Tag Archives: language

(Entry 2) PDF Teaching Resource: Ontario Native Literacy Coalition: 13 Moon Curriculum

PDF Teaching Resource:  Ontario Native Literacy Coalition:  13 Moon Curriculum

This second resource teaches students about the thirteen moons associated with Ojibwe, Cree, and Mohawk cultures.  It contains separate units for each First Nation’s group represented in the document and introduces students to the language/dialect associated with each Indigenous community (including introductory pronunciation guides).  There are activities and tasks available within the document, in addition to some recommendations for inviting Elders to one’s classroom.

Link:  https://onlc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/13-Moon-curriculum2.pdf

Reference
https://onlc.ca. (April 22, 2015). ONLC. Retrieved November 27, 2018, from https://onlc.ca

(Entry 1) Website: Oneida Language

For the final entries in my weblog I was approached by a (teacher) colleague who was interested in resources available to teachers of elementary (primary) students in Ontario.  In particular she wanted to help students learn about Indigenous language and culture through the lens/viewpoint of Indigenous community members.  We were able to find a few suitable resources created by Indigenous communities, other resources, however, came from the government, NGOs, or other organizations interested in improving the teaching of Indigenous cultures in the mainstream classroom.

Website:  Oneida Language

For teachers interesting in immersing students in different Indigenous languages and cultures (particularly those found in Ontario), I came across the Oneida Language and Cultural Centre website.  There are a number of different types of resources available on this website but in particular, the resources I was primarily interested in, are those that share Indigenous language(s) with elementary students.  There are areas within this website that allow students to hear words spoken in Oneida (and the phonetic spelling of the words as well).  There are a number of other resources available to teachers as well (lesson plans, and activities for example).

Link:  https://oneidalanguage.ca/learn-our-language/

Reference
Learn Our Language | Oneida. (April 15, 2012). Retrieved November 27, 2018, from https://oneidalanguage.ca/learn-our-language/

(Entry 3) Website: Native Land

Website:  Native Land

This second interactive map provides the user with the opportunity to enter a location within the search box and extract relevant information on treaties, territories, and/or languages found within that particular location within Canada.
The map also comes with a Teacher’s Guide explaining how maps can “potentially function as colonial artifacts and represent a very particular way of seeing the world – a way primarily concerned with ownership, exclusivity, and power relations” (‘NativeLand.ca – Teacher’s Guide’, n.d.)

LINK:
Native Land

NativeLand.ca. (n.d.). Retrieved 6 November 2018, from https://native-land.ca/

Art and the language of culture

In the process of researching the culture and technology relation for the indigenous culture, I looked to language as a starting point in exploring culture, as culture is in language, and to lose the language is to lose a large part of the culture.  This led me to the article “The critical state of aboriginal languages in Canada” from 1998.  The article lays out exactly as the title describes, and expounds upon the inherent right, treaty rights, and the need for constitutional rights for aboriginal people to protect their culture.

https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/docview/230325665?accountid=14656&pq-origsite=summon

 

The loss of languages and culture in itself is a sad occurrence, but it is made all the worse with the fact that aboriginal youth has high suicide rates, some have 800 times the national average.   The article “Cultural Continuity as a Hedge against Suicide in Canada’s First Nations” explores the idea of cultural continuity protecting against suicide by providing the feeling of connection to land and community as well as identity and spiritual stability. It is stated that regions with preserved and rehabilitated cultures have dramatically lower incidences.

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/136346159803500202

 

Knowing that culture preservation can be vital to youths places an urgency to teach it in the classroom.  A great resource is “The Learning Circle: Five Voices of Aboriginal Youth in Canada” from the government of Canada.  The downloadable PDF version contains five different perspectives of aboriginal children across Canada. This was created by synthesizing 15 interviews with three from each of five different communities.  The package serves to help understanding aboriginal relationship to the land, the challenges aboriginal youths may face, and draws some comparisons to other youth.  This is a class resource, with plenty of sources and activities for the classroom.

https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1329333584407/1534959534898

 

If the above resource is not enough, or perhaps there is a focus on the Inuit culture, consider checking out “Through Mala’s Eyes”.  This is a learning resource package. This fully structured 90 page package contains with activities and sources to learn about Inuit through following an individual, Mala.

http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2011/ainc-inac/R2-240-2003-eng.pdf

 

Aside from language, art is a large part of most cultures, indigenous included.  The is less a teaching resource than an interesting bit of information I found when looking into how important indigenous art is to Canada.  According to statistics published in 2017 by the government of Canada, in 2015, Inuit visual arts and crafts earned over $33 million net income, and generated an additional $17 million in economic activity.  Those working in  performing arts contributed $13.4 million to Canada’s GDP.  The page goes further into a breakdown by region, type of art, employment, and economic impact.  Might not be particularly useful for teaching, but does put the importance of the indigenous culture through an economic lens.

https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1499360279403/1534786167549

(Entry 2) Article: Keeping our languages alive: strategies for Indigenous language revitalization and maintenance

Article:  Keeping our languages alive: strategies for Indigenous language revitalization and maintenance

This article describes the current state of Indigenous languages in Canada and offers suggestions to help preserve language in the future.

