The Cree School Board’s third Language and Culture Symposium, held August 13-15 in Chisasibi, provided over 150 of the region’s teachers with a renewed commitment to preserving and promoting the Cree language.
An extensive CSB assessment begun in 2019 highlights the urgency for intervention. Evaluations of Secondary 5, Grade 6 and Grade 2 students shows that most younger children couldn’t understand Cree. One child even responded, “I don’t speak Cree, I am English.”
“That’s so alarming because identity construction is at the core of building a solid foundation of success,” said CSB chairperson Sarah Pash. “Students need to be supported in healthy self-esteem development to empower themselves – language is such an engagement factor.”
Results from the youngest students in Wemindji and Chisasibi were so worrisome that the regional assessment was halted to enact immediate measures, such as the creation of the Iiyiyiuiyihtiwin Cree Culture Research & Development department two years ago, which is led by Angela Gates.
“We’re able to focus on language and culture within the whole school board,” explained Gates. “It includes education of the youth sector but also services for the adult sector and the board itself. We help support bringing in Elders and resource people within different areas.”
A mentorship initiative introduced in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classrooms in September 2023 has coaxed language experts out of retirement, supporting teachers with developing lesson plans and strategies for encouraging oral language acquisition.
“The mentor can come for circle time to do storytelling with different vocabulary songs and teach the teacher too,” Gates said. “Students are calling them gookum [grandma]. When they see them come in, they start trying to interact with their ‘grandma’ in Cree.”
After seeing positive results, the CSB will now expand the initiative through the school system to the end of secondary. The CSB is developing a database of available Elders for schools to access and have even been inviting Elders to management meetings in efforts to better integrate traditional values into workplaces and schools.
The symposium featured four workshops each day, exploring various methods of promoting Cree language and culture. With beautiful sunny weather, participants mingled with local Elders sitting with their crafts amidst long shaptuan teepees installed by the cultural department just outside of town.
Pauline Matthew and Gordon Neacappo emceed the event, which featured generous catering, drummers Heart of the Land and a rousing fiddle dance. Deputy Grand Chief Norman Wapachee not only delivered a moving speech but also gamely fiddle danced with an impressive youth, later joking that his moves were comparatively “like a wobbly newborn moose.”
A priority for the CSB is to introduce cultural teachings and cross-curricular resources from the community into whichever subject is being taught. One workshop took teachers outside to pick medicine, demonstrating how they can interact with students using land-based vocabularies and traditional wisdom.
“The land is so much a part of our identity it could be said we are the land and the land is us,” suggested Pash. “Students need to see themselves connected to their traditional territories as an expression of who they are. If we keep students in classrooms all the time, we’re not respecting that relationship.”
Workshop content was uploaded to the PheedLoop platform, which also managed attendance and assessment, so teachers can refer to the symposium’s presentations in their classes. On the third day, there was a launch of Eaglecrest Books, which are early literacy material designed for First Nations children that are carefully levelled according to the reader’s ability.
“Levelled readers are a big part of knowing exactly what we’re targeting and what we want students to accomplish at the end of each grade,” Pash said. “Set outcomes and standards are important.”
No longer needing to cover up English posters with Cree syllabics, CSB teachers have an increasing range of Cree books, posters, flash cards and other resources. The board has developed home language kits for parents with reading and vocabulary development tools and Gates said an eventual goal is to “evolve with the world’s apps and gadgets.” One new tool called Nearpod enables teachers to scan books and do readalongs in Cree.
With evidence that English is increasingly replacing Cree as a mother tongue, there are early discussions about how to teach Cree as a second language. Language teacher Freddie Dixon from Waswanipi addresses this issue by letting students initially write Cree words phonetically with the Roman alphabet.
“First they write it, sounding it out, then I mentor them to pronounce words correctly and fluently,” Dixon told the Nation. “We’re working this week on becoming experts in how to use the Cree syllabic chart. Once they reach term 3 and 4, they can’t use the chart, they have to memorize everything by heart. It’s working – they’re making the effort.”
An advocate for restructuring the curriculum, Dixon suggested workbooks should be updated with emerging vocabulary, introducing relatable subject matter at appropriate ages that’s localized for each community’s dialect. As the Elephant Thoughts program offers STEM programming and tailored support in Cree schools, Dixon proposed a “Moose Thoughts” focused on the Cree worldview and one-on-one tutoring.
The Cree Nation Government has made significant strides towards language revitalization in recent years with the establishment of the Cree Language Act, the appointment of the first Cree Language Commissioner and millions in investments to cultural entities. At the last CSB council meeting, Pash presented a national Cree language strategy which would involve the CSB, language commission and communities each creating targeted initiatives.
Although capacity constraints limited the symposium’s attendance to teachers and consultants, relationships are growing with other entities to develop coordinated community solutions. For Gates, hearing teachers saying how much they will take back into their classrooms proved the event was a success.
“I had so much fun,” Dixon exclaimed. “One teacher said I feel so empowered to hear you guys speaking so fluently. I didn’t think my job was that important until now.”