Posted on by Dene Basil
Southern Tutchone Language Class
In this interview Harold Risby talks about the Southern Tutchone language class offered at the Porter Creek School in Whitehorse Yukon. The Southern Tutchone language class starts from k to all the way to grade 12. The language class is available to all peoples of all backgrounds it is a part of a language revitalization effort.
Posted on by Richard Stecenko
Students with a passion for science showcase their work at the Manitoba First Nations Science Fair
Rockford McKay has been flying to northern communities for over 20 years demonstrating science to students in remote communities. And he has never seen an Anishinaabe or Cree pilot, but that will change. The Manitoba First Nation Science Fair is now in its 18th year. Only 20 students came to the first fair; last year there were over 500. Many come once, say ‘I can do that’, and return with their own science projects. Rockford blends traditional and modern science. He uses a snowshoe to illustrate engineering and problem solving; he has a portable planetarium to demonstrate astronomy and navigation. It’s just a matter of time before students from the Manitoba First Nations School System are flying, building, and designing those airplanes.
Posted on by Dene Basil
Bridging the western educational world with local First Nation culture and traditions .
In this interview Francis Ross talks about the on the land learning program in Old Crow Yukon. This program is designed to achieve educational curriculum in a First Nation lens. This program fully utilizes local First Nation knowledge, culture, and traditions and fuses it with current western education curriculum. The approach allows students to become more comfortable by learning with familiarity using Fist Nations tools, methods and ways of life to meet educational goals. This program creates a bridge between the two worlds many First Nation people experience as a hardship.
Posted on by Trisha Campbell
Solomon Ratt created a Facebook group called Cree Language Videos where he posts videos related to Cree language lessons and traditional stories.
Solomon Ratt is a professor in the Department of Indigenous Languages, Arts, and Cultures at the First Nations University of Canada where he teaches Cree language in the Y-dialect. He created a Facebook Group called, Cree Language Videos, where he posts videos of Cree language lessons that involve: introductions; things you like to do; hobbies; days of the week; weather terms; verb conjugations; tenses; and traditional stories – stories of Wîsahkîcâhk. Since the creation of Cree Language Videos a few years ago, it has gathered over 3000 members.
The Cree Language Videos started as a way to provide both distance and proximate learners with opportunities to access to the Cree language lessons. This practical language learning tool allows students to watch the videos, to see the Cree language written out, and to hear the language being spoken.
Traditional stories in Cree have lessons on how to exist and survive in this world, how to get along with others, and the responsibilities people have to each other. It is important to hear the traditional stories in their language of origin because there are certain aspects, like humour, that cannot be easily translated to English or other languages.
To Solomon, Indigenous education means to learn everything that he can about the world in which he lives, specifically, to learn from his surroundings – from the land and the people around him. He hopes that more learning will be done on the land, that language will be brought in with traditional activities, and that we can revive the language when we revive the traditions.
Cree Language Videos – http://nehiyawewin.ca/cree-language-videos/
Visit the Online Cree Dictionary / Nehiyaw Masinahikan – http://www.creedictionary.com
Cree Language Software – http://www.creedictionary.com/software/index.php
Posted on by Richard Stecenko
EmpoweringU, Financial Wellness Program helps students stay in university.
Many students drop out of university because they’re broke. The EmpoweringU, Financial Wellness Program has three goals: 1) Provide University of Manitoba Indigenous students with the tools and skills they need to make informed financial decisions; 2) Relieve stress caused by financial pressures; 3) Help students find the financial resources they need to stay in school. The program partners with awards officers to explain scholarships & bursaries and offer onsite application assistance. An Indigenous dietitian speaks about eating healthy on a budget, focusing on the traditional, cultural, and spiritual aspects of preparing a meal. There are budgeting & debt reduction workshops and sessions on the importance of filing taxes to access benefits. The EmpoweringU program has been generously funded by Hubert Kleysen, LL.D/14, Bernice Kleysen and Cambrian Credit Union.
Posted on by Richard Stecenko
After attending EmpoweringU sessions, students know how to open up a bank account, budget, apply for student loans, bursaries, scholarships and thrive at university.
After attending EmpoweringU sessions, students know how to open up a bank account, budget, apply for student loans, bursaries, scholarships and thrive at university. Coming from the north, Cindy could not believe the quantity of healthy food you could buy for $120. “If you were to buy that stuff up north, it would have been, like $300, $350. It was really nice to know that you could actually spend such little money and have a lot of food.” EmpoweringU runs its programs in Migizii Agamik; it’s a place where Indigenous students from all over get together. It’s a place to study; you talk about back home; it’s nice, warm and like family. You learn how to live on a budget.
Posted on March 11, 2019 by Jeremiah Sharpe
Neecheewam’s White Butterfly Program works with young people to improve their lives.
Neecheewam’s White Butterfly Program sees child behaviour as another language that need to be learned. Their staff look at the children they work with as a whole, an important philosophical concept of Indigenous education, which they believe to be an integrated component of daily life.
Posted on by Catherine Charest
Ce programme vise l’inclusion de l’artisanat innu en milieu scolaire. L’artisanat est inclus en tout temps dans les écoles primaires et secondaires de la communauté d’Unamen shipu (La Romaine) afin de préserver et de transmettre l’art innu. This story is not available in English. Please select another language option.
Ce programme vise l’inclusion de l’artisanat innu en milieu scolaire. L’artisanat est inclus en tout temps dans les écoles primaires et secondaires de la communauté d’Unamen shipu (La Romaine) afin de préserver et de transmettre l’art innu.
This story is not available in English. Please select another language option.
