Languages Other Than English

Last updated

LOTE or Languages Other Than English is a term often used in education for languages besides English in Australian jurisdictions, [1] [2] such as NSW, Queensland, [3] Tasmania, [4] and Victoria [5] [6] [7] ; and American jurisdictions, [8] such as California, [9] [10] New York, [11] and Texas; [12] etc. Students who speak languages other than English at home are known as student with Language Backgrounds Other Than English (LBOTE), of which students with English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EAL/D) are a subet, i.e. those needing additional support to access the curriculum and develop the academic English language proficiency required for success in school. [13]

Contents

The name evolved from 'heritage language', a term first used to refer to languages other than French and English in Canada. [14] The term was later modified in relation to the Australian context to refer to languages other than English. [14] US researchers and policy-makers adopted this adapted Australian version in subsequent years. [14] LOTEs have often historically been related to the policy of multiculturalism, and tend to reflect the predominant non-English languages spoken in a school's local area.[ citation needed ]

Heritage Languages

LOTE Acquisition

Children at School Children at school (8720604364).jpg
Children at School

The home environment plays a significant role for acquisition of multilingualism in early childhood development. [15] In a study, researchers found a positive relationship between parents who valued and spent time developing their child's literacy skills and their child's language proficiency. [16] Parents who expose their child to libraries, picture books, reading aloud, storytelling, playing games, and rhymes improved literary and language skills. [16] Such environmental factors impact progression of home languages. [16] Lexical development, the changes in vocabulary over childhood, is a key area for bilingualism. [17] Lexical acquisition holds two major components: the amount and context of language input and the application of this input. [17]

LOTE Maintenance

The maintenance of a second, minority language is greatly impacted by parental language input patterns at home. [18] [19] Often, children in bilingual circumstances will prioritize the majority language, English in this case, while the minority language varies according to households. [19] One study suggest that the likelihood of bilingual maintenance can be increased if the majority language is restricted at home. [19] This could come in the form of one parent speaking one language. This would improve the minority language input. [19] Another study found that the female caregiver has the most influence on a child's communication at home. [18] They saw that if the female primarily used a LOTE, then the child's minority language proficiency was greater. [18]

The maintenance of a home language is significant to some ethnic families as a form of cultural identity continuation and intergenerational family relationships, especially with grandparents. [20] Maintenance of a LOTE is perceived to also provide greater economic opportunities in the future. [21] However, home language maintenance and loss are quite dependent on family context. Another research found that many parents were worried that bilingualism would confuse their child. [22] For example, a bilingual child may intermix majority and minority languages to form sentences. This has been subjected to differing opinions. One side argues that language confusion causes language delay, whereas the opposing view suggest that code-switching, the intermixture of two languages, is an indication of mastery of the two languages. [23] [24]

Australian Passport Australian Passport and Travel Documents (P Series).jpg
Australian Passport

A literature review found another parental motivation for teaching a minority language is for their child to be a language broker. [25] Language brokers are children who translate and interpret the majority language for their families. [25] This typically occurs when parents do not understand the dominant language. [25] The language brokers skills are typically utilized for official documentations, such as government forms, bank statements, applications, and insurance. [26] In one study the brokers outperformed native English speakers as their literacy exposure was beyond a typical school setting. [26] The study concluded that the unique role has shown greater cognition and problem-solving abilities as the language broker would reason at an adult-level real-world context. [26] These situations naturally improved the broker's skills in developing literacy as children as young as 12 years old were translating linguistically challenging official documents and meditating conversations. [25] This role places greater responsibility on the child which potentially helps them mature more quickly as they interact in more adult situations. [27] Language brokers often can help bridge the cultural gaps between their family and the new community. [27]

Social and educational environments also contribute to language maintenance or loss. [21] One study found that the use of minority languages typically declines; however, the minority language, Spanish in this instance, improved when a teacher taught bilingually, despite minimal knowledge of Spanish. [28] Students would typically converse in Spanish for non-academic conversations and smaller group settings. [28] The study concluded that sociolinguistic environments strongly maintain and develop native languages. [28] In a separate study, children who attended bilingual preschools had greater language proficiency in English and Spanish, their minority language. [29] It suggests that learning English does not hinder the development of a child's native language. [29] Another study found a positive correlation between tight family cohesion and a child's use of their native language. [30]

