A training program to help Indigenous language learners work with an elder speaker is taking place at the Dauphin Friendship Centre.
The Master-Apprentice Language Learning Program is hosted by Prairies to Woodlands Indigenous Language Revitalization Circle and is run by three Manitoba Metis women.
Heather Souter, the Project Coordinator, explains what the group has set up.
“Six teams of a fluent elder, a fluent indigenous speaking elder, and a motivated learner for 300 contact hours of one-on-one emersion style learning. We have funding to pay the elder speakers for their traditional knowledge and what they are sharing with the apprentices.”
They received a grant of around $94,000 from Heritage Canada's Aboriginal Language Initiative to run the Master-Apprentice Program Indigenous Language Learning Pilot Project.
Souter says you really need to be motivated to learn a language and be a part of this program. The program funding doesn’t cover apprentices. At this point, they are searching for alternative sources of funding so it makes it easier on the apprentices to receive the knowledge and pass it on.
The program was originally developed to address the needs of Indigenous Californians because they are no longer learning their heritage language at home as children.
“They will receive training at the workshop to learn how to use the Master-Apprentice Language Learning techniques. So they’ll be trained there on how to learn and in a sense teach a language that doesn’t have a lot of print or recorded or other resources.” Souter continues, “basically the elder is the resource and the learner, or the apprentice, will learn how to be responsible for their own learning how to work with the elder to figure out lesson plans, do recordings of that, and they will have ways of tracking their progress and they will have a coach that will help them throughout the time that they are doing this.”
The initial emphasis is on Michif and other Metis languages but all qualified and committed applicants, Metis or First Nations, will be seriously considered. Michif, Anishinaabemowin, Cree, Dakota and all other Indigenous languages are welcome as MAP can be used for any language. Their aim is to honour kinship and relational ties and have those who are the most dedicated to language revitalization at the community level attend.
The project kicks off with an orientation workshop at the Dauphin Friendship Centre on September 15 &16.
To register or find more information about the Master-Apprentice Language Learning Program call 204-647-0081 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
