sohl times - winter edition

Newsletter for the Saskatchewan Organization for Heritage Languages

SOHL TIMES

LANGUAGE TAAL

IDIOMA

JAZYK

SPRACHE

BAHASA

KIELI

TEANGA

WINTER ISSUE 2014

www.heritagelanguages.sk.ca

nEWSLETTER FOR THE SASKATCHEWAN ORGANIZATION FOR HERTIAGE LANGUAGES INC.

Keeping Languages Alive since 1985

EDE

Since 1985, the Saskatchewan Organization for Heritage Languages (SOHL) has been working with teachers, volunteers, and cultural communities to promote the teaching and learning of heritage languages. SOHL operates as an umbrella organization for language schools and interested groups from across Saskatchewan.

SOHL supports Saskatchewan language schools by funding the heritagelanguage programs, providing training for language teachers, and promoting the benefits of language education.

President – Ved Arora, Regina

Vice-President – Girma Sahlu, Regina

Treasurer – Chanchal Sethi, Regina

Secretary – Natalie Owl, Regina

Past President – Shakeel Akhtar, Saskatoon

Director North – Gabi Harrison , Saskatoon

Director South – Zaheed Iftekhar, Regina

Director – Mary Kolitsas, Regina

Director – Adesegun Akintunde, Saskatoon

Director – Vijayalakshmi Kalagnanam, Saskatoon

Director – Eriko Parker, Fort Qu'Appelle

Executive Director - Tamara Ruzic

Office Coordinator - Malinda Meegoda

SOHL BOARD OF DIRECTORS

SOHL STAFF

Saskatchewan Organization for Heritage Languages Inc.2144 Cornwall Street, Regina SK S4P 2K7

(P) 306.780.9275 (E): [email protected] (w) www.heritagelanguages.sk.ca

SOHL TIMES WINTER 2014

Saskatchewan Organization for Heritage Languages Inc.

2144 Cornwall Street, Regina, SK S4P 2K7

Tel:(306) 780.9275


Executive Director’s Message

President’s Message

SOHL Annual Provincial Conference

Stories of Integration Project Culture Days

SOHL Grant & Bursary Recipients

Native American linguicide and language revival by By Solomon Ratt

Heritage Language Day & Saskatoon Choral Concert

Community Events & Oppportunities

SOHL Connection

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12-15

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

pRESIDENT’S mESSAGEeXECUTIVE dIRECTOR’S mESSAGE

Happy New Year! I hope you have had a joyous holiday season, and are enjoy-ing 2014 thus far – may it be filled with love, good health and gentle weather! SOHL has truly had a busy, but exciting, year to reflect on. Before discussing some of our recent events and accomplishments, I want to first remind you to please mark your calendars for the upcoming Heritage Language Day celebrations. In Regina, this special event will be held on Saturday, February 22nd starting at 1:00 pm in the Balfour Collegiate Auditorium. The celebration will feature greetings from special guests, a number of multicultural performances, as well as a sampling of ethnic foods. In Saskatoon, SIA will once again be organizing a Choral Concert that will feature the talent of its heritage language students on Saturday, March 8th at 3:00 pm in the Aden Bowman Collegiate Theatre. Both events are family friendly and open to the public at no charge, so please spread the word!

Another important event for our organization, SOHL’s 2013 Annual Provincial Conference, was held on Oc-tober 19th and 20th at the Park Town Hotel in Saskatoon, with the theme “Driving Change: Utilizing Technol-ogy in the Language Classroom”. Participants appreciated the networking opportunities and enjoyed several informative professional development workshops and presentations. The Volunteer Award Banquet featured a stimulating keynote address by Dr. Fatima Pirbhai-Illich, colourful entertainment, and of course presentation of SOHL’s Volunteer Awards. Congratulations to Hedy Lai and Sabine Zagoricnik-Wecker, the 2013 recipients, on their well-deserved awards.

A lot of work over the past year has also been done internally, reviewing and amending various policies and SOHL’s organizational structure, culminating in a Strategic Plan for the organization which was finalized in the summer of 2013 and shared with all of SOHL’s members. Work has already begun on various areas of the plan, including the upcoming addition of some new initiatives and programs (Heritage Language Film Festival, Mini-Language Program expansion, Assessment Project, and more). It is important to keep in mind that many of the key strategic areas are a work in progress and cannot simply happen overnight. For instance, SOHL is working on improving some technological areas, including exploring online form and application submissions. We will keep you updated as we go along, and in order to help us do that, please make sure that you are checking our website as well as social media sites regularly.