LOTE Loss

The child's decision to speak a LOTE is a significant factor to the loss of a minority language. [21] For instance, some children internally desire relationships outside of the family. Consequently, English would be primarily used to integrate into society. One study found that children with siblings would often speak English over a LOTE language in conversation. [31]

External influences also influence the continuation and loss of LOTE. [32] For instance, an external force might be schools teaching English as a mandatory subject. Consequently, families may transition to speaking English at home to prepare a child for the dominant language at childcare centres and school. [33] Furthermore, one study found that teachers who did not receive training for heritage languages were more likely to have indifferent or negative attitudes towards LOTE maintenance. [34] They saw that the responsibility of LOTE was for language teachers. [34] The study concluded that all educators need to understand the significance of LOTE for students. [34]

The loss of LOTE can form greater communication barriers between second-third generation children and their grandparents. [21] One study found that the language transition to English is occurring much more quickly as a LOTE can be loss within a generation. [35] This can negatively impact one's sense of heritage, cultural and familial belonging. [32]

LOTE in Australia

Australia's LOTE Context

While Australia has no official national language English is spoken by the majority of the population, with 72.7% speaking it at home in 2016. [36] The Australian government encourages migrants to learn English in order to integrate into society. [37] English is also the primary language used in Australian schools.

Despite this Australia holds more than 270 ancestries. [38] Australia's cultural diversity lies in its high first-second generation population. In 2016, 67% of Australians were born in Australia while 49% were born overseas, or one or both parents were born overseas. [36]

Between 2011 and 2016, Mandarin home speakers have increased from 1.6% to 2.5%, making it the second most spoken language at home in Australia. [36] Across every state Mandarin was the second most spoken language to English, except the Northern Territory where Australian Indigenous Language was greater. [36] Chinese immigrants have also increased from 1.5% to 2.2% between 2011 and 2016. [36] In 2016, over 300 unique languages were spoken at home, and 21% of Australians spoke another language than English at home. [39] Of individuals born overseas 61% live in New South Wales or Victoria and between 1996 and 2016, Queensland and Western Australia have increased from 9.5% to 16.5% and 9.3% to 12.9%, respectively. [39]

Education

Education Declarations

During the 1980s and 1990s the National Board of Employment Education and Training became more involved in Australia's curriculum. [40] Three declarations had a significant impact on Australia's education policies and stances. [40] In 1989, the Australian Education Council (AEC) released The Hobart Declaration on Schooling, as a first in a series to unify Australian schooling. [40] The Hobart Declaration asserted that Australian students would encounter, study, and develop a LOTE. [41] Binaco comments the motivation for this was partly economical and that the Hobart Declaration also first introduced economist into the discussions. [40] The Adelaide Declaration on National Goals for Schooling in the Twenty-first Century was produced in 1999 by the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA). [42] The Adelaide Declaration formed languages as a Key Learning Area due to the belief that cultural and linguistic diversity is valuable. [40] In 2008, MCEETYA released the Melbourne Declaration of Educational Goals for Young Australians. [43] The Melbourne Declaration attempts to set Australia's education direction for the next ten years. [40] The Melbourne Declaration inserted ‘especially Asian languages’ in parentheses after languages as a learning area. [43]

Tiering System

LOTE is becoming an increasingly popular subject in Australian Schools. The Draft Shape of the Australian Curriculum: Languages, produced by ACARA, has suggested three tiers of languages to be taught in Australian schools in 2011: [44]

Tier 1Tier 2Tier 3
Italian Japanese Arabic
Chinese French Modern Greek
Indonesian Vietnamese
Korean Tamil
Hindi
Bengali
German
Spanish

Tier 1 languages were chosen because they cater for the needs of the greatest number of students. Italian is learnt by the most students and Chinese is a national priority. [44]

