Hadley and a little more.....

THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2009

Howa! Gigii-nitaawichigem - good job all :)

I will do some more Hadley break down during the break. I want to give those who have not yet posted a chance to respond before we move forward. There fortunately lots of good information being shared here.

I have been responding to pretty much everyone’s blogs - making a comment per entry. I am so grateful that others also use the comment section. It is a good way of affirming to each other that what we are writing is important. I also know that not everyone reads everyone else’s comments (and nor do you have too). But I do think that some of the points in the comments are valuable to the course learning so I will be writing some “summative” posts in which I address various things from people’s postings.

At the onset I have to affirm how proud I am of everyone for sticking with it and getting into Hadley. Geget zanagad! It is not an easy task, and at times sleep inducing but the once you have worked through it, you have worked through it. It opens up doors that could have otherwise been closed. Somehow it seems, mired behind the mysterious and oversized words, are some cool ideas. But they are encrypted in the language of scholarship that does take deciphering. In some ways it is almost like learning another language!

It is great that people are really finding some good value in the various hypotheses presented. They are all different, and it seems people are finding at least one that they can relate to. Do these point to changes in how language is taught? For the most part, yes. Whether it is an instructor engaging students more in reciprocal dialogue (ie. active questioning and leading rather than answering and following), incorporating more authentic cultural activities, to scaffolding or setting students up for success (to build more confidence) there are many good and positive suggestions. It is important that all teachers (gekinoo'amaagejig) – our language teachers especially – be familiar and responsive to the varied learning needs of our students (gikinoo'amaaganag). I wonder if there are things past instructors could have done differently – in your personal experience – to have made your personal learning experience better.

One thing I have noticed people reacting to in a strange way– and rightly so, is the use of the term “foreign language.” I agree that for Indigenous people, this does need to be reversed. The term “native” language does not work well either, as the majority of Anishinaabe people do not speak their Native language as their native language. A term that may be a little more neutral is the “target” language, as the language we are learning is always our “target”. Maybe this helps? But I appreciate the sentiments about the words we are trying to use and learn. I guess in our terms, anishinaabemowin, ojibwemowin, or using the words for language or sound (inwewin) we could say gidinwewininaan (our language).

The topic of culture comes up a lot in these chapters. Language taught in a contextually relevant way would indeed be culture. However, what happens when the cultural framework we are teaching (ie. ricing, anishinaabe values, legends, maybe even ceremony) is not the “culture” of the children we are teaching? So is there is there a “target” culture we are also teaching with the “target” language?

I so appreciated people’s sentiments that the best way to learn Ojibwe would be in a language and cultural immersion environment. They are certainly far and few between these days, and while there are language events and ceremonies always taking place these can never replace the kind of Ojibwe speaking home that Gabe writes about. This is the reason we need to have discussion about how to more effectively learn and teach Ojibwe to fill the spaces in between where we can hear Ojibwe spoken at ceremony or language camp. This also speaks to the need to CREATE more of these speaking communities. Language doesn’t just seem to happen on its own anymore, so we need to endeavor, plan, think about, and MAKE it happen.
I must say I also appreciate how everyone is trying so hard to use the technology, and looking for the benefits. The fact that we can get unlimited repeats or “say agains” is really helpful ☺ It was also mentioned that is good that we can practice on our own, and develop confidence to go forward and practice then with real speakers. Interesting and good thoughts in this regard ☺ I am hoping now that after the experience of using this technology in a consistent way, every day (or almost every day) for the past week or so is really helping and that people are seeing and hearing and experiencing a difference . This can be steadily improving test scores, or just a noticeable difference in being familiar with the words. Can anyone think of any other ways we can account for our success without relying on the test scores alone?

The technology – while interesting and good - is not perfect though. I know that I have been annoyed when I forgot a capital or made one tiny misspelling and I got it wrong ☹ I wish it was a little more accommodating of different forms of words (while not allowing for obvious mistakes). Still, I know it is only a beginning and that kind of intelligent and adaptive system may be in the works one day soon?

But back to culture. I sure appreciated some of the dialogue about connecting with the spirit of the language in this learning. That is so important to the journey, and of course must never be forgotten. This is so hard to forget when we have the privilege of such a wonderful Elder like Dorothy opening our sessions (or wonderful classmates like Gabe or Brian). But could our language somehow be “decontextualized” from the Spirit in using technology? I mean, even with the video on tobacco offering (there are a couple like this in the series – which is another issue altogether I suppose) could someone potentially use the whole set of modules, read a lot of the online texts, and not connect legitimately with the language without the cultural teachings of the language? Gosh, we sure hope not! I do hope we learn what we should or can not record and make available so easily. I remember Albert Churchill telling me years ago about the danger or writing certain things, or singing out of context, and Dorthy (in our first session) was also encouraging us to be determined but yet cautious as the spirits are always listening to us and our language. Reassuring but also reminding me of the good balance of care we need. We are sooooo very lucky to have the guidance of these Elders, providing us the cultural contexts (which yes, can include the ‘dos and don’ts) of language and how to use it (which is what we are starting to get more into as we go).

I also wanted to welcome people to include any Ojibwe words of phrases in their posts. It is good to get those flashes of language here and there don't you all think? I know that I might say - if I were to walk into the Bad River Casino tomorrow – niwii-miikwa’aanan midaaswaak gezhibaabidegin (thank for that Tree).

Anyhow, this is good for now. Thank you for the good work and keep it up ☺

Gimiigwechiwigoo wiikwajitooyeg :)