Karen Mackenzie
Northern News Services
Published Monday, September 3, 2007

KITIKMEOT - Kitikmeot educators are looking to the past to strengthen their future, as they work to revitalize Innuinaqtun among the youngest generation.

Jimmy Hikok Ilihakvik students Marcus Kokak, left, Joe Ipakohak, Simon Niptanatiak and Charlie Hikok practise Ayarak - string games - during outdoor games last year. Educators hope to strengthen cultural and language knowledge by working with elders again this year. - photo courtesy of Lucy Taipana

Elementary schools in Kugluktuk and Cambridge Bay are expanding their Innuinaqtun immersion programs this year, particularly in the early grades.

New teaching methods and further elder participation are also being incorporated into their classrooms.

"Our language is declining and we have to fortify the base," said Millie Kuliktana, executive director of Kitikmeot Schools Operations. "We need to capture the day when we still have elders with the pure knowledge and language with us, because you just don't know who is going to be here tomorrow."

Both hamlets were identified in Nunavut's bilingual education strategy as areas where Innuinaqtun fluency was eroding. Early immersion was recommended as the best approach.

This year, both Jimmy Hikok Ilihakvik in Kugluktuk and Kullik Ilihakvik in Cambridge Bay are working towards at least 50 per cent Innuinaqtun and 50 per cent English instruction in kindergarten through Grade 2.

Following an Inuit teachers conference in Cambridge Bay last April, educators have also introduced new teaching methods to their class, like the total physical response model, which encourages children to act out their lessons.

"I myself remember as a child going to school, transferring language from the blackboard to my notebook, without realizing what it meant," Kuliktana said. "This revitalization strategy is about pushing pencils and papers away from the early years, until we have a fluency on the speaking level - knowing what the language sounds like, feels like, looks like, first."

The staff at Jimmy Hikok is currently "working as a team" to build up the necessary Innuinaqtun course materials, and incorporating the principles of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit into everything they do, according to principal Lucy Taipana.

Students can look forward to even more time with elders, learning traditional skills, she added.

The approach is generating a positive response already, according to Amaiya Emingak, co-principal Kullik Ilihakvik.

Just a few weeks into school, some parents are still present in the classrooms to comfort any separation anxieties their children may have. They seem as pleased with the changes as the young ones, she said.

"It is so exciting to see not only the children, but the parents' faces light up when they hear Innuinaqtun being spoken. It makes you proud, not just an as Inuk, but also as an educator," Emingak said.

Kuliktana sounded excited as she explained yet another new initiative she hopes to see implemented soon in high schools and communities: the master/apprentice model.

"It's really a relationship with grandparents, and the rule is you speak in the language of the elder," she said.

The program is designed for more mature people, who are willing to make a three-year commitment to work one-on-one with an elder chosen from their community.

The goal is to build a relationship with a master language user through 10 hours of contact a week for about four months.

"Teachers, civil servants, anybody that wants to learn the language can use this model," Kuliktana said. "Elders have the friendship of young people, the young people have mentors to look up to."

Emingak has already chosen an elder-mentor, who she will begin working with as soon as school settles in.

"It's a time for new beginnings, thinking outside of the box, and finding out from our elders how we can become a more positive school to strengthen our Innuinaqtun language," she said.