Tier 2 languages were chosen because French, Japanese, Indonesian and German are some of the most frequently taught languages in Australian schools, Indonesian, Japanese and Korean are national priorities and Spanish "is a language of global importance". [44]

Tier 3 languages were chosen because Arabic, Modern Greek and Vietnamese are the most frequently spoken foreign languages in Australian homes, and Arabic "is a language of global importance". [44]

Victorian School of Languages

History

The Victorian School of Languages (VSL) was created in 1935 as a Saturday school that taught Japanese and Italian to students interested and highly academic. [45] VSL was formed due to a small core group of teachers and administrators and financially supported from other benefactors. [45] VSL mainly taught staff's interest and locally available resources as opposed to a formal, summative assessment system. [45] By 1965, enrolments increased for VSL and Dutch, Russian, Indonesian, and Chinese were offered, and the Education department would also financially support all VSL's cost. [45] Furthermore, completion of Japanese and Italian would formally be recognized towards one's high school certificate, and by 1950 Dutch would also be recognized. [45] By 1981, VSL would offer 26 languages, 17 of which was introduced by 1975. This surge was attributed to the influx of two million European migrants during the post-war period due to ethnic groups lobbying the government for additional heritage language classes. [45] However, VSL's audience largely extends past heritage language learners. French, German, and Latin are primarily enrolled by students in schools where these languages are unavailable. In 2014, VSL taught over 7000 primary students, 6500 secondary students in over 40 sites. [46]

VSL and mainstream schooling

The accreditation of VSL's education offers flexibility to some schools. The Victorian education department's decision to accredit VSL also validates its quality for parents and schoolteachers who might otherwise doubt its value. [47] VSL frees up the compulsory study of LOTE in years 7-8 by having students complete their studies after school hours. [47] Such an option is also available for senior students who desire to reduce their workload by offsetting it to after school hours. [48] However, it is important to note that the Victorian government has processes to allow other institutions to become accredited with the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE). [49] Thus, while VSL's professionalism and standard meets VCE standards, it is not unique in its educational quality. [50]

Due to VSL's recognition for VCE the education department requires all VSL teachers to hold, as a minimum, a provisional teacher registration. [45] Teachers are required to progress towards full registration, but the minimum is set due to the scarce number of heritage language teachers who are qualified. [45] The education department does subsidize the attendance to training sessions. [45] Furthermore, the recognition of VSL means that the classes held at mainstream schools have access to technology. [45] One study found that institutions that rent school campuses were not granted access to their facilities. [51] With the increasing role of technology in education VSL's ability to access school facilities enables teachers to be better equipped to teaching HLs. [45]

Box Hill High School language students compare notes on Mandarin and German Box Hill High School language students compare notes on Mandarin and German.jpg
Box Hill High School language students compare notes on Mandarin and German

However, VSL is not without its challenges. Due to the pluricentric nature of language decisions must be made about which variation is prioritized and taught. This poses political considerations because VSL is a state accredited institution and different ethnic communities, and groups may be affected depending on the variations taught. Furthermore, one study asserts that language, religion, and cultural identity are closely related. [52] This poses a tension between the secularization of education as well as ethnic communities’ views and expectations of teaching HLs. [45] Another study, in Athens, found that some parents responded positively to the inclusion of religious practices as core values for heritage language learners’ cultural identity. [52] Many religious groups offer language classes as an evangelization strategy, where the Melbourne Chinese Christian Church is a notable example with a many Chinese schools linked to the church. [21]

Culture

Some local government councils across New South Wales acknowledge different heritages by running ethnic festivals. These events attract locals to celebrate diverse cultural identities in the local communities. For instance, in 2016 the Fairfield local council hosted a Moon Festival, or Mid-Autumn Festival, in Cabramatta. [53] This celebrated Cabramatta's high Chinese and Vietnamese population. The festival included traditional activities and performances such as dragon dancing, ethnic foods, moon cake. In 2020-2021 the harvest festival was cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions. [54]

