Fort Resolution (Sep 18/06) - Each and every school day, Mary Sanderson breathes life back into the Chipewyan language.

Since 2002, Sanderson has been the culture and language teacher at Fort Resolution's Deninu School, and this year she is instructing 116 young people from Kindergarten to Grade 12.

Mary Sanderson, the culture and language teacher at Fort Resolution's Deninu School, stands below the Chipewyan alphabet hanging from the ceiling of her classroom. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

Her youngest students begin their studies with the basics, such as the words for colours and numbers.

"From there, I make my way up," she said.

She finds younger children are faster to pick up the language. "They catch on easy. I think it stays in their heads when they go home."

Many of the older students are also learning, she noted. "Lots of them know how to read in Chipewyan. For that, I'm happy."

Sanderson said her work is important for the survival of the language. "If we don't speak it we're going to lose it."

However, she believes a school can only lay the foundation for learning the language, and children will have to speak it elsewhere. "They have to speak it at home for them to learn more."

She said she can't make young people fluent in just a half-hour a day, except for possibly a few exceptional students who really take to the language.

Sanderson, 61, applied for the teaching position because she could fluently speak Chipewyan.

"But it's more than that," she said of the job. The work also involves the written form of the language.

When she started the work, she knew the basics of reading and writing in Chipewyan, but not as much as she does now.

While teaching, she also developed her own skills of writing and reading the language through courses and workshops.

She is now a fluent speaker, writer and reader of Chipewyan. Sanderson said she learned Chipewyan from her parents and grandparents.

"I grew up with my language," she said. "Nowadays, it's more English than Chipewyan. I don't know who speaks it at home."

Sanderson said 90 per cent of her work involves teaching the language, although she also includes some crafts.

She added she is happy to teach the children how to say things in Chipewyan. "I'm here to help them."

Among the tools she uses to help teach the language are games.

That includes a word game in which she will say a word and the students have to find it on a bingo-like card.

Sanderson said she gets a lot of satisfaction from her work.

"I enjoy it very much."