Neils Christensen
Northern News Services

Arctic Bay (Oct 13/03) - This year 11 women in Arctic Bay are enroled in the Early Childhood Education program at Nunavut Arctic College, and it is anything but child's play.

They are hoping all their hard work will eventually lead to full-time teaching careers.

The program, which started Sept. 8, is already giving them some direction. They have been developing lessons, creating programs for classes, even learning how to run their own day care.

"It's been a lot of fun and we are learning how to teach children," said Connie Kilikushak, a student in the class.

This is the first year the ECE program has been offered in Arctic Bay. It is being funded by Kakivak Association.

The group of women are trying to develop an Inuit day care program, and most of the day is spent developing the lessons in Inuktitut.

"We are trying to make this into a Nunavut-based program," explained Sandra Demcheson, a student and part-time teacher. "One example is, we take popular songs and translate them into Inuktitut."

The women, who are all mothers except for one student, agree the classes have even helped them learn how to interact with their own children better.

"As mothers we think we know how to work with children, but this is teaching us about things we've never thought of," said Demcheson.

"I've learned a lot about working with my three-year-old," added Meeki Kalluk.

Many of the women enroled in the program because of the desperate day care situation in Arctic Bay. With limited resources, and even fewer trained caregivers, day care services were not always reliable. Some days the day care would simply be closed.

"Now we can make sure that there are qualified people here who can take care of children," saidJoanna Koonoo.

"There is always a need for more early childhood educators," added Demcheson.

The women aren't stopping with the ECE program. Once they finish in April, they have plans to enrol in the Nunavut Teachers Program next year to earn their teaching certificates.

"This is an important step to be to be able to start a career as a pre-school teacher," said Kalluk.

The women agreed none of this would have been possible without their instructor, Liz Burtch.

"She is teaching us so much and is always very supportive," said Demcheson.

By developing the Inuktitut program the students are also hoping to preserve the Inuit culture and language.

"I believe that Inuktituk should be taught and kept alive from kindergarten to Grade 12," said Leah Kalluk.

Ron Elliot, adult educator in Arctic Bay, said their community isn't the only one with a need for more educators.

"There are about 74 students around Nunavut enroled in this program," he said. "We brought this program in because there was interest and we saw it as a need in the community."

Elliot added that all the women in the class have been very enthusiastic about their lessons.