Key concepts/questions covered in the article are as follows:

  • Why is it Important to Ensure the Survival of Indigenous Languages?
  • What are Indigenous Communities Doing to Revive and Continue Their Languages? (Subcategories:  Documentation and preservation; Curriculum and resource development; Language engineering, among others)
  • What Methods are Working Well?
  • What Stands in the Way of Indigenous People Being Successful in Reviving and Continuing their Languages?
  • Future Directions: What Must Be Done in Order for Indigenous Communities to Successfully Revive and Continue Their Languages?

The authors provide a fairly thorough literature review so it might be useful to anyone interested in language preservation and/or the state of Indigenous language(s) in Canada.

Link:  https://books.google.ca/books?id=iGNaDwAAQBAJ&lpg=PA72&pg=PA90#v=onepage&q&f=false

McIvor, O., & Anisman, A. (2018). Keeping our languages alive: strategies for Indigenous language revitalization and maintenance. In Watanabe, Y. (Ed), Handbook of Cultural Security (pp. 90–109). Edward Elgar Publishing. Retrieved from https://books.google.ca/books?id=iGNaDwAAQBAJ&lpg=PA72&pg=PA90#v=onepage&q&f=false

Module 1 Weblog – Laurie Campbell

1. The Endangered Languages Project

http://endangeredlanguages.com

In reading Bowers thoughts in week one, I was struck by his acknowledgement that “tribal leaders… see in the computer a means of revitalizing indigenous languages and preserving the traditional knowledge essential to tribal identity” (Bowes, 2000).  I went looking for examples of this, especially for the Siksika language from my Treaty 7 area.  Sure enough, I stumbled across The Endangered Languages Project, with a page of Siksika resources:

http://endangeredlanguages.com/lang/1677/guide

which included this little video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=197&v=4gqWBlT4j1s

Wouldn’t it be lovely if the YouTube translate feature could figure out Blackfoot!

 

References:

Bowers, C. A., Vasquez, M., & Roaf, M. (2000). Native people and the challenge of computers: Reservation schools, individualism, and consumerism. American Indian Quarterly, 24(2), 182-199.

 

2. Siksika Nation

http://siksikanation.com

The Siksika Nation website is a valuable resource for learning more about the Siksika and the Blackfoot Confederacy.  There is information here about the chief and council, history and culture, news and upcoming events, and departments such as family services and justice.   There is also a link to the Siksika Board of Education Website:

https://sites.google.com/SIKSIKABOARDOFEDUCATIOn.com/home

I love reading school newsletters.  It’s a little window into what other students and teachers are experiencing.

 

3. KAIROS Blanket Exercise program

https://www.kairosblanketexercise.org/about/

This is an activity we did as professional development in our school, but there is a version available for many different audiences.  Participants use blankets to represent land used 500 years ago and re-enact the consequences of events affecting First Nations peoples, including treaty-making, disease and residential schools.

 

4. Supporting the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calgary Catholic School District Call to Action

https://www.cssd.ab.ca/Programs/ProgramSupports/FirstNationsMetisandInuitEducation/Documents/CCSDandTRC_CalltoAction.pdf

 

In reading Michael Marker’s paper from Week 2, I started thinking about how two people can recall the same event differently.  He discussed the proceedings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and how Catholic clergy “…expressed deep resentments towards what they saw as the Commission’s emerging history of their schools; they saw it as incompatible with their order’s historical contributions to the survival and prosperity of natives peoples in Canada, and above all with their memories of what it was like participating in (and making personal sacrifices for) this project of human welfare” (Niezen, Truth and Indignation as quoted in Marker, 2015).

Priests and nuns involved in residential schools often saw themselves as doing the good work of the Catholic Church and believed that assimilation of aboriginal children was for their benefit, ignoring (or unaware of) alternative approaches being used south of the border.

Currently working for the Calgary Catholic School District, I am currently studying our board’s work with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.  I’m wondering if this is a possible research interest for me in this course.

References:

Marker, M. (2015). Borders and the borderless Coast Salish: decolonizing historiographies of Indigenous schooling. History of Education: Journal of the History of Education Society, 1-23

 

5. Calgary Catholic Diocese of Calgary – Letter from former Bishop Frederick Henry on Residential Schools (2000).

http://www.calgarydiocese.ca/news-events/bishops-blog/residential-schools.html

Written back in 2000, before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Bishop Frederick Henry of the Calgary Catholic Diocese wrote an open letter discussing the Church’s role in aboriginal education from 1857 through the 20th century.  Specifically, he addresses lawsuits brought against the Anglican and Catholic churches by individuals who were sexually or physically abused in residential schools.  He points out that it was a “church-state partnership…in which the government was the senior partner,” and that “[e]ssentially, the residential school system was a creature of the federal government even though the children in the schools were, in most cases in the immediate care of the churches” (Bishop Henry, 2000).

I would like to do some more research into the current position of the Calgary Catholic Diocese now that the first phase of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has been completed.

 

First Voices #1

https://www.firstvoices.com/

With the push to save endangered Indigenous languages, this site has been designed to archive and record as well as engage in cultural revitalization by providing teaching resources for Indigenous language learners.

This site is still in beta preview and is an improvement over the old version of the site.  It has been developed with the input of over 50 community partners.

You can choose to listen to the recorded words, play a game, there even is a “Kids Portal” which includes, words, phrases, games, songs & stories for student learning.  The Kids Portal can be accessed here:  https://www.firstvoices.com/kids/FV/sections/Data/