Aboriginal languages program offered at University of Alberta

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More than 70 Aboriginal language educators and community language advocates from Saskatchewan, Manitoba, the Northwest Territories and Alberta are expected to attend the fourth annual Canadian Indigenous Language and Literacy Development Institute (CILLDI) summer courses at the University of Alberta from July 28 to Aug.14.

The courses are geared towards Aboriginal language educators who want to expand their skills and to extend their professional growth. This annual institute gives them an opportunity to acquire university credits in a number of areas.

They will have the opportunity to explore the use of drama as a tool for teaching language, learn how to write in their own language, use their Aboriginal language in conversation and see what web-based resource development for Indigenous languages is all about.

The institute began in 2000 and was held in or near a First Nation community for the last three years. This year it was moved to the University of Alberta where the facilities could accommodate the number of students expected, said Dr. Heather Blair, a CILLDI instructor. Donna Paskemin and Blair are co-founders of the institute, which is modeled after a course in Arizona that specialized in retaining Aboriginal languages.

Blair said they both spent time with the American Indian Languages Development Institute at the University of Arizona in Tucson. They were also inspired by the work of language retention activists Freda Ahenikew and Verna Kirkness.

"Both Freda and Verna are retired and when we heard this, Donna and I kind of went 'Look at all the work that has to be done. Who is going to do it? We need to get some people trained', so we basically said that we needed a combination of the linguistic expertise, the expertise of the languages and we needed the teaching methodology expertise, so we put all of these things together to start with and that is how it kind of all came about," Blair said.

"In the past we only had Cree and Dene speakers. This year we have a large contingency from the Northwest Territories and we may have six languages represented, such as South Slavey, Gwichin, Dene Suline, Nakoda, Inuktitut and Cree," she said.

Paskemin said that interest is the course has grown since its inception. They had 15 students the first year, 22 students the next, and last year they had 32 students.

"We think that it is a very exciting course. The students will be able to extend their growth as educators by learning a number of teachings. The Aboriginal language teachers out there have been at it for a while teaching their Aboriginal languages and they are running out of ideas, so they need new ideas to keep their students interested in the Native languages," said Blair.

The institute will work with university students, as well as mature students who have never been to university or ever finished high school. Students are able to accumulate six credits and they can keep coming back year after year to get their other credits.

"Our students return on a very regular basis. For last year's students we are finding that half of them are coming back and some of the students have been to all three summer courses," she said.

Participants have to apply to the university by June 15. For more information you can call Laura Burnouf at 492-4273 ext. 277 or e-mail the university at daghida@ualberta.ca

"The CILLDI program allows you to get a sense of community and closeness from the students. You get help from them and you work closely with the instructors. They are always there.

All of us students have the same interest, expertise, and passion for the revitalizing of our languages. We all have the same goal," said part-time student and co-ordinator Burnouf.

Barb Laderoute, a PhD student at the University of Alberta who is teaching one of the courses, said it is important for the languages to be retained so that children can pick up the language skills before it is too late and she said that the institut is creating an awareness for Aboriginal people everywhere.

This year the institute will offer a Cree Immersion day camp for the children of the students attending.