
He said the high visibility of interpreters during the COVID pandemic had particularly promoted interest in the language.
"The visibility's definitely increased, the interest is there as a result of that, and many more people are interested in learning Auslan," he said.
"We've seen schools become more interested in teaching Auslan as their LOTE [language other than English] subject."
There are 3.6 million people in Australia who have some level of hearing loss, and census data from 2021 shows 16,000 Australians use Auslan at home.
But Mr Casey said the number could actually be closer to 20,000.
He said by teaching more children Auslan in an immersive way, and from a young age, Australian schools could help fill the current interpreter shortage as well as make everyday life more inclusive for deaf people.
"Immersion programs are fantastic, and they can add so much capacity in the future to the deaf community, whether people become interpreters or they decide to work in the deaf community in a variety of ways," he said.
"I think when we look and see the possibilities, there's so much we can do here in Australia, in terms of really giving kids the best possible ideas and insights.
"I love the diversity of immersion programs, and we do need to make sure we have the workforce to be able to support this moving forward."