SOHL’s website is updated frequently, and the calendar section in particular lists many relevant events hap-pening throughout the province. Also, follow us on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date, read interesting articles and stories, and learn more about various multicultural initiatives. Likewise, do not forget to send us any event notices or relevant stories from your schools/communities, and we will be pleased to share them via SOHL’s social media.Thank you all for your ongoing support, and all the best in 2014!

Tamara Ruzic

SOHL Executive Director

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pRESIDENT’S mESSAGE

On behalf of SOHL, I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and hope that 2014 will be fruitful in all your endeavours. 2013 marked a significant year for SOHL with the organization implementing a number of organizational changes. The changes haven’t detracted our commitment to our organizational goals in any way shape or form. The proposed and implemented changes have been undertaken in view of increasing the organization’s efficiency in successfully executing SOHL’s stated goals and values in mind. The changes were finalized in the summer of 2013 with the help of a strategic plan with the aid of member consultations.

SOHL once again organized our Annual Provincial Conference in 2013. It was held in Saskatoon on October 19th-20th. The theme of the Conference was “Driving Change: Utlizing Technology in the Heritage Language classroom”. The conference was a great success with a wonderful participation level from all out members. The theme was decided upon looking at the conference evaluations from previous years. The participants of the workshops conveyed their satisfaction from acquiring practical and theoretical tips and frameworks to implement in their heritage language class room.

There will be much to look forward to in 2014 for SOHL and its members. One of the earliest events on SOHL’s calendar will be the annual Heritage Language Day. It will be held on February 22nd at Balfour Collegiate in Regina, and I hope to welcome new and familiar faces at this important event. Saskatoon will also be holding a Choral Concert on March 8th at the Aden Bowman Collegiate theatre which will showcase the talents of many facets of Multiculturalism in Saskatchewan.

We also unveiled our new website in 2013 to improve our communication processes and to improve our pub-lic presence. The unveiling of our website has coincided with a more robust social media strategy to further enhance our programs, services and advocacy of heritage language promotion in the province.

SOHL is extremely fortunate to have such a dedicated base of volunteers, members and dedicated staff who continue to help fulfill our mission and vision objectives.

Respectfully,

Ved Arora, S.V.M., A.L.A

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The Saskatchewan Organization for Heritage Languages Inc. held its Annual Provincial Conference, “Driving Change: Utilizing Technology in the Language Classroom” on October 19th and 20th, 2013 at the Park Town Hotel in Saskatoon. Two workshops were held on Saturday, and participants alternated between the two workshops in the morning and afternoon. One was presented by Dr. Chidi Igwe (Modern Classroom Technologies and Gadgets for Effective Heritage Language Instruction) and provided practical ideas that could be used in most heritage language classrooms. Many participants indicated that this was a very informative workshop, and that they learned about many useful tools they could utilize in their own work. The second workshop was presented by Dr. Deborah Miket (Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Schools), and discussed some academic and theoretical work, touching on how ICT could be applied in the heritage language school setting.

On Saturday evening, SOHL held its Volunteer Award Banquet, skilfully emceed by Dr. Jim Leskun. Following greetings by several special guests, Dr. Fatima Pirbhai-Illich provided a thought-provoking keynote address that discussed a number of case studies dealing with literacy and technol-

ogy, which provided a good base for her workshop scheduled to be held the next day. Following an appetizing German-themed buffet supper, Mary Kolitsas and Omar Aschim presented the Volunteer Awards to two deserving teachers. Sabine Zagoricnik-Wecker was the recipient of SOHL’s New Volunteer Award, and Hedy Lai was hon-oured with SOHL’s Long-Term Volunteer Award. Finally, the audience was entertained by two performing groups, the Brady Academy of Irish Dance and Del Mundo Dance Academy.

On Sunday morning, Dr. Fatima Pirbhai-Illich delivered an excellent workshop, “Engaging Heritage Language Learners with the Community: Potential of Inquiry-based Projects to Enhance Language and Literacy” to a group of over 50 teachers and volunteers. The workshop received extremely positive reviews, and Dr. Pirbhai-Illich was even invited to present at SIA’s Spring Workshop in Saskatoon. Following the workshop and lunch, SOHL held its General Meeting, during which various committee chairs reported on the operations and recent activities of their respective committees. After the General Meeting, a short member consultation was held, primarily to discuss the requirement that all heritage language schools will be required to incorporate as Saskatchewan non-profit organizations. Girma Sahlu and Zaheed Iftekhar gave a brief presentation outlining the first steps of this process.

