ror.org/03rmrcq20
Abstracts
Abstract
A language nest is an early language learning program for young children from infancy to five years of age. Language nests have the potential to reconnect young Indigenous children to their languages and cultures within the heart of their communities. The first author, a settler scholar and mother and grandmother of language nest children, shares some insights and experiences from her doctoral research with community members who have been involved in developing a language nest in nḱmaplqs, the Head of the Lake Okanagan Indian Band community in Vernon, British Columbia. The second author, an Okanagan Indian Band community member and Language and Culture Lead for her community, describes the language nest in the present day. We offer these stories and words of language nest development to encourage other Indigenous communities who are engaged in their own journeys of reclamation.
Keywords:
- Indigenous language revitalization,
- language nests,
- Indigenous families
Appendices
Bibliography
- Armstrong, J. (2009). Constructing Indigeneity: Syilx Okanagan oraliture and tmixʷcentrism. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation] University of Greifswald.
- Arnouse, J. (2019). Me7 Tslxemwílc-kt es Secwépemctsném-kt! Secwépemc language resource development for Little Fawn Nursery–An early years language immersion program [Unpublished master’s thesis]. Simon Fraser University.
- Baptiste, V. (Director) (2001). Survivors of the red brick school [Film]. Shenandoah Film Productions.
- Brown, K. & Faster, M. (2019, December). Language nests on the move: The case of Võro pre-primary education in Estonia. FIRE: Forum for International Research in Education, 5(3), 29–48. https://doi.org/10.32865/fire201953145
- Chambers, N. (2014). “They all talk Okanagan and I know what they are saying.” Language nests in the early years: Insights, challenges and promising practices. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation] University of British Columbia.
- Chambers, N. (2015). Language nests as an emergent global phenomenon: Diverse approaches to program development and delivery. The International Journal of Holistic Early Learning and Development, 1, 25–38.
- Cohen, B. (2001). The spider’s web: Creativity and survival in dynamic balance. Canadian Journal of Native Education, 25(2), 140–212.
- Cowell, A. (2012). The Hawaiian model of language revitalization: Problems of extension to mainland Native America. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 218, 167–193. https://doi.org/10.1515/ijsl-2012-0063
- Edōsdi/Thompson, J. C. (2012). Hedekeyeh Hots’ih Kāhid –“Our Ancestors are in us”: Strengthening our voices through language revitalization from a Tahltan worldview [Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation]. University of Victoria.
- Edosdi/Thompson, J. C., Bourquin, M. (Producers), & Bourquin, M. (Director). (2016). Dah Dẕāhge Nodes̱idē: We are speaking our language again [Film]. Tahltan Central Government.
- First Peoples’ Cultural Council [FPCC]. (2014). The language nest story: As told by Kathy Michel [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffUTiwsRlag
- First Peoples’ Cultural Council (2018). Report on the status of B.C. First Nations languages. (3rd edition). http://www.fpcc.ca/files/PDF/FPCC-LanguageReport-180716-WEB.pdf
- First Peoples’ Heritage Language and Culture Council (2014). Report on the status of B.C. First Nations languages 2014 (2nd edition). http://www.fpcc.ca/files/PDF/Language/FPCC-LanguageReport-141016-WEB.pdf
- First Peoples’ Heritage Language and Culture Council (2010). Report on the status of B.C. First Nations languages 2010. http://www.fpcc.ca/files/PDF/2010-report-on-the-status-of-bc-first-nations-languages.pdf
- Fishman, J. A. (2013). Language maintenance, language shift, and reversing language shift. In T. K. Bhatia, & W. C. Ritchie (Eds.) The handbook of bilingualism and multilingualism, (pp. 466–494). Blackwell Publishing.
- Fleras, A. (1987). Redefining the politics over Aboriginal language renewal: Maori language preschool as agents of social change. The Canadian Journal of Native Studies, 7(1), 1–40.
- Gallegos, C., Murray, W., & Evans, M. (2010). Research note: Comparing Indigenous language revitalisation: Te reo Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand and Mapudungun in Chile. Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 51(1), 91–104. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8373.2009.01418.x
- Gessner, S. (2017). Reclaiming my language: A course for silent speakers. FPCC.
- Greenwood, M., de Leeuw, S., & Fraser, T. (2007). Aboriginal children and early childhood development and education in Canada: Linking the past and the present to the future. Canadian Journal of Native Education, Vol. 30(1), 5–18.
- Hinton, L. (2001). Language revitalization: An overview. In L. Hinton, & K. Hale, (Eds.), The Green Book of Language Revitalization in Practice (pp. 3–18). Academic Press.
- Hohepa, M., & Smith, G. H. (1992) Te Kōhanga Reo Hei Tikanga Ako i te Reo Māori: Te Kōhanga Reo as a context for language learning. Educational Psychology, 12(3–4), 333–352. https://doi.org/10.1080/0144341920120314
- King, J. (2001). Te Kōhanga Reo: Māori language revitalization. In L. Hinton & K. Hale, (Eds.), The Green Book of Language Revitalization in Practice (pp. 119–128). Academic Press.
