Every day children at Wiradjuri Preschool in Griffith use and learn words from Wiradjuri language that one hundred years ago, had all but disappeared from the region.

However, in 2005 Wiradjuri man and journalist Stan Grant and Dr John Rudder published "A New Wiradjuri Dictionary" that attempted to reconstruct the language from what anthropological evidence remained.

Educators at Wiradjuri preschool began to teach basic vocabulary based from the dictionary roughly 10 years ago, and they have been implementing the language into daily routines for the children ever since.

"Learning the language is so important for our kids because they just don't have enough of their history and culture around them," Karen Thurston, director of Wiradjuri Preschool said.

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Exposing children to the words and phrases from the language at a young age opens a door for children to explore their culture and history in greater detail as they get older explained Mrs Thurston.

"Learning another language also helps them develop other important skills with memory and reading," she said.

Apart from the many cognitive benefits learning a new language can bring, for the children at Wiradjuri preschool it's about more than just educational outcomes.

"For our children it's about teaching them about their history but also teaching the wider community as well," Mrs Thurston said.

For early childhood education the focus for a second language usually begins with simple vocabulary such as numbers, animals, colours and body parts.

"We say good morning and good bye in Wiradjuri and they learn to sing some songs in Wiradjuri as well," Mrs Thurston said.

"The Wiradjuri language is embedded in our daily curriculum so children practise every day and the staff are encouraged to use it wherever they can.

"If it's always in their environment the children will continue to absorb it."

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