Overall, the conference evaluations were extremely positive, and SOHL is proud to have received such encourag-ing feedback. The comments and recommendations have been recorded, and will be reviewed in preparation for next year’s Conference.

SOHL ANNUAL PROVINCIAL

CONFERENCE 2013

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SOHL ANNUAL PROVINCIAL

CONFERENCE 2013 in pictures

7SOHL TIMES WINTER 2014

SOHL VOLUNTEER AWARD RECIPIENTS

2013

Sabine Zagoricnik-Wecker has been an active member in the German community. She has spent countless hours volunteering for Das Shulhaus Regina German Language School. As one of the founding members of the school, she has been an invaluable asset in the creation and sustenance of the school. As the coordinator/principal, she assures that she is present every day the school is open.

Sabine has also been active in the heritage language community through her participation in many of the events put together by SOHL, MLAR and SATG. She has attended conferences, workshops and participated in SOHL programs such as the Mini-Language Lessons Program. Sabine is currently working towards her level-two TIHL Certificate through the University of Calgary.

Her peers have identified Sabine as a leader in the heritage language community and as someone who is able to inspire and involve others in the successful operation of the heritage language school. She has been recognized as a hard working individual who cares deeply about the success of her peers and students.

Hedy Lai started her volunteer work with the Heritage Chinese Language School in early 2000 as a language teacher. Since then she has worked hard at developing fun and new ways to teach students about Chinese language and culture. She devotes much of her personal time outside of the classroom helping other teachers, parents and student with language learning. She has also helped coordinate the school’s operation as first Vice- Principal then Principal for the past 8 yearts. She was instumental in leading new initiatives such as establishing online language learning programs.

Apart from activities within the Heritage Chinese Language School, Hedy is a tireless volunteer in her community. She has participated in a number of multicultural events in the city in numerous capacities. Some of these include volunteering at the Saskatoon Choral Concert, offering her services as a facilitator at SOHL’s Saskatoon Spring Workshops, assisting newcomers with settlement issues and coordinating volunteers at the Saskatoon folkfest annual event.

Hedy, through her creativity and hard work is someone who embodies the true nature of a community supporter and volunteer. Her contributions thus far have been recognized by her school as well as by the Saskatoon multicultural community.

SOHL NEW VOLUNTEER AWARD Sabine Zagoricnik-Wecker

SOHL LONG TERM VOLUNTEER AWARDHedy Lai


SOHL VOLUNTEER AWARD RECIPIENTS

2013

City Councillor, Shawn Fraser for Regina Ward 3, sharing his experi-ence with multicultur-alism and integration.

Nelson Bird stopped by the Under the Harvest Moon Heritage Com-munity Festival to share his story of integration.

German Club, Regina

Jose sharing his story of integra-tion. He immigrated here from Peru

Doris kopelchuk's grandmother's wedding dress.

Her grandmother immigrated from Austria

This is Alice Derow who shared her grandparents' story. They came from Ukraine.

Stories of Integration -

CultureDays SK

In the fall of 2013, SOHL partnerd up with The Conseil culturel fransaskois, Multicultural Council of Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan Filmpool Cooperative Saskatchewan German Council Inc. and the Ukrainian Canadian Congress - Saskatchewan Provincial Council, Inc. to collaborate on a project to highlight the contributions of the multicultural community to Saskatchewan culture.The project partners utlized the services of two seasoned media professionals to travel around Saskatchewan during Culture Days Saskatchewan to collect stories from Saskatchewan citizens documenting their thoughts and experiences.

We hope to gather the documented video footage to create a number of Public Service Announcements to promote muliticulturalism in the province.


2013 Recipients of SOHL’s University of Calgary Bursaries:

The Saskatchewan Organization for Heritage Languages now offers an exciting opportunity for Saskatchewan’s heritage language teachers to enroll in the University of Calgary’s online Teach-ing International and Heritage Languages (TIHL) Certificate program.

Please contact our office or visit our website for more information: http://heritagelanguages.sk.ca/pages/university-of-calgary-online-bursary-

Pankaj Bhowmik1.

Alex Matus2.

Sabine Zagoricnik-Wecker3.

Chanchal Sethi4.