- K’uyáang Young, B. (2019). K’wáa gyáaḵ’id G̱áagaay hl kı́nsälang: Emerging X̱aad Kı́́l (Haida language) use in a preschool setting [Unpublished master’s thesis] Simon Fraser University.
- Lee, W., Carr, M., Soutar, B., & Mitchell, L. (2013). Understanding the Te Whariki approach: Early years education in practice. New York: Routledge.
- McClutchie, M. D. (2007). Māori language revitalization: A vision for the future. Canadian Journal of Native Education, 30(1), 101–107.
- McIvor, O. (2005). Building the nests: Indigenous language revitalization in Canada through early childhood immersion programs [Unpublished master’s thesis]. University of Victoria.
- McIvor, O. (2006). Language nest programs in BC: Early childhood immersion programs in two First Nations communities. Practical questions answered and guidelines offered. Onowa McIvor.
- Michel, K. (2012). Trickster’s path to language transformation: Stories of Secwépemc immersion from Chief Atahm School. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation] University of British Columbia.
- Milloy, J. (2001). A national crime: The Canadian government and the residential school system 1879 to 1986. Winnipeg, MB: The University of Manitoba Press.
- Statistics New Zealand. (2002, May). 2001 Survey on the health of the Māori language. Stats NZ. http://archive.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/people_and_communities/maori/2001-survey-on-the-health-of-the-maori-language.aspx
- Morris, K. J. A. (2017). K’asba’e T’oh: Sustaining the intergenerational transmission of Tā̄łtān [Master’s thesis, University of Victoria]. UVicSpace Electronic Theses and Dissertations.
- Morris, K. J. A. (2018). Using language nests to promote the intergenerational transmission of Tā̄łtān. In J. Markides, & L. Forsythe (Eds.), Looking back and living forward: Indigenous research rising up (pp. 73–80). Brill.
- Navarro, B. M. (2008). Southern Ute language revitalization: A case study in Indigenous cultural survival and decolonization. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation] University of Oregon.
- Okanagan Tribal Council. (2004). Kou-Skelowh/we are the People: A trilogy of Okanagan legends. Penticton, BC: Theytus Books Ltd.
- Okanagan Nation Alliance [ONA]. (2018). Take the Indian out of the child: Syilx Okanagan experiences in the violent and forced assimilation of Indian Residential Schools. Okanagan Nation Alliance.
- Okanagan Nation Alliance. (2014). Syilx Child & Family Plan. Okanagan Nation Alliance.
- Okura, E. K. (2017). Language nests and language acquisition: An empirical analysis [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Hawai’i.
- Olthuis, M. L., Kivelä, S., & Skutnabb-Kangas, T. (2013). Revitalising Indigenous languages: How to recreate a lost generation (Vol. 10). Multilingual Matters.
- Parker, A., & Gessner, S. (2014). Language nest handbook for B.C. First Nations communities. First Peoples’ Cultural Council. http://www.fpcc.ca/files/PDF/Language/Language_Nest/FPCC_LanguageNestHandbook_EmailVersion2.pdf
- Ragoonaden, K., Cherkowski, S., Baptiste, M., & Després, B. (2009). Sntrusntm i7 captikwlh: Unravel the story, the Okanagan way. The Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 55(3), 382–396.
- Richards, M., & Burnaby, B. (2008). Restoring Aboriginal languages: Immersion and intensive language program models in Canada. In T. W. Fortune, & D. J. Tedick (Eds.), Pathways to multilingualism: Evolving perspectives on immersion education (p. 221). Multilingual Matters.
- Ritchie, J., & Rau, C. (2008). Whakawhanaungatanga: Partnerships in bicultural development in early childhood care and education. Teaching & Learning Research Initiative. http://www.tlri.org.nz/pdfs/9207_finalreport.pdf.
- Secwépemc Cultural Education Society. (2000). Behind closed doors: Stories from the Kamloops Indian Residential School. Secwépemc Cultural Education Society.
- Soberanes Bojórquez, F. (2010). Noam Chomsky and Indigenous education in Oaxaca, Mexico. In L. Meyer, & B. Maldonando Alvarado (Eds.), New world of Indigenous resistance: Noam Chomsky and voices from North, South, and Central America (pp. 101–113). City Light Books.
- Stiles, D. (1997). Four successful Indigenous language programs. In J. Reyhner (Ed.),Teaching Indigenous Language (pp. 248-262). Northern Arizona University.
- Te Puni Kōkiri Ministry of Māori Development. (2018). Literature review: Perceptions of the health of the Māori language 2015. https://www.tpk.govt.nz/documents/download/4769/Literature%20Review%20-%20English.pdf
- Terbasket, K., & Greenwood, M. (2007). British Columbia First Nations Head Start Program: An overview of policy development 1998-2007. Canadian Journal of Native Education, 30(1), 75–82.
- Truth and Reconciliation Commission [TRC]. (2015). Honouring the truth, reconciling for the future. Summary of the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.
- Utumapu, T. L. P. (1998). O le poutu: Women’s roles and Samoan language nests. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation] University of Auckland.
- Warner, S. L. N. (2001). The movement to revitalize Hawai’ian language and culture. In L. Hinton and K. Hale (Eds.). The Green Book of Language Revitalization in Practice (pp. 133–146). Academic Press.