Language Revitalization Plan Complete

 

Under the leadership of Chief Dan Couchie, Council unanimously supported the Language Revitalization Plan for our community. The Language Revitalization Plan sets out a road map towards achieving our goals. Revitalizing our language is a priority for Chief and Council.  As such, we are committed to taking a leading role to ensure our language survives and thrives.

 

Our creative summer student staff is in the process of outlining our Language Revitalization Plan for the Web-site.  This will be available in September.

 

We are very optimistic about this venture and believe Pic River is up to the challenge.  As individuals within our community, we all have gifts to contribute our vision.   Together we can achieve ”Insanely Great” things.  We look forward to working together and the usual support and commitment of the members.

 

Our Elders - Our Stories – Our Way of Life

 

August marks the beginning of an exciting project; one that brings together our elders and youth.  The summer students are happy to begin work on a series of projects aimed at helping our elders share their gifts.  The students will be meeting with elders to record some of their fantastic stories.   Special Projects to record the stories will be on-going and continue into the school year.   We will work on finding creative, state of the art ways for our elders to shine.

 

An exciting project in the early stages is the “Spirit of the River” (this is just a temporary name).  We want to look at how we can incorporate documenting our history of the river, with technology, with language, with our children and all community members.  In addition, we want to take a look at how we can partner with local First Nations.  We look forward to announcing the details of this project very soon.

 

Language Revitalization Development Team (Committee)

 

Chief and Council are looking to develop a dynamic team who can lead our in the implementation of our language revitalization plan.   If you are interested in helping out in any way, please feel free to leave your name at the Band Office. 

 

Full Time High school/Adult On-Site Immersion Program

 

Pic River is very proud to announce this upcoming historical moment – the implementation of a Full time On-site Immersion Based Program.  In September we will be offering 3-4 daily classes of immersion instruction.  Each class will be approximately 1.5 – 2 hours in length and will run from September to June 2008.  Students will receive high quality comprehensible input, a critical component to speaker creation.  In addition, they will obtain credits towards a High School Diploma.

 

Our staff is finalizing the arrangements for the hiring of instructors and other technical staff.  We thank all the individuals who expressed interest in becoming a member of our team.  We are excited to welcome our new employees and will do our best to provide a wonderful experience for you.

 

The Chief and Council will be approving an internal policy to support all staff members in their quest to acquire their language.  Our actions today will produce remarkable results for tomorrow.

 

Program Details and Registration Forms will be available at the end of August.  We have designed the program to meet the diverse scheduling needs of the community.  We hope to meet you in class.

 

Pre-school Programming

 

Chief and Council are very proud of the results of our Junior/Senior Kindergarten and Head Start partnership.  Last year, Council supported staff recommendations to combine the efforts of these programs to enhance language acquisition.   Special thanks to Shirley and Thelma for providing the on-site care and facilitation of our children’s development.  Thanks to the parents and other staff members for creating and supporting this program.  We know this program will continue to grow and develop.

 

In our efforts to re-design our pre-school programs, Lisa Michano-Courchene has been working on developing a Pre-School Child Development Model.  This model outlines the purpose and goals of pre-school child development.  It addresses the development needs of children and is based on a combination of our traditional teachings and the academic world.   We will be presenting the draft to the membership for feedback in August.  This is another example of our commitment to ensure our programs meet the changing needs of our community.  Once the model is completed, supporting lesson plans will be developed.  This is another exciting program aimed to increasing the effectiveness of our services.  We look forward to your input and suggestions.

 

 

Elementary School Language Re-Design

 

Council has responded to the continued request to incorporate more Community and First Nation based curriculum into our elementary school.  This request has been identified throughout the years, as a result of planning sessions, surveys and parent interviews.  Council is committed to enhancing the current curriculum to ensure our children receive the best possible education.

 

One of the initiatives that fit into this direction is the re-designing of the Language Program within the elementary school.  We are working on reviewing the curriculum to allow additional time to be allocated to Language Acquisition.  Our plan is to increase the daily exposure to the language for all students and teachers.  Currently, each class receives on half hour of Ojibwe language instruction.  In September, we plan on providing an extra half hour daily to our students.  Our students will receive approximately 200 hours of language per school year.  We will be delivering 2 language courses per day. One class will be for grades 1 to 4 and the other for grades 5 -8.

 

Liz Michano is working on reviewing the current curriculum as defined by the Ministry of Education.  She is identifying which objectives can be part of the language curriculum.  Liz has provided a summary of this project; please check out her section on the web site.  In addition, she is developing units and lesson plans to support the changes.  The development of units and lesson plans will be an on-going initiative and the community is encouraged to bring forth their ideas and suggestions.  A community session will be held in August to provide the details of this exciting project.  Chief and Council acknowledge the contributions of our youth on this project:  Tristan Vollett and Shanna Michano.

 

Council appreciates the effort of our staff in taking the initiative to challenge the current models and develop new & innovative ways to educate our children.  Special thanks to Lambert and the rest of the staff for being open to change, which is in the best interest of our children.  We wish all the staff well in making the necessary adjustments to provide the highest quality of education.

 

Web-Site Development

 

We are working on making some changes to the Language Section of the Web-site.  We hope to provide you with an interactive, informative and creative web-site.  Special thanks to Juanita Starr and Sarah Robinson, our summer students working on this project.  Our expected launch date is at the end of August.

 

Upcoming Community Events

 

“Tickle Trunk Scavenger Hunt”

A fun activity aimed at providing an opportunity for the community to play and laugh together, while contributing resources to our language immersion programs.  We need some props – dresses, shoes, household items, etc.  We hope you will join us in this afternoon of fun.  Watch for more information.

 

“The Amazing Language Race”

Coming Soon in August….another fun opportunity to get together as a community and build our spirit.  Our plans is to top the success of Fear Factor – Nish Style.

 

Commercial Contest

The Language Revitalization Program is sponsoring a Commercial Development Contest.  We would like to have video commercials available for our web-site and Channel 20 programs.  Community members are asked to submit a short video commercial which address one of the identified themes.  Please refer to the posters for details on this initiative.  We hope you will join us in this fun filled adventure as individuals or as a family.

 

Council would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to:

 

Our Children - for the hope and inspiration they bring to our lives by blessing us with the sound of our language. 

 

Our Elders - for their wisdom, knowledge and openness to share their teachings and our stories with us.

 

Our Youth - for your creativity, innovation and for teaching us about the ways of your world.  

 

Our Parents - for always looking to the future and making decisions in the best interest of our children.

 

Our Staff – for your vision, commitment and ability to develop implementation plans to ensure successful programs.  Your hard work is appreciated.

 

Our Coaches

Barbara Nolan and JP Montano - for sharing their knowledge, passion, and vision with us.  Thank You for believing in and supporting our community.

 

Chief and Council acknowledge the leaders of language acquisition and language revitalization efforts around the world.

 

We honor those individuals involved in the academic and linguistic world; their works provide the foundations of our model

 

We thank the many Nations of the world whom have implemented successful language revitalization projects.  Their stories provide hope and a road map to success. 

 

Our Community

Thank You for helping us to create a vision for our people and our future generations.   Your on-going support and feedback is always appreciated and welcomed.  Together, as one, we will succeed in making Pic River a great place to live.

 

 

i       belief in the value of our language and its = worthiness of preservation

 

i       close your eyes and image what are world will look like when everyone

                 is speaking Ojibway.