Indigenous Language

After watching Five Ideas To Support Indigenous Language Revitalization in Canada, there were a lot of great ideas that I took away to increase my awareness around Indigenous culture and language. Instead of greeting people with “hello” or “hi” like I usually do, I will put an effort to use a different language. There are about 70 ways to greet someone in Canada. Some examples are by saying “Hadih” or “Kwe”. If we begin to use other languages that are not English and French in public spaces, people will normalize and become more comfortable living in a diverse country.

Many Indigenous languages were lost through genocide. Residential schools were put into place to remove Indigenous children from their homes and culture to assimilate them into the dominant culture. In result, it has had a very huge impact on Indigenous peoples culture and their own identity. When I was in elementary school, Indigenous history was not talked about. It was shocking and devastating learning about it as I got older and made me want to help change how society looks upon Indigneous Peoples. Culture loss is beginning to change through reconciliation, but still needs to be consistent and taught throughout classrooms. Many people are beginning to learn Indigenous languages and the number is growing. By learning Indigenous language and their culture, we begin to gain appreciation and awareness towards reconciliation.

It is the teachers job to make sure every student feels included, cared for, and respected. A good step leading in that direction is to learn the names of rivers and towns in a local language. Another good idea to increase Indigenous awareness is to always acknowledge the land you are teaching on. Learning a new language can be difficult but an intriguing way for students to learn about Indigenous history could be by watching a movie or tv show in an Indigenous language. My experience working at Luther with the international students is that the students find it very beneficial and useful to have subtitles at the bottom while the movie is playing. Another useful way to support Indigenous language is by listening to artists who sing in their Indigenous language. In my own experience, I find it a lot easier to memorize a song rather than memorizing something that I have read in a book. The more we expose ourselves to new ideas and languages, the more we can connect with others around us.