In celebration of Indigenous Languages Month, schools in the Northwest Territories (NWT) have been providing fun filled learning experiences for students.
For École St. Patrick High School (ESPHS), through the Indigenous Language and Education (ILE) team, this takes the form of a virtual meet-up, which happens on Fridays in February.
“Each of the three weeks has a theme and activities,” said Amy Wilkinson, a learning centre teacher for the school. “We have only met once so far, but I was really happy with the positive response from staff saying that students enjoyed the activities.”
The first week carried the theme of “Acknowledgement,” where the importance of the school’s land acknowledgment, prayer songs, as well as offerings and Feeding the Fire were the main focuses of learning.
“We played bingo as a school to practice Wiliideh Yati translations for common phrases, numbers, colours, and animals,” said Wilkinson.
Following this, scheduled for Feb. 11, is the theme of Let’s Go Fishing. This is also the overall theme of this years Indigenous Languages Month, according to the Government of the Northwest Territories.
“(We’ll be) learning about traditional ways of fishing in different seasons, hear the legend ‘How the Lake Trout got the bones in its head’, and review the Tłı̨chǫ fish laws,” said Wilkinson.
On top of this, students will also practice Tłı̨chǫ translations for the various kinds of fish and fishing equipment, while also taking part in a crossword puzzle.
The third and final week of celebration for St. Patrick’s will focus on Living the Dene Laws, where the Dene Laws will be reviewed and applied to how they look within the walls of the school.
Other activities planned for the third week include listening to the story of ‘How Dene Laws Came to Be’ and nominating someone for ‘Living the Dene Laws’, which recognizes those in school who exude the spirit of Dene Laws in the school.
Through all of these teachings, Wilkinson hopes that students walk away with a greater knowledge of Indigenous languages and the impact they have in the north.
“I hope that our students and staff continue to be engaged in learning about Indigenous culture and languages, and that we will see increased leadership and confidence in our students who have and are participating in our language classes,” she said.
Wilkinson also extends her gratitude towards several people for helping to bring everything together.
“I would like to say Mahsi Cho to the following people for all their contributions to our activities this year,” said Wilkinson. “The ESPHS ILE team, Gina Williams, the Indigenous Education Coordinator of Yellowknife Catholic Schools, Tina Crapeau, of ESPHS and École Saint Joseph School, Sonja Hunt and Gina Maclean, of the WCS, (as well as) Kim Nichols, Judy Whitford, and Camilia Zoe-Chocolate, of the Indigenous Languages and Education Secretariat.”