Bessie Aida Pino5.

Shilpi Bhadra6.

Olatundun Adebogun 7.

Bert Seidel (Dash SchulHaus German Language School)8.

Sylvia Bastos- Neubaur (Das Shulhaus German Language School),9.

Ahmed Umer Hussein (Marifa Arabic Language School)10.

Shanshan Li ( Shining Land Language and Culture School)11.

Lara Guerro (University of Saskatchewan Language Centre),12.

Yaneth Liliana Orjuela (Spanish School of Saskatoon) 13.

2013 Recipients of SOHL’s Youth Instructor Bursaries:SOHL provides a number of bursaries to heritage language student youth (age 18 and under) who work as instructor-helpers at their respective heritage language schools. The students are expected to provide 50 – 70 hours of classroom assistance in language-specific activities over the course of one school year.For more information please visit our website: http://heritagelanguages.sk.ca/pages/sohl-youth-instructor-helper-bursary

Arthi Podder – Bangla Heritage Language School Saskatoon1.

Gabriela Saric - Saskatoon Polish School 2.

Jaskirat Josan - ICA Hindi School Regina3.

Sophia He - Chinese Language School of Regina4.

Alvin Rutera – Kinyarwanda School of Regina5.

Julenne Beatriz Florida - Filipino Heritage School Saskatoon6.

Mustain Masrur Ayon – Saskatoon Arabic Language & Heritage School7.

Goodness Adebogun – Yoruba Language School Regina8.

Anjila Sadat – Maihan Language School Saskatoon9.

Aneri Dharmesh Dave - Gujarati Heritage Language School Regina10.


Yitian Tim Lu - Regina School of Chinese Studies11.

Ashley de Sousa Martins – Brasinha Portuguese Language School Saskatoon12.

Laraib Mehdi - Urdu Language School Saskatoon13.

Elena Deptuch - St. Paul’s Greek Language School Regina14.

Yitian Tim Lu - Regina School of Chinese Studies15.

Ashley de Sousa Martins – Brasinha Portuguese Language School Saskatoon16.

Naila Yoh - Salvadorean Spanish School in Regina.17.

Recipients of SOHL’s Workshop GrantsSOHL offers funding support for two types of workshops: Coordinating Agency Workshops and Language School Workshops. The former are generally hosted by two organizations, the Multilingual Association of Regina (MLAR) and the Saskatchewan Intercultural Association (SIA) in Saskatoon. These workshops are not language specific, and appeal to all heritage language teachers. The latter are available for SOHL’s member schools, and are meant to address the special training needs of individual language schools in their target language.

For more information please visit our website: http://heritagelanguages.sk.ca/pages/workshop-funding

Coordinating Agency WorkshopsSaskatchewan Intercultural Association (SIA) - Digital Teaching and Learning” •

Multilingual Association of Regina (MLAR) - nstructional Techniques for Language Teaching•

Language School WorkshopsDas Schulhaus Regina German Language School - Interactive Teaching and Assessment1.

German Language School of Regina - Practical Classroom Ideas for International Language Teachers2.

Heritage Chinese Language School Saskatoon -Develop Games and Teaching Materials3.

St. Paul’s Greek Language School, Regina - Teaching Greek as a Second Language4.

Kinyarwanda School of Regina - Information Session for Volunteer Teachers5.

Shining Land Language and Culture School, Regina - How to Manage a Growing School and Improve Teaching 6.

Quality

Regina East Language School - Regina East Chinese Language School Workshop 20137.

Nepali Language School, Regina - Nepali Language Teaching Materials8.

Nepali Bhasha Pathshala, Regina - Lesson Planning/Enhancing Teaching 9.


Native American linguicide and language revival by

By Solomon Ratt

In spite of the many efforts by teachers and language developers to revive the Native American Indian languages in Native communities there exists strong resistance to current initiatives. Some of the resistance comes from parents, some from students and some from the tribal gov-ernment officials. The parents are frustrated because their children are not learning the language fast enough or that it is not the dialect spoken by the Elders. Students feel frustrated because they feel their progress in acquiring oral fluency is impeded by grammar and translation exercises. They also see that the language is not in use within the community so they see no reason to learn the language. The tribal government officials, who are themselves parents, will see no point in supporting language programs that do not produce fluent speakers. Due to the above sources

of resistance many language teachers will move on to other teaching duties. The burn out rate of Native American lan-guage teachers is probably the highest when compared to teachers in other subjects. For language shift to be realized, these language teachers must be supported, encouraged and valued so that they may stay in the field.

