The Gift of Language and Culture Project

The Gift of Language and Culture Partnership consists of 9 organizations: Lac La Ronge Indian Band (LLRIB), Northern Lights School Division 113 (NLSD), Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation (PBCN), Meadow Lake Tribal Council (MLTC), Prince Albert Grand Council (PAGC), Saskatchewan Indian Culture Centre (SICC), Saskatoon Public Schools (SPS), Onion Lake First Nation (OLFN), and the Ministry of Education.

THE HISTORY

In 2003, three of Saskatchewan’s largest First Nations bands joined collaborative forces with the province’s biggest tribal council in an effort to fill the sizable linguistic curriculum void that currently exists in the province.

For some time the Lac La Ronge Indian Band (LLRIB), Onion Lake First Nation (OLFN), Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation (PBCN), and the Prince Albert Grand Council (PAGC) were proactively discussing the future direction of First Nations languages. (Saskatchewan Learning had also partaken in the discussions). The result from these discussions was a project called the Gift of Language and Culture, a vast multi year project that is generally meant to address Cree language needs across the province. The specific concept behind the proposal was to create a resource-based Nursery-to-Grade 9 instructional and immersion Cree language curriculum.According to the project brief, student demographics in Saskatchewan indicate an increasing First Nations presence in the provincial school system. The learning needs of these students have often excluded the opportunity to be taught in their first language either in an immersion or instructional setting. The absence of relevant First Nations language curriculum has often led to levels of frustration as a result of being unable to connect culturally and linguistically with schools.

Over the past several decades, numerous attempts have been made by individual First Nations, Saskatchewan Learning, and organizations such as Saskatchewan Indian Culture Centre (SICC), Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN), and numerous tribal councils to develop relevant language curriculum materials. While project organizers do not wish to detract from these efforts, they indicated that First Nations are still a good distance away from having a fully developed, usable curriculum that could be used in the school system.

The partnership points out that leaders and community members have constantly stressed that language retention and enhancement to be a priority for the First Nations community. There are still huge obstacles in the way of this retention: shortage of relevant teacher and student resources, trained language instructors, financial resources, no full curricula, and not enough expertise or time to develop resources.The plans for this project include addressing the First Nations language needs across the province. Final products will be on CD-ROM in the English version to allow other First Nations ability to modify the content, dialect and/or language to meet their local needs. The project team anticipates the curriculum will be available on the Saskatchewan Learning website (Evergreen Curriculum) and will provide the framework for First Nations language instruction and immersion across the province. [ [http://www.giftoflanguageandculture.ca/history.html History of the Project ] ]

The language project will focus on curriculum development for Nursery to Grade 9 Instructional (core) program and curriculum development for an immersion program. The ideals for these programs are similar; however, the scope of the program is vastly different. Some provincial schools may not opt for an immersion program; however, most First Nations and provincial schools will have an instructional (core) component within their education program.

Several instructional programs currently offered in schools encompass Nursery through Grade 12 and usually offered daily, and although some First Nations communities have had instructional programs for several years, no organization has yet to develop a relevant curriculum and associated student and teacher resources. Language teachers have voiced their concerns for many years regarding this shortcoming but First Nations organizations have been slow to respond to these needs due to lack of financial resources.Other First Nations language instructors across the province have expressed similar concerns. The current provincial curriculum, Indian Languages: A Curriculum Guide for Kindergarten to Grade 12 is viewed as a starting point from which further development can occur. The objectives of the Gift of Language and Culture curriculum guides are to create scope and sequences with developed units and relevant print resources to deliver a language program.

For the past several years, a number of communities have been offering full-time Cree Immersion Programs (Nursery – Grade 2) within their education program. Surveys were completed and parents supported full immersion programming for their schools. This project is based at two centres of linguistic excellence. Lac La Ronge was selected to be the site for the instructional component, while Onion Lake was chosen for the immersion component. [Web Designer for the Gift of Language and Culture Website]

References

External links

* [http://www.giftoflanguageandculture.ca/index.html The Gift of Language and Culture Website]
* [http://www.youtube.com/TGLCP The Gift of Language and Culture Project (TGLCP) on YouTube] The Gift of Language and Culture Partnership links:
* [http://www.llrib.ca/ Lac La Ronge Indian Band (LLRIB)]
* [http://www.nlsd113.com/ Northern Lights School Division 113 (NLSD)]
* [http://www.peterballantyne.ca/index.html Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation (PBCN)]
* [http://mltc.sasktelwebhosting.com/index.htm Meadow Lake Tribal Council (MLTC)]
* [http://www.pagc.sk.ca/ Prince Albert Grand Council (PAGC)]
* [http://www.sbe.saskatoon.sk.ca/index.aspx Saskatoon Public Schools (SPS)]
* [http://www.sicc.sk.ca/ Saskatchewan Indian Culture Centre (SICC)]
* [http://www.onionlake.ca/Language_Keepers/Index.html Onion Lake First Nation (OLFN)]
* [http://www.learning.gov.sk.ca/ Saskatchewan Ministry of Education]