Honey Ant Readers - Reader 8: Stop the Bus

The Honey Ant Readers (HAR) is an exciting literacy program that Indigenous learners can relate to and succeed with.

It is the first ever early reading program in Australia to be developed in collaboration with, and at the request of, Indigenous elders and community and written specifically for speakers of Aboriginal English. It is underpinned by sound pedagogy and second language acquisition theory and supported by songs and rhymes which teach Standard Australian English.

Honey Ant Reader 8, 'Stop the Bus', begins with the bus driver and Nana collecting children from their homes. The bus takes them to school, but on the way they ask to stop at a mulga tree to see if there are any honey ants.

There are two songs at the end of the book, 'Deep Underground' and 'Here we go Round the Mulga Bush' which teach the vocabulary and sounds introduced in HAR 8. By Reader 8, students have learnt 55 words.