Hay River (May 22/06) - What Joannie Lafferty learned as a child from her grandmother, she is now passing on to today's children.

Lafferty, 27, is an aboriginal language instructor and one of two teachers for the Dene Kede class at Hay River's Princess Alexandra School.

Lafferty, who is Metis, learned traditional ways and the Slavey language from her Dene grandmother, Elizabeth Lafferty of Hay River.

She says she has benefitted from her grandmother's knowledge. "I'm grateful to my grandmother, because I wouldn't be where I am today without her."

Her grandmother, now 81, had a very traditional upbringing in the Fort Simpson area. Lafferty also spent the first eight years of her life in Fort Simpson.

"She is the one who shared with me about growing up on the land and respecting the land," Lafferty says, adding her grandmother encouraged her to maintain connections to her roots.

The Dene Kede class helps teach everything from science, to writing, to art, to culture and history.

"It's core subjects combined with a traditional twist," Lafferty explains.

She says the students learn many traditional things in the class. For example, they are shown the traditional uses of fish.

"They thoroughly enjoy it when we get special guests in for hands-on learning and skills," she says, noting the guests can include such experts as artists, carvers and fishermen.

Virtually all students at Princess Alexandra attend the Dene Kede class, which Lafferty says translates to 'The Way of the People'.

"They do have a better appreciation and understanding of where they come from because of what they learn in here," she says.

Lafferty says she gets a lot of satisfaction from teaching the students. "I'm glad to share my knowledge of traditional Dene life."

Lafferty has been at Princess Alexandra for two years. She began teaching in an aboriginal language class and moved to the Dene Kede class, which was introduced to the school last fall.

She plans to leave to begin a four-year bachelor of education program at Grande Prairie Regional College in the fall.

She had planned to begin attending college two years ago, when the opportunity came up to become a language instructor at Princess Alexandra.

"I'm going to miss my job," she says of leaving. "It's the hardest thing I've ever had to do."

However, Lafferty says she wants to have an education degree, and would be glad to return to Princess Alexandra in the future.