Part of the problem teachers of Native American languages face is due to a lack of comprehensive language planning. A comprehensive language plan must involve the whole community, only then can there be support for the language teach-er. A comprehen-sive language plan that involves the community will help the community members realize that teaching an Indian language needs more than a fluent speaker of the language. Language teachers have, until recently, been re-cruited from the community of speakers who have had no education, and are thus employed as Teacher Aides. They often become the school work horse doing various and sundry chores since there is a lack of understanding about a language teacher’s responsibilities. Most times these Teacher Aides have had to develop their own materials for their classrooms. A comprehensive language plan must incorporate strategies for the training of language teachers, as well as a component for corpus planning so that these teachers need not spend their ‘spare time’ in materials development. Also a comprehen-sive language plan needs a socio-historic perspective of the status of the language.

One of the ways communities can encourage language teachers to remain within their field of interest in order to offset the current high turn-over of language teachers is the implementation of a language plan that includes a socio-historic per-spective of the status of the language. A socio-historic perspective of the status of the language will show in graphic detail the situations that lead to language death, what efforts have been made to reverse language shift, evaluate the effective-ness of those efforts and offer effective alternatives for reviving Native American languages. Figure III on the following page traces the history of Native American Indian languages linguicide in the United States and in Canada and offers ways toward reversing language shift.

The devastation by the Euro-Canadian and Euro-American expansion across North America on Native American Indian languages can never be overstated. In Canada alone, within the last 100 years, as Mary Jane Norris (1998) points out, “nearly ten once flourishing languages have become extinct; at least a dozen are on the brink of extinction” (Norris 8). In an article exploring the status of Canada’s Aboriginal languages based on the 1995 Statistics Canada data, Norris states:As of 1996, only 3 out o Canada’s 50 Aboriginal languages had large enough populations to be considered truly secure from the threat of extinction in the long-run. This is not surprising in light of the fact that only a small proportion of the Aboriginal population speaks an Aboriginal language. Of some 800,000 persons who claimed an Aboriginal identity in 1996, only 26% said an Aboriginal language was their mother tongue and even fewer speak it at home (8).

Close-up of Dene (Denesuline) and English sign


FIGURE III: FROM LANGUAGE DEATH TO LANGUAGE REVIVAL

ENTER foreign language (1870-1890): all speak and understand

Native language.

FIRST GENERATION (1890-1910): Boarding School.

Native language polity sent to boarding schools.

Get punished for using Native language; language

begins to die.

SECOND GENERATION (1910-1930): Boarding School.

Because of the abuse First generation boarding school

parents do not speak Native language to children. Children

still understand and speak Native language.

THIRD GENERATION (1930-1950): Boarding School.

Children understand but do not speak Native language.

Adult Native speakers still around.

FOURTH GENERATION (1950-1970: Boarding School.

Children no longer understand nor speak Native language.

Adult Native speakers fewer but see the need for reversing

Language shift.

FIFTH GENERATION (1970-1990): No boarding school.

Enter Native control of Indian Education. Begin

Reversing language shift: Stage 1. Socio-linguistic assessment;

Needs assessment; impact assessment; articulation of language policy.

SIXTH GENERATION (1990-2010): No boarding school.

Reversing language shift: Stage two 2.

Begin corpus planning and implementation of language policy.Parents and Children begin to understand

Native language.

SEVENTH GENERATION (2010-2030): No boarding school.

Reversing language shift: Stage 3. school and community efforts result in parents and children beginning to

understand and speak Native language. Evaluation of language policy.

EIGHTH GENERATION (2030 +): No boarding school.

Reversing language shift: Stage 4. Begin multi-cultural program.

Native Language is used frequently in all registers.


Much of the language death that occurred within the last century can be attributed to the forces of history. The Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP 1996) on an inquiry that started in the fall of 1991 and ended in the fall of 1995 contains an excellent documentary of the effects of Euro-Canadian society on the aboriginal peoples of Canada.

