Tag Archives: Shuswap language recording

Ruth Sandwell – Reading Beyond Bias – presenting the “real” truth to our Shuswap students in recorded podcasts

For my final weblog post for this course, I wanted to continue what I left off on in my last post. I was discussing the 2 most influential papers that I read during my MET journey (Prensky, 2001) and (Sandwell, 2003). In my previous post I discussed how the fact of being a “digital native” could in fact benefit younger Shuswap students when learning their language and cultural heritage.

The Sandwell article has completely changed the way I look at teaching Socials Studies 11 for example and how vitally important it is to present students with the truth (and not a biased version of it). In this course (ETEC 521), I have also learned that our own Canadian government has hidden the truth from its citizens, especially about the horrors of residential schools in the past. Even in the last weeks, our cohort has discussed information that the government has provided as being incorrect, which continues to be detrimental for our First Nations people.

When reflecting upon Sandwell’s paper, I am interested in how Shuswap language podcasts will be able to be free of bias and tampering of non-Indigenous people. In the past, leaving the information and welfare of our Native people in the hands of our government has often proven to be disastrous. Therefore, the fate of saving the Shuswap language and its cultural heritage must lie in the hands of the Shuswap people themselves. They will need to be very competent “technologically-wise” and therefore must make sure that they have a lot of “digital natives” (Prensky, 2001) on board to help them with the daunting task of documenting and creating language podcasts for the schools. Once non-natives get involved, there is always the risk of the dominance of English or French influences taking over. I know that there are non-native researchers out there that would do their best to record information “without bias” but in the end, I believe that if the Shuswap do everything themselves, there will be no chance of interference from outsiders.

A recording of an elder would be considered a “primary document” in history (Sandwell, 2003). Therefore, documenting it properly would be vitally important. Sandwell says it perfectly:

“Not only does a record of an event, or thought, or belief have to be created, but it has to be preserved if people are going to know about it later”. However, how will these records survive the next 100 years for example? If a historian happens to stumble upon some Shuswap podcasts, will these podcasts be a true representation of what the Shuswap language really represents? What if a historian finds a podcast that was poorly done by someone who doesn’t speak the language well? How will their interpretation of this podcast be distorted then?

There are so many things to think about when documenting an endangered language. It is a project that may take many lifetimes. If we think of the English language for example. It is constantly changing and taking on new forms. Will endangered Indigenous languages follow this same pattern or will different mutations of them be developed, due to the influence of missed generations of speakers and the fact that language survival is depended strongly on technology?

I hope that in my lifetime, I don’t have to witness anymore Indigenous languages that have gone extinct. It is a huge undertaking but as part of our Canadian history, I think we owe it to our First Nations people who deserve the chance to revitalize their languages and to preserve their precious and rich cultural heritage.

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives Digital Immigrants: On the Horizon. NCB

University Press, Vol. 9 No. 5.

Sandwell, R. (2003). Reading Beyond Bias: Using Historical Documents in the Secondary

Classroom. Revue de Sciences de l’Éducation de McGill. Vol. 38, No 1.

Virtual ethnicity – how young people’s cultural identity could be affected when learning Shuswap from podcasts

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In January of 2013, I was fortunate enough to have been in the first class ever for ETEC 565G. This was an excellent course where we were introduced to the fact that even though we may think so, online environments and online learning environments are not ‘culture-free zones’. We examined the different signs and tools that allow individuals to construct meaning and interact with the people they encounter. We also looked at the cultural differences between people while working with technology and how there can be communication breakdowns if we are not respectful of each other.

When I think back on this paper by one of the ETEC 565G instructors (Macfadyen, 2006), I remember how important the aspect of cultural identity was and how working online can often be difficult when it comes to respecting ones heritage and traditions. My concerns with young Shuswap students learning their language from recorded podcasts of elders who have passed away are:

Will certain aspects of passing on tradition be negatively affected in the language learning process? If these Shuswap students don’t have physical contact with the elder who is transmitting their language through a recorded podcast, how will this affect their cultural identity?