References

  1. ↑ "Draft Shape of the Australian Curriculum: Languages" (PDF). ACARA (www.acara.edu.au). p. 35. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 11 March 2025.
  2. ↑ "LOTE Online". Learning Place (www.learningplace.com.au). Archived from the original on 19 May 2009. Retrieved 11 March 2025.
  3. ↑ "Languages other than English (LOTE)". Department of Education (Queensland) . Archived from the original on 1 September 2007. Retrieved 11 March 2025.
  4. ↑ "Languages other than English". Department for Education, Children and Young People (www.decyp.tas.gov.au). Archived from the original on 10 May 2007. Retrieved 11 March 2025.
  5. ↑ "Languages Other Than English". Victorian Essential Learning Standards (www.vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au). Archived from the original on 8 April 2011. Retrieved 11 March 2025.
  6. ↑ "Multicultural Programs Home". Multicultural Programs (www.sofweb.vic.edu.au). Archived from the original on 2 July 2007. Retrieved 11 March 2025.
  7. ↑ "Languages other than English (LOTE) Domain". Department of Education (Victoria) (www.education.vic.gov.au). Archived from the original on 26 July 2008. Retrieved 11 March 2025.
  8. ↑ "Cultivating Non-English Collections: a unique partnership that alleviates the pain of librarians in multi-language communities | Offices of the American Library Association". www.ala.org. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
  9. ↑ "California ssmp-handbook-lote" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 April 2009. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
  10. ↑ "University of California - Language other than English ("e")". University of California (www.ucop.edu). Archived from the original on 22 November 2018. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
  11. ↑ "LOTE Learning Standards (New York)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 April 2010. Retrieved 11 March 2025.
  12. ↑ "Languages Other Than English". Texas Education Agency (www.tea.texas.gov). Archived from the original on 27 October 2016.
  13. ↑ "EAL/D literacy and numeracy". Department of Education (New South Wales) . Archived from the original on 9 December 2024. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
  14. 1 2 3 King, Kendall A.; Ennser-Kananen, Johanna (5 November 2012). "Heritage Languages and Language Policy". The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics. doi:10.1002/9781405198431.wbeal0500. ISBN   9781405194730 . Retrieved 1 July 2016.
  15. ↑ Lyon, Jean (1996). Becoming bilingual : language acquisition in a bilingual community. Clevedon, United Kingdom: Multilingual Matters. ISBN   0-585-19569-2. OCLC   44960029.
  16. 1 2 3 Weigel, Daniel J.; Martin, Sally S.; Bennett, Kymberley K. (1 May 2006). "Contributions of the home literacy environment to preschool-aged children's emerging literacy and language skills". Early Child Development and Care. 176 (3–4): 357–378. doi:10.1080/03004430500063747. ISSN   0300-4430. S2CID   144966487.
  17. 1 2 Brooks, Patricia J.; Kempe, Vera (2014). Encyclopedia of Language Development. Sage Publications. doi:10.4135/9781483346441. ISBN   9781452258768.
  18. 1 2 3 Crowe, Kathryn; McKinnon, David H; McLeod, Sharynne; Ching, Teresa YC (February 2013). "Multilingual children with hearing loss: Factors contributing to language use at home and in early education". Child Language Teaching and Therapy. 29 (1): 111–129. doi:10.1177/0265659012467640. ISSN   0265-6590. PMC   3600429 . PMID   23519446.
  19. 1 2 3 4 Houwer, Annick De (July 2007). "Parental language input patterns and children's bilingual use". Applied Psycholinguistics. 28 (3): 411–424. doi:10.1017/S0142716407070221. ISSN   1469-1817. S2CID   145436604.
  20. ↑ Park, Seong Man; Sarkar, Mela (1 December 2007). "Parents' Attitudes Toward Heritage Language Maintenance for Their Children and Their Efforts to Help Their Children Maintain the Heritage Language: A Case Study of Korean-Canadian Immigrants". Language, Culture and Curriculum. 20 (3): 223–235. doi:10.2167/lcc337.0. ISSN   0790-8318. S2CID   143188644.
