Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

Rankin Inlet (Oct 31/01) - A new opportunity to learn Inuktitut as a second language in on the horizon in Rankin Inlet.

Gerry Pflueger is the adult educator at the Rankin Inlet Community Learning Centre. She says the centre is looking at launching both a Level 1 and a Level 2 course, but most of the people showing interest are Level 1 learners.

The course will start in November and run one evening per week.

Pflueger says getting a course instructor has proven to be a bit more difficult than she anticipated.

"I'm making sure we have the best possible instructor we can for this," says Pflueger. "We want instructors who have taught Inuktitut as a second language before and have worked with Mick Mallon."

Mallon is the author of the Inuktitut instructional program delivered by Nunavut Arctic College. He and Alexina Kublu usually do the intensive six week course.

Their materials, and the instructors they've trained, are preferred for the new course.

Pflueger says the more people who sign up for the course, the less it will cost.

An initial target of 20 to 25 students per class has been set.

"If we achieve that, you'd be looking at a cost of about $125 to $150 per student for a one-year course," says Pflueger.

"The fee would cover the cost of the learning materials and the instructor because we don't have funding to cover this type of course."

Pflueger says there seems to be a number of people in Rankin Inlet who want to make the effort to learn the language.

More than 20 names were submitted during the first few days the course was advertised locally.

She says the course will benefit the community if people get involved and stick with it.

"For people who can actually come every week, do their assignments and their homework, and practice a lot -- you can get fairly functional in a reasonable period of time.

"That being said, it's hard to learn a new language and it takes a lot of effort. But, anyone who signs up and puts in the effort will really benefit from this program."