IQALUIT - Next month Mary Flaherty will be jet-setting off to Paris to teach students Inuktitut.

Mary Flaherty is the 2010 recipient of the $5,000 scholarship from Nunavut News/North. The interpreting and translating student from Nunavut Arctic College is off to Paris in May for three weeks to teach Inuktitut. - Emily Ridlington/NNSL photo

"I am pretty excited to have this experience," said Flaherty, a student of Nunavut Arctic College's Language and Culture interpreting and translating program.

She will be teaching Inuktitut to students at the Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales, commonly called Langues O, in Paris for three weeks at the beginning of May.

Flaherty was selected as the 2010 winner of the $5,000 Nunavut News/North scholarship.

Originally from Pangnirtung, Flaherty worked as an elementary school teacher in Grise Fiord for eight years. She then moved to Iqaluit eight years ago, continuing to teach at the elementary and adult education levels.

"I will always be a teacher, but even before I started teaching, I wanted to be an interpreter or translator," she said.

She said for the last three or four years she has been planning to go back to school. She started school as a full-time student in the fall. Even though she is just finishing her first year of the two-year program, Flaherty said she has already learned a lot. She and fellow students have taken a course in climate change and became familiar with scientific and technical terms in Inuktitut relating to the environment and mining. She said it was interesting and helpful to add these words to her vocabulary.

By going to teach at Langues O, Flaherty said she will continue to be able to improve both her Inuktitut and English skills by working with the students.

For her first practicum late last year, Flaherty shadowed interpreters at Innirvik Support Services Ltd. for three weeks. She is now completing her second practicum with the GN Department of Justice in the legislation division.

While this will be Flaherty's first trip to Europe, she has travelled to New York City, Alaska and Cuba. She said in addition to her work in the classroom she plans on taking in some of the sights including the Eiffel Tower, some of the city's many art galleries and the palace at Versailles.

Flaherty said she has a keen interest in simultaneous translation and would like to gain more experience in that area of the field.

Susan Sammons, one of Flaherty's instructors at the college, describes Flaherty as a conscientious person with strong language skills.

"She has had experience in teaching so we thought she would be a good candidate," said Sammons.

By talking to students who have gone to the institute in the past, Sammons said they have come back saying they enjoyed the new cultural experience. In addition to learning about French culture, Sammons said she thinks Flaherty will be challenged in the classroom when the students ask questions.

"It will make her have to think more about her own language," said Sammons.

For Flaherty, she said the chance to teach Inuktitut in France is the opportunity of a lifetime.

"Translators can help people and allow other people to help understand each other," she said.