  21. 1 2 3 4 5 Verdon, Sarah; McLeod, Sharynne; Winsler, Adam (1 April 2014). "Language maintenance and loss in a population study of young Australian children". Early Childhood Research Quarterly. 29 (2): 168–181. doi:10.1016/j.ecresq.2013.12.003. ISSN   0885-2006.
  22. ↑ King, Kendall; Fogle, Lyn (April 2006). "Raising Bilingual Children: Common Parental Concerns and Current Research" (PDF). CALdigest Series. 2: 2–3.
  23. ↑ Murkoff, Heidi Eisenberg; Eisenberg, Arlene; Mazel, Sharon; Hathaway, Sandee Eisenberg; Eisenberg, Arlene (2003). What to expect the first year ([2nd ed., rev. and updated] ed.). New York: Workman Pub. ISBN   0-7611-3184-1. OCLC   52706105.
  24. ↑ Lanza, Elizabeth (October 1992). "Can bilingual two-year-olds code-switch?*". Journal of Child Language. 19 (3): 633–658. doi:10.1017/S0305000900011600. ISSN   1469-7602. PMID   1429952. S2CID   32440882.
  25. 1 2 3 4 Morales, Alejandro; Hanson, William E. (November 2005). "Language Brokering: An Integrative Review of the Literature". Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences. 27 (4): 471–503. doi:10.1177/0739986305281333. ISSN   0739-9863. S2CID   144703891.
  26. 1 2 3 McQuillan, Jeff; Tse, Lucy (1 January 1995). "Child language brokering in linguistic minority communities: Effects on cultural interaction, cognition, and literacy". Language and Education. 9 (3): 195–215. doi:10.1080/09500789509541413. ISSN   0950-0782.
  27. 1 2 Coleman, Marilyn; Ganong, Lawrence H. (2003). Points & counterpoints : controversial relationship and family issues in the 21st century : an anthology. Los Angeles, California: Roxbury Pub. Co. ISBN   1-891487-90-6. OCLC   49584062 . Retrieved 10 March 2025.
  28. 1 2 3 Pease-Alvarez, Lucinda; Winsler, Adam (1994). "Cuando el Maestro No Habla Español: Children's Bilingual Language Practices in the Classroom". TESOL Quarterly. 28 (3): 507–535. doi:10.2307/3587306. ISSN   0039-8322. JSTOR   3587306.
  29. 1 2 Winsler, Adam; Diaz, Rafael M.; Espinosa, Linda; RodrA-guez, James L. (March 1999). "When Learning a Second Language Does Not Mean Losing the First: Bilingual Language Development in Low-Income, Spanish-Speaking Children Attending Bilingual Preschool". Child Development. 70 (2): 349–362. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.t01-1-00026. ISSN   0009-3920. PMID   10218259.
  30. ↑ Tannenbaum, Michal; Howie, Pauline (1 October 2002). "The Association between Language Maintenance and Family Relations: Chinese Immigrant Children in Australia". Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. 23 (5): 408–424. doi:10.1080/01434630208666477. ISSN   0143-4632. S2CID   145718747.
  31. ↑ Taft, Ronald; Bodi, Marianne (1980). "A study of language competence and first language maintenance in bilingual children". Applied Psychology. 29 (1–2): 173–182. doi:10.1111/j.1464-0597.1980.tb00889.x. ISSN   1464-0597.
  32. 1 2 Fillmore, Lily Wong (1 November 2000). "Loss of Family Languages: Should Educators Be Concerned?". Theory into Practice. 39 (4): 203–210. doi:10.1207/s15430421tip3904_3. ISSN   0040-5841. S2CID   143911898.
  33. ↑ Jordaan, Heila (2008). "Clinical Intervention for Bilingual Children: An International Survey". Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica. 60 (2): 97–105. doi: 10.1159/000114652 . ISSN   1421-9972. PMID   18235198. S2CID   36104710.
  34. 1 2 3 Lee, Jin Sook; Oxelson, Eva (1 July 2006). ""It's Not My Job": K–12 Teacher Attitudes Toward Students' Heritage Language Maintenance". Bilingual Research Journal. 30 (2): 453–477. doi:10.1080/15235882.2006.10162885. ISSN   1523-5882. S2CID   143662028.
  35. ↑ Hurtado, Aída; Vega, Luis A. (2004). "Shift Happens: Spanish and English Transmission Between Parents and Their Children". Journal of Social Issues. 60 (1): 137–155. doi:10.1111/j.0022-4537.2004.00103.x. ISSN   1540-4560.
