A new First Nations immersive language program inspired by Plains Cree is seeking to help preserve the Cree language.
The program, called “Language Nest,” is a non-classroom space for fluent Plains Cree speaking elders and children from the local community to help them learn the language in their early years.
The grand opening of the Kakewetotamak Kinehiyawinaw Language Nest took place recently on December 18 in the Kehewin Cree Nation, 235 kilometers northeast of Edmonton. The name Language Nest translates to “bringing our language home”.
Melissa Paul, Cree Language Revival developer for New Languages Nest, said the revival of the Cree language is necessary to maintain the identity and culture of the Kehewin community.
“Without language, we don't have culture. So, it's very important to maintain it and maintain it, and start it when they're young,” Paul said.
“When you come to the language nest, you're going to leave the English language outside those doors and you're going to – to the best of your ability – speak your language in the language nest. Yes Cree.”
Nest co-ordinator Alyssa Gadwa said the inspiration for the new program came from the Maori community that started the first language nest.
“We got to go (to New Zealand) and meet the people who started the language nest 30 years ago,” Gadwa said.
Gadwa said Cree language and cultural classes will also be held in the evening for Kehewin adults
Speech pathologist Janine Chesworth, a researcher on Kehenwin's Language Revitalization Project, said language nests were started as a grassroots movement for Maori families to teach young children their language in an immersive setting, such as a cooperative daycare.
“Kids learn language at an early age, and if you can get that learning in the early years it really shapes their brains and their perspectives,” Chesworth said.
“If you want children to have an indigenous worldview and perspective, it's really helpful if they can be immersed in the language from birth.”
But Chesworth says Language Nest is meant to be different from the Emerson School program.
“The difference is that it's about being part of a larger movement to engage with the community and create a language community. So it's not just an immersion program. It's an immersive program that's part of a community movement.”
Chesworth said Kehewin's Language Nest program received a grant from Heritage Canada. She said that the current grant can operate for five years.
Paul said the language nest plays an important role in the larger goal of increasing Cree flow in Kehewin and ensuring that the next generation of the community “can speak our language with confidence and pride”.
“We need our language to know our identity,” Paul said. “We want to revive what was lost and bring it back.”
Listen Revitalizing the Plains Cree Language
Edmonton AM8:26Nurturing the next generation of Plains Cree speakers
Ensuring that future generations can speak the Plains Cree language is the goal of a new 'Language Nest' – or language immersion program – that has opened on the Kehewin Cree Nation, northeast of Edmonton. We are joined by Melissa Paul, a Cree language revitalization developer, and Language Nest co-ordinator Alyssa Gadwa.
