Aboriginal language training to get boost in N.W.T. (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

Aboriginal language training to get boost in N.W.T.

Last updated Jul 12 2005 11:13 AM MDT
http://north.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=nwt-languages12072005

Officials with the N.W.T.'s department of Education Culture and 
Employment say they want to strengthen aboriginal languages through 
better training and coordination to ensure more children understand 
their native tongue.

The territorial government is hosting a workshop to help instructors 
figure out the best way to teach, a welcome and much needed move say 
some.

Teachers say that keeping aboriginal languages alive is an ongoing 
struggle when English is everywhere. According to Statistics Canada, 
only 25 per cent of aboriginal children speak or understand their 
native language.

"The language instruction content varies I would say from school to 
school and from class to class, depending on the instructor," says 
Sabet Biscaye.

"There's no consistent approach."

Biscaye, a Chipewyan language coordinator, says many teachers don't 
have a teaching background.

While there is a curriculum, Biscaye says there's little support, 
prompting many teachers to try to find their own way of teaching.

Dr. Stephen Greymorning, an international expert on teaching aboriginal 
languages, will be part of next week's workshop. He'll show the 
instructors how to help their students learn faster, through immersion.

Deputy Minister Mark Cleveland says it's the first time in years that 
language instructors will gather to learn new techniques together.

"The programming that we have in place now has been successful in a 
number of areas, but we think we can do better and we think that with 
the involvement of instructors from across the ages that the 
programming that is offered can be strengthened.

Biscaye says bringing teachers together is, however, not just about 
learning new teaching techniques.

"It's more than about the content of the workshop or the training. It's 
also the networking and the contacts that the people make because 
there's some people with some very creative ideasand approaches."
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