Perhaps the one issue that made the most impact on the Canadian people during the inquiry was the residential school policy that began in the 1880s. From its inception the residential school policy was designed to “‘elevate the Indian from his condition of savagery’ and ‘make him a self-supporting member of the state, and eventually a citizen of good stand-ing’” (RCAP 333). During the early years of the residential school era Duncan Campbell Scott, then deputy superinten-dent general of Indian affairs (later superintendent) said, “I want to get rid of the Indian problem. I do not think…that the country ought to continuously protect a class of people who are able to stand alone…. Our objective is to continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic and there is no Indian question” (RCAP 598). The gist of Scott’s testimony before the Special Committee of the House of Commons examining the Indian Act amendments of 1920 would be repeated by others in the 1952 Indian Act amendments and in the 1969 white paper on Indian policy (RCAP 259). The residential schools in Canada not only provided a source of cheap casual labor for the developing country (RCAP 335) but also eradicated the use of Indian languages in generations to come.

In applying Richard Ruiz’s “modes of language death and preservation” on Canada’s death of Indian languages we can see a combination of the intended, subintended, and unintended modes of language death and preservation. Ruiz’s intended mode of language death in respect to Canada’s Aboriginal languages is due to societal factors. Norris explains: Societal factors often contribute to the decline of languages. Without doubt, the forces of dominant languages and mod-ernization exert a strong influence on any minority language. In the case of Aboriginal languages, historical events such as the prohibition of indigenous language use in residential schools have also contributed to this process. In addition, the fact that most Aboriginal languages were predominantly oral may also have diminished, in an already difficult environ-ment, their chances of survival (Norris 8).

The residential school experience left a lot of damage in Aboriginal societies. The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples collected data from across Canada from various Aboriginal people who shared their residential school experi-ences. Often emotional, and many talking about these experiences for the first time, their stories revealed atrocities which shocked the Canadian public. These atrocities included rape and other sexual abuse, as well as physical and emotional abuse. Many of these people are now pursuing justice in the Canadian courts; some have settled but many are pending. The RCAP recommended that the government allocate funds toward reparation of some of the damages done in the past by the residential schools. Heritage Canada provided 25 million dollars over a period of five years toward language revi-talization initiatives. As this fiscal year is the last of that funding, officials from Heritage Canada told our representatives to have our people withdraw their court cases if we expected any more funds. We told them no.

Another contributing factor that is also an intended mode was the missionary activities, especially since the churches ran many of the schools. However, these activities were more subintended modes toward language preservation. The missionaries compiled dictionaries, translated the bible and hymns, and developed writing systems for some Aboriginal languages. For example, the invention of the Cree syllabics system by James Evans, a Wesleyan missionary, in 1840 to write hymns was so readily accepted by the Cree that “within a few years, the majority of Crees were literate from the Québec-Labrador penninsula [sic] to the Rocky Mountains” (Murdoch 23). The same James Evans had earlier contributed to the development of a Roman Orthography for the writing of Ojibwa (Murdoch 23). The syllabics system was so popular that myths grew around it so that today some communities doubt that Evans had invented the system.

The syllabics system is still used today. In fact some prefer the system as opposed to the Standard Roman Orthogra-phy. For these people “it’s more Indian.” Elders who have never gone to school know the system! Some schools, like the Keethanow Elementary School in Stanley Mission, not only teach both syllabics and the Standard Roman orthography, but also include two other local orthographies. The Cree Language Retention Committee (CLRC) advocated that the new Cree dictionary compiled by Arok Wolvengrey (2001) use both Standard Roman Orthography and syllabics in the Cree-English volume. Unfortunately, of the 16 member committee only two members, Wolvengrey and Ratt, were the only ones who knew the system well enough to do the syllabics proof-reading! Incidentally, the syllabics system has been adapted and modified by the Ojibwa and the Inuit for their own use so this subintended mode for language preservation has had far reaching benefits.

An unintended mode of language death, one that is a result of an intended mode, was the refusal of first and second-generation residential school graduates to speak the Native language to their children. Having gone through such abuse at the schools for using their Native language they did not want their children to experience the same. Many of these offspring are now teachers themselves and have made a first attempt at learning their language during their schooling. What cannot be stressed enough is that language loss leads to a loss of culture. In Norris’s words “when these languages vanish, they take with them unique ways at looking at the world, explaining the unknown and making sense of life”. In re-spect to the experiences of the residential school students who became parents and did not speak their language to their children, unintentionally they withheld from their children the main source of cultural transmission: the oral narrative. Oral


narratives had teachings of life ways, including lessons on spousal and parental responsibility. So, in effect, the residential schools not only contributed to the death of the language but also robbed the Aboriginal peoples of their access to a well balanced life, lessons that were contained in the oral narratives. These oral narratives were our schools, our universities, and many Aboriginal people did not have access to those modes of education. Any language policy must devise ways of reviving the oral narratives of the people.