  36. 1 2 3 4 5 Australia Bureu of Statistics, ABS (2017). "Census reveals a fast changing, culturally diverse nation". Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  37. ↑ Home Affairs (2020). "English—our national language". Home Affairs. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  38. ↑ Australian Human Rights Commissio (2014). "Face the facts: Cultural Diversity" (PDF). Human Rights. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  39. 1 2 Australia Bureau of Statistics, ABS (2017). "Census of Population and Housing: Reflecting Australia - Stories from the Census, 2016 (Cat. no. 2071.0.)". Australia Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  40. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Lo Bianco, Joseph (2009). Second languages and Australian schooling. Yvette Slaughter, Australian Council for Educational Research. Camberwell, Victoria: ACER. ISBN   978-0-86431-837-4. OCLC   432288468.
  41. ↑ Australian Education Council (1989). The Hobart declaration on schooling. Hobart, Tasmania: Australian Education Council. OCLC   223062372.
  42. ↑ Council for the Australian Federation. The future of schooling in Australia : a report by the Council for the Australian Federation. Melbourne, Victoria: Department of Premier and Cabinet. ISBN   978-0-7594-0474-8. OCLC   926742899.
  43. 1 2 Ministerial Council (2008). Melbourne declaration on educational goals for young Australians. Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs. ISBN   978-0-7594-0524-0. OCLC   312070522.
  44. 1 2 3 4 "Draft Shape of the Australian Curriculum: Languages" (PDF). p. 35. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 March 2016.
  45. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Willoughby, Louisa (2 September 2017), "The Victorian School of Languages as a Model for Heritage Language Education", Handbook of Research and Practice in Heritage Language Education, Springer International Handbooks of Education, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 417–428, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-44694-3_39, ISBN   978-3-319-44692-9 , retrieved 10 January 2022
  46. ↑ Department of Education and Training [Victoria] (2015). "Language provision in Victorian Government Schools, 2014" (PDF). education.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  47. 1 2 Choudhury, Ruhma (31 December 2012), "3. Raising Bilingual and Bicultural Bangladeshi-American Children in New York City: Perspectives from Educators and Parents in a Bengali Community Program", Bilingual Community Education and Multilingualism, Multilingual Matters, pp. 60–73, doi:10.21832/9781847698018-005, ISBN   9781847698018 , retrieved 10 January 2022
  48. ↑ Archer, Louise; Francis, Becky; Mau, Ada (1 December 2009). "'Boring and stressful' or 'ideal' learning spaces? Pupils' constructions of teaching and learning in Chinese supplementary schools". Research Papers in Education. 24 (4): 477–497. doi:10.1080/02671520802584111. ISSN   0267-1522. S2CID   144756119.
  49. ↑ "Providing senior secondary education in a non-school setting". www.vrqa.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  50. ↑ "Home | Victorian Institute of Teaching". www.vit.vic.edu.au. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  51. ↑ Mau, Ada; Francis, Becky; Archer, Louise (1 March 2009). "Mapping politics and pedagogy: understanding the population and practices of Chinese complementary schools in England". Ethnography and Education. 4 (1): 17–36. doi:10.1080/17457820802703473. ISSN   1745-7823. S2CID   143161039.
  52. 1 2 Gomaa, Yasser Ahmed (1 March 2011). "Language Maintenance and Transmission: The Case of Egyptian Arabic in Durham, UK". International Journal of English Linguistics. 1 (1): 46. doi: 10.5539/ijel.v1n1p46 . ISSN   1923-8703.
  53. ↑ "Moon festival takes over streets of Sydney's Cabramatta". ABC News. 4 September 2016. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  54. ↑ Boulous, Chris (26 August 2021). "'Difficult time': Cabramatta Moon Festival cancelled". Fairfield City Champion. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.