Forty-seven Aboriginal students in the Kimberley were interviewed in English and Kimberley Kriol to investigate their understanding of "everyday" words used within mathematics classrooms. The results showed that some of the Kindergarten and pre-primary students had difficulty with both the Kriol and English words, indicating they need to learn concepts associated with these words. The research also showed that many of the Year 3 students understood most of the Kriol words, but still needed to learn some of the commonly used English words and phrases.