The ethnographic collections of Native American oral narratives is an example of unintended preservation of language and culture. There are many of these collections. In fact, Jennifer S. H. Brown and Robert Brightman (1988) do a compari-son chart of the Cree Flood narrative from twenty-two sources (130-133). Leonard Bloomfield collected Cree (1930) and Ojibwa texts that he translated into English. He devised an orthography to write the texts in Cree and Ojibwa and it is an adaptation of this orthography that has come to be known as the Standard Roman Orthography (SRO). This SRO is used in both Cree and Ojibwa classrooms across western Canada, yet another unintended mode for the preservation of those two languages. Bloomfield’s Cree texts leave a lot to be desired in their English translations but the Cree texts contain many words that have fallen out of use in the past few years. Bloomfield and others have been maligned for their appro-priation of the Native voice but without their collections many Native Americans have no other source for their traditional stories. The various versions can be used in the cross-cultural classrooms as they are or, given the time, the funds and the people, Native Americans can reappropriate these texts through intertextual comparisons and rework them using the devises of narratology, Trickster chronotopes, and the exegesis of Midrash. In any event a language policy cannot ignore the people’s narratives in any comprehensive language plan.

Efforts have been underway, even before RCAP, to reverse language shift but these efforts, however impressive, have not been done in a systematic, well planned way following any comprehensive language plan. Nevertheless, there is hope of reversing language shift for Canada’s Aboriginal peoples. Norris points out that “Aboriginal elders, teachers and other leaders are well aware of the gravity of the linguistic situation and are taking steps to preserve indigenous languages. These [steps] include such measures as language instruction programs, Aboriginal media programming, and the recording of elders’ stories, songs, and accounts of history in the Aboriginal languages. Perhaps as a result, the number of people who can speak and understand an Aboriginal language has been on the rise”.

________________________________________________________________________________________Works CitedMurdoch, John. (1982). “Cree Literacy in Formal Education: A Problem in Educational Innovation” in Papers of the Thir-teenth Algonquian Conference. Ottawa: Carlton University Press. Norris, Mary Jane (1998). “Canada’s Aboriginal Languages” in Canadian Social Trends Winter 1998. Ottawa: Statis-tics Canada, Catalogue No. 11-008.Wolvengrey, Arok (2001). nêhiyawêwin: itwêwina: Cree: Words. Regina: CPRC Press

This article is an edited submission that was part of a scholarly entry titled ‘Multi-cultural Education Lan-guage Policy For Native American Schools: A Canadian Perspective’ By Solomon Ratt. Dr. Ratt is an associate Professor at the First Nations University of Canada in the Indian Languages Program.


Upcoming Events

Regina Heritage Language Day February 22nd 2014

Heritage Language Day, celebrated on February 21st of each year, is a day dedicated to the recognition and celebration of heritage languages. In November 1999, the General Conference of the United Nations Educa-tional, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) proclaimed Febru-ary 21st as International Mother Language Day. This day is meant to promote the preservation and protection of all languages used by peoples of the world.

SOHL’s annual Heritage Language Day celebration will be taking place at the Balfour Collegiate Auditorium in Regina, SK on Saturday, February 22, 2014 starting at 1:00 pm. The program will consist of a number of multicultural performances, as well as greetings by special guests and a sampling of ethnic foods.

Performers: Please note that one representative will be required to come and test the music (if applicable) on February 22nd by 12:30 pm, and the remainder of performers must be present at least a half hour before their scheduled performance time (to be determined, anywhere between 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm).

Saskatoon Choral ConcertMarch 8th2014

The Saskatchewan Intercultural Association (SIA) in association with SOHL will be hold yet again host the Saskatoon Choral Concert, cultural celebration on the 8th of March 2014. The event will take place at Aden Bowman Collegiate.

Member language schools interested in performing at the conncert is adivised to contact the SIA office.

Nafiseh Zamani ([email protected])

SMS/Performing Arts Coordinator

(p) 306-978-1818

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ToolKit Workshop Series

In conjunction with the Community Research Unit, SCIC (Saskatchewan Council for International Coopera-tion), the U of R Business and ProfessionalDevelopment and RPIRG (Regina Public Interest Research Group) the Toolkit Workshop Series will be happening for the third time.

