Iqaluit (Sep 06/04) - Remember Dick and Jane? Annie Manning does.

The English reading series featuring the playful antics of Dick and Jane used to be part of the school curriculum in Cape Dorset where Manning grew up.

David Serkoak, principal of Joamie School in Iqaluit, grew up in Arviat, and remembers being forced to learn English in a one-room school with his siblings and other kids from the community ranging in age from six to 16. - Kathleen Lippa/NNSL photo

Now a prominent teacher in Cape Dorset and an Order of Canada recipient for her work promoting Inuktitut, she remembers that her early school days were very difficult because English was the only language students were allowed to use.

Even though her father was bilingual (his father was a Hudson's Bay trader), she still found having to speak and listen to English all day intimidating in her early years.

"The first language we spoke was our language, Inuktitut," she said.

"It was very frightening -- if you didn't know any English you were kind of reluctant to talk or express your feelings."

In the mid 1960s, Manning remembers Inuktitut classroom assistants started appearing on the scene, which she feels was a positive step forward for Inuit.

"I had teachers that did their best," she said. "In those days this is what the government wanted, and the teachers had to follow the rules and regulations."

Manning's favourite teacher was a man named Brian Lewis.

"He had great respect for Inuit," she said. "And he was motivated. If you didn't understand something he was saying, he would act it out, show you."

Jamie Savikataaq, 21, grew up in Arviat where he had regular Inuktitut classes and felt that his Inuit culture was understood.

"I can't think of one (teacher) that stands out," said the young RCMP constable who is now based in Kugaaruk. "But I know we had a lot of teachers that stayed there for a long time. In the Arctic you often see high turn-over rate in the teachers. But ours stayed, bought houses. Having teachers like that was very good."

Paul Kaludjak, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.'s president, wasn't supposed to go to Chesterfield Federal Day School.

"But I cried so hard because my brother and my two sisters were going and they had candy," he said with a laugh. "So they let me on the plane because of that."

He stayed a year -- the youngest in the whole hostel at age 6. He calls Grades 6 to 8 "the discovery years," where he excelled in math. Having to speak English only in school was more of an issue for his parents than for him.

"It was different. Our parents used to get mad at us for speaking English, not so much for us speaking it but for them not understanding," said Kaludjak.

"I didn't realize at that time it was the changing of our culture. We were getting introduced to English culture. We were balancing between Inuit way and the new way coming in."

But Kaludjak had good teachers, too, especially Mr. White, who was "a good explainer. Somebody who can explain any little detail of any object or someone in history. Somebody who asks 'Why was it that way?' and you keep going back and the explanation keeps getting longer and longer as you go."

Watching his own children in school, Kaludjak is disappointed right now because two of his oldest boys have dropped out of school.

He is confident they will go back. There were times as a youth he felt like dropping out, too. But back then, school was strict. Kaludjak calls the recent moves by the department of education to incorporate more culturally relevant programs into the curriculum "a positive," adding, "teachers should encourage the students more."

David Serkoak, the principal of Joamie School in Iqaluit, grew up in Arviat and remembers attending a strict, one-room school in Whale Cove where English was taught and "corporal punishment was the order of the day."

Serkoak was strapped "many times" for not speaking English properly or for talking back.

"I was the kind of kid," he now says with a laugh, "that you didn't want in your class."

In 20 years of teaching, Serkoak has seen enormous change in Northern schools.

"There were so few Inuk teachers back then," he said. When Serkoak first introduced cultural activities in Joamie, like the time he brought in a caribou to carve up, many of the children were surprised. They weren't used to the smell or the process of preparing country food.

"Today, it's a normal activity," he said. "I try to teach drum dancing, too."