DENINU KU'E/FORT PROVIDENCE
Angie Fabien might breathe in Chipewyan. As the language instructor at Fort Resolution's Deninu Community School for the past four years, Fabien said the key to learning and preserving a language is to entrench it into everything and anything possible.
Fort Resolution's Angie Fabian is a language instructor at Deninoo Community School. - photo courtesy of Dan Summers |
"I'm bringing the language out of the classroom and into the hallways, trying to bring it onto the playground and into the community," she said.
A typical lesson in Fabien's class involves practical knowledge and has students learning how to apply the words and sentences they've learned.
For example, during one lesson, students are brought out into the hall and taught how to say, "don't run in the hallway" in Chipewyan. Students are then selected to role play the scenario. One student starts to run, while another student plays the role of a teacher and calls out in Chipewyan, reminding the student not to run in the hallway.
Students take turns playing the teacher, which gives them all a chance to practise and allows Fabien to listen to each student's pronunciation.
Fabien also teaches words and phrases students might hear during daily life in the community, such as during specific seasons and other timely events.
"Now I'm teaching them how to say, 'Spring, muddy, my boots are wet'," she said. "If they hear elders talking in the community, they can clue in to what they're talking about."
Even before Fabien became a language teacher, she was already teaching culture to Deninoo students.
Fabien organized and planned cultural activities on the land for nearly two decades, teaching students everything from snaring rabbits to making bannock.
When the language instructor position became available at the school, Fabien said she jumped at the chance to teach kids Chipewyan.
Principal Dan Summers said Fabien is now helping to entrench the language into every facet of the school.
"I think what's most exceptional is she has such focus on the Chipewyan language," he said. "She makes it practical for students. She wants it to be used in everyday living."
He said the work Fabien has accomplished since becoming a teacher is astonishing.
"In four years she has done wonders," he said. "It's absolutely amazing."
Fabien also assisted in the creation of the Chipewyan Dictionary, a collection of more than 6,000 words and an audio CD, which is now a fundamental learning tool for those learning the language.
Signs throughout the school are written in both English and Chipewyan and the language is spoken during gatherings at the school, such as Christmas concerts and assemblies.
Summers said this integration is teaching both students and staff.
"She has a real passion for the language," he said. "It's something we've all really benefited from. "She's kind of made us all have a passion about it."
Fabien said students are now bringing the language home with them.
"A lot of them are telling me they're going home and teaching their young siblings," she said. "I love my job. You can see the progress."
The lessons extend even further than school and home, Summers said.
"I've had an elder in front of me in tears saying how proud they are to see the kids speaking Chip in the community," he said. "I just can't imagine a greater gift to the community, to the language, than the one that Angie is delivering right now."
Fabien has been recognized for her work by both the territorial government and her peers. Last year, she was presented with an Excellence in Education Award from the South Slave Divisional Education Council for her work on the Chipewyan Dictionary. She also received a Premier's Award of Excellence in 2012.
She also received the Aboriginal Education Award from the Northwest Territories Teachers' Association in 2007.
Though she is an instrumental role in promoting Chipewyan, Fabien also knows the importance of working together, Summers said.
"She's a team player," he said.
Fabien said preserving the language will help students maintain their culture.
"It's their identity," she said. "It's who they are."