The series aims to teach students and community members skills that can help them with work in commu-nity based and non-profit organizations. Workshops include

Facilitating Effective Meetings - This workshop will provide a basic overview of tools, tips and resources for facilitating meetings.

Wednesday, February 26th

Instructor: Danielle Pass, Managing Director of Operations, YWCA

Intro to Social Return on Investment: Evaluating and Communicating the Social Benefits of Community-Based Programs

Thursday, March 20th

Instructor: Aleks Hoeber, Program Manager, Saskatchewan Abilities Council

Board Governance 101: The governing jobs of volunteer board members

Friday, April 11th

Instructor: Gloria deSantis, PhD

Fore more information contact the RPIRG website: http://rpirg.org/events-projects/toolkit-workshop-series/

Community News and Opportunities


FNUniv Visual Languages Conference

With many endangered Indigenous Languages across Canada, Official First Nations University of Canada Art Gallery hosted Visual Languages, a one-day conference on January 16, 2014. It explored cross-discipinary research on endangered languages and showcased the work of visual artists and researchers in the field of endangered languages and served to highlight interdisciplinary collabora-tions.

The presentations at the conference included

Dr. Olga Lovick - “Waterways: Making a film about a language”Judy Anderson - “Graffiti as a Language?”Dr. Arok Wolvengrey - “An Indigenous Syllabary: Cree and Beyond”Dr. Edward Doolittle - “Word Puzzles”Loretta Paoli - “Spaces of Translation: Exploring Language Through a Visual Art Practice”Christina Mickleborough - “On the Utility of Orthographies and Writing Endangered Languages”Dr. Jan P. van Eijk - “The Scope of First Nations’ Writing Systems”

Acting President and Vice President Finance and Administration Juliano Tupone with a carving done in maple that was donated to the Official First Nations University of Canada by Artist Tim Brookes . The sign reads “Welcome to First Nations University (of Canada)” in Cree.

18Dr. Edward Doolittle presenting on - "Word Puzzles"

Dr. Olga Lovick


SOHL’s weekly radio program, ‘SOHL Connection’ airs every Tuesday on Regina’s community radio station, 91.3 CJTR fm from 6:30 pm - 7:00 pm.The program is co-hosted by Malinda Meegoda and Shane Malloy. The program had a successful year in 2013 featuring an array of diverse guests ranging from linguists,film makers & Academics to commu-nity organizers.

some of the guest that came on the show in 2013 include

Melanie Schnell• : Author of the Award winning novel ‘While the sun is above us’

Rhonda Rosenberg:• Executive Director of MCOS (Multicultural Council of Saskatchewan)

Johnny Trinh:• local spoken word poet and member of Regina’s spoken word slam team

John Porter:• coordinator of the Saskatoon Latin School

Vicky Nelson• : Executive Director of SCIC (Saskatchewan Council for International Cooperation)

Christel Bartelse and Bob Brader• : Actors in the Regina Fringe theatre production ‘Circle’

Tomoko Lamb• : the Japanse Language Coordinator at the University of Regina

Dominga Robinson• : Vice President of the Regina Aboriginal Professionals Association

Garry Varro:• Artistic Director of Queer City cinema

and many more

If you would like to be on the show to promote a cultural event/program, please contact the SOHL

office at (email): [email protected] (phone): 306.780.9478

SOHL CONNECTION

TUNE IN ON TUESDAY EVENINGS AT 6:30 PM ON REGINA’S COMMUNITY RADIO STATION

91.3 CJTR FM

YOU CAN ALSO LISTEN TO THE STREAM ONLINE AT WWW.CJTR.CA

19

Dr. Olga Lovick

sdkjdfk.,klmSOHL TIMES WINTER 2014

The Saskatchewan Organization for Heritage Languages gratefully acknowledges the funding assistance and moral support that it has received from

The Saskatchewan Lotteries Trust Fund for Sport, Culture and Recreation, SaskCulture,

Saskatchewan Ministry of Education, SaskTel, SaskEnergy, CJTR Community Radio&

The First Nations Employment Centre and Regina Treaty Status Indian Services.

follow SOHL on

facebook.com/sohl.sask @sohl_sk


Saskatchewan Organization for Heritage Languages Inc.2144 Cornwall Street, Regina SK S4P 2K7

(P) 306.780.9275 (E): [email protected] (w) www.heritagelanguages.sk.ca

sohl times - winter edition

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