I know from experience that by sitting with an older person who is telling a story, I not only hear their voice and see their face, but I can hold their hands, sit close beside them, smell the smells of the surroundings and listen and truly feel the environment that surrounds us. Also, if there is a lesson to be taught by the person, such as making something with their hands, if I am beside them, I will experience the same feel of the items/materials/tools that allow me to receive the same hands-on experience as the older person who is explaining their story to me. This type of contact with Shuswap elders plays a huge role in the transmission of culture and language. If this is missing in podcast language recordings, how will young Shuswap students retain the aspects of tradition while they are also learning the language? This also has me asking the following question:

Will the Shuswap people ever be able to revitalize their language so it is strong enough to be communicated without the help of technology? In other words, once the recordings and documented podcasts of elders and language learners have been learned, studied and put to oral practice, will communities be able to speak their language comfortably enough so that they speak 100% of the time in Shuswap while continuing to share their language through traditional oral stories and customs like their ancestors?

References

Macfadyen, L. (2006). Virtual Ethnicity: The new digitization of place, body, language, and

memory. Electronic Magazine of Multicultural Education, 8 (1).

The renaissance of the Secwepemc language after the lost generation, due to residential schooling

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Language immersion has always fascinated me since I began teaching French Immersion. However, I realize that “true immersion” is hard to come by. Unless we are the only ones surrounded by the new language, it is extremely hard to escape the influences of English. While searching for topics for my weblogs, I discovered that a small elementary school in Chase, B.C. has been offering Secwepemc (Shuswap) immersion. I immediately was intrigued. Secwepemc is also the local language spoken here in the Cariboo.

After hearing stories firsthand of the disastrous consequences of the residential schools, I realized that the Shuswap Nation’s culture and language acquisition were threatened to almost extinction. Generations were literally skipped, robbing them of their aboriginal tongues and traditions.

Slowly, as the memories of the horrors of residential schools are left behind, the Shuswap are taking pride in learning their own language and regaining their identity through their culture. What I would like to look into for my research is whether it will ever be possible for the Shuswap Nation to be fluent in Secwepemc again. By using podcasts and recordings of elders, will they be able to acquire the language knowledge of their ancestors?

Reference

http://thetyee.ca/News/2011/09/06/Chief-Atahm-Elementary-School/

Recording and pronunciation of the Secwepemc language

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The following is a video of the Secwepemc (Shuswap) language that demonstrates what the elder is doing with her mouth in order to pronounce the words. I’ve heard only a handful of words being pronounced here in 100 Mile House but I’ve never actually listened to a recording like this which goes through the basic vowels and shows how to form words. I think it’s time that I start studying videos like this and appreciate learning this local Shuswap dialect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l23LOp0OUys

The woman speaking Secwepemc on this video is from the Splatsin Shuswap nation which is located near Enderby, B.C. The following is a link that explains a little bit about this community.

http://www.splatsin.ca/about/

It must be a real challenge for the young people who are learning this language to be able to learn it and speak it correctly and fluently. When you think of “true immersion”, you need to be surrounded by the language 24 hours a day and not be influenced by other languages, especially English. The French Immersion system experiences the same phenomenon. The majority of the students speak English already before entering the program, so therefore, when they arrive in French Immersion Kindergarten, the teacher is the only one who actually speaks French (which is really not “true immersion). Of course the most ideal immersion would be to take French Immersion students and drop them into a French Kindergarten class in France for a year. Unfortunately for Shuswap (or other aboriginal students), this is almost impossible, unless they have the opportunity to attend a Shuswap language immersion school like Chiet Atahm on the Adams River reserve. However, even under these circumstances, English and other languages are always present, especially once the students leave school. It doesn’t help either that there is a lost generation of aboriginal speakers due to the damaging affects of the residential schools. I sure admire these people for their determination and courage to try to revive their language and traditions in today’s society. However, this is where they are probably very grateful to have the modern technology of video recorders, tape decks or even iPads so that they can record the precious stories of their elders.