Module 1 – Entry 1
UBCO Indigenous Language Degree – Global News Video Coverage
I found this Global news story while looking for ways that indigenous languages are being preserved. Jeanette Armstrong is a professor at UBCO offering a new degree program that focuses on indigenous language preservation. Since UBCO is located in the Okanagan, there is a focus on the traditions, cultures, and languages of the Okanagan people. I think this is a great example of how to utilize place (Okanagan) to promote the preservation of a culture that was at risk of being lost. This short video clip is a great starting point to launch an investigation into the Okanagan people.
Squamish Language – How-to Videos
Located on the same Global news page is an interesting story about Aaron Williams, a Squamish language project specialist that was hired to create bilingual signs that displayed both English and Squamish language on road sign leading up to the 2010 Olympics. What I find interesting about the story is how technology (YouTube) is being used to create public interest in a language that not many people know how to use. The Squamish language is seen on public highways and now Arron is using YouTube to create how-to videos to help people pronounce what they are seeing on the signs. I think this a great example of how indigenous languages can be saved using technology.
I found both of these articles interesting because I am interested in looking at how technology can be used in a culturally respectful manner that will benefit the maximum number of stakeholders. Using examples such as these two stories could help me discover new ways of incorporating technology in my own classroom and be culturally sensitive.
Reference
Little, S, & Aylesworth, L. (2021, April 30). Squamish First Nation member creates ‘how-to’ videos on pronouncing Indigenous names. Global News. https://globalnews.ca/news/7825465/squamish-language-signs/
Great blog Tyler! I have many a time seen these bilingual signs in the past, and thought to myself, this is a significant and beautiful way to create a connection and relationship symbolically, through the use of language, with the Tsilhqot’in First Nation and various Cariboo communities with British Columbia. Listening to Aaron Williams “How to” video on the proper pronounciations of these highway signs, showed me how technology can bridge the cultural gaps and introduce, simultaneously preserve the Indigenous languages.
-Selene