Posted on March 3, 2019 by Crystal Burnip
Land As Life is a third-year course offered at Vancouver Island University in the Indigenous/Xwulmuxw Studies Program. Land As Life is an introduction to land-based skills and learning from the environment where students will learn and appreciate First Nations perspectives on the cultural significance of the land. Topics may include: genealogy, First nations protocols, sacred […]
Land As Life is a third-year course offered at Vancouver Island University in the Indigenous/Xwulmuxw Studies Program. Land As Life is an introduction to land-based skills and learning from the environment where students will learn and appreciate First Nations perspectives on the cultural significance of the land. Topics may include: genealogy, First nations protocols, sacred places, oral histories, sacred water, and indigenous language. This course validates how the land is a living library and a teacher. It teaches students to be together; to work together, and to share, while developing a community of learners. The Land As Life course demonstrates reciprocity through giving back by sharing history and by allowing the people of the land to share their own stories and history as opposed to the stories being told for them.
Posted on by mariajoseathiemartinez
The Math Catcher Outreach program aims to promote mathematics and scholarship in general by encouraging elementary and high school students to recognize how math is used in everyday life and how it forms the basis for many of our daily decisions and life-long choices. The storytelling, pictures, models, problem solving, and hands-on activities encourage young […]
The Math Catcher Outreach program aims to promote mathematics and scholarship in general by encouraging elementary and high school students to recognize how math is used in everyday life and how it forms the basis for many of our daily decisions and life-long choices. The storytelling, pictures, models, problem solving, and hands-on activities encourage young people to enjoy math and help dispel myths that math is boring and abstract. Math Catcher has produced animated films in several First Nations languages (Blackfoot, Cree, Squamish, Heiltsuk, Nisga’a, Sliammon, Halq’em ́eylem, Hul’q’umi’num’, and Huu-ay- aht) as well as bilingual picture books in Blackfoot/English, Cree/English, Squamish/English, Nisga’a/English, and Sliammon/English. For more information: http://www.sfu.ca/mathcatcher.html
Posted on by Charity Gladstone
The SENĆOŦEN Survival School and Language Apprenticeship programs value our history and teach the ways and beliefs of our W̱SÁNEĆ homeland and worldview.
SENĆOŦEN Survival School: This program is a fully SENĆOŦEN immersion experience (EWENE W̱ENITEM ḴEN SḰÁL – no English Language is spoken) for Children 5-6 or at the Kindergarten program level. Our program teachers meet the Ministry Prescribed Learning Outcomes of the Kindergarten Curriculum. Children will spend 3.5 hours in classroom Learning the Kindergarten Provincial Curriculum through a SENĆOŦEN medium. For 2.5 hours per day, children will also learn through engagement with nature in the playgrounds and forests around our school and at beaches and culturally significant places. Children can enter the LE,NOṈET Immersion stream at this level.
SENĆOŦEN Language Apprenticeships: The goal of the Mentor-Apprentice Program is to facilitate the development of fluent speakers of SENĆOŦEN language where fluent speakers are partnered with committed learners in an immersion environment in the home and on the land. This is a one-on-one language immersion program. A “mentor” (a fluent speaker of a language) is paired with an “apprentice” (learner).
Posted on by Charity Gladstone
An examination of the historic and current issues relevant to First Nations land use and community planning.
This course looks at land use and community planning in First Nation communities across Canada from a variety of perspectives. The course includes an examination of the history of First Nations planning in Canada; review of the portions of the Indian Act relevant to planning and land use; current trends in First Nations planning (comprehensive community plans and land codes); treaties and planning; and local government – First Nations relationship building. The course aims to acquaint students with the issues that shape current practice in land use and community planning in First Nations across Canada, with a focus on BC.
Posted on February 22, 2019 by Kelsey Jaggard
Kelsey Jaggard interviews Jeremy Audette, Principal at Thomas Fiddler Memorial High School in Sandy Lake, Ontario. The High School offers formal education up to grade 10 and caters to learners ages 12-21. The school is working to incorporate land-based opportunities to connect youth to traditional knowledge and create a space where they are engaged in […]
Kelsey Jaggard interviews Jeremy Audette, Principal at Thomas Fiddler Memorial High School in Sandy Lake, Ontario. The High School offers formal education up to grade 10 and caters to learners ages 12-21. The school is working to incorporate land-based opportunities to connect youth to traditional knowledge and create a space where they are engaged in their own learning.
Posted on February 21, 2019 by Justina Black
BushKids is exploring the ethical space between Indigenous education and Western education principles in Yellowknife, NT.
BushKids co-founders are both trained as forest and nature school practitioners. Chloe Dragon Smith is a Dënesųłiné – Metis woman from Yellowknife, who grew up learning on-the-land through the Indigenous education principles of her family. Wendy Lahey is a non-Indigenous educator trained in the Western education system and has lived in the north for a long time. The two women are committed to working with the community, as possible, to create a curriculum that equally honours these systems of teaching and learning on the land.
The goal of BushKids is ultimately to affect the public education system and ensure all northern students spend regular time on the land throughout the school year. Programming is currently offered throughout the school year for pilot classes of all ages, from early childhood to high school. BushKids educators also work with teachers in public education systems with the goal of enabling them to bring their classes outside as part of their learning.
Posted on February 20, 2019 by Tina Trombley
A Nakota language initiative that seeks to revitalize and re-awaken the Nakota language on White Bear First Nation.
Sarah and Shayna McArthur of White Bear First Nation began the group, Mato Ska Nakona bi Linguistics Inc. to work with community members in order to revitalize and restore the Nakota language. By using language acquisition methods like Total Physical Response and Native American Hand Signs, the McArthur’s hope to increase the number of Nakota language speakers in their community. By learning Nakota people can reconnect with their spirituality and traditional ceremonies in order to heal from past trauma. This initiative is helping Nakota community members, of all ages, to be proud of their identity and history. The Nakota people, now more than ever, must be committed to learning their language and reconnecting with their identity – the Mato Ska Nakona bi Linguistics Inc. is able to support this work.
Posted on by Charity Gladstone
The Bakuemgyala Language Group is a community based group working collectively to revitalize the Kwakwala/Likwala language.
The Bakuemgyala Language Group has been undertaking substantial updating of its community-based program and conducting extensive discussions on the approach with key stakeholders such as local Elders, mentees and youth. The community-based program has been developed recognizing that languages are in crisis and that urgent action is required to address the loss of language in our families, homes and communities. Thus, to advocate the preservation of Kwakwala/Likwala language, culture, traditional arts and history. Ultimately, the programs goal is to increase the number of Kwakwala/Likwala language speakers.
