Student Indigenous language learning on display in the OC library
Kelowna Campus Library feature display, foyer, April 14 – May 12
FNIL120 & FNIL110 are Okanagan College courses that provide opportunities for students to learn words and phrases, and hold conversations in N̓syilxčn̓, the Indigenous language of the Syilx Okanagan people.
This term, student creative projects included cupcakes baked using a recipe in N̓syilxčn̓ and an original painting depicting the students in the class. The student works and their stories about the course and what it has meant to them will be on display in the Kelowna Campus Library foyer alongside the permanent indigenous resources feature, until May 12. Library hours can be found here.
Class photo: back row left to right, Sʔímlaʔxʷ Michele Johnson PhD
Naomi, Ali, Danika, Rylee. front row Lilly and Sierra
More information on the courses:
N̓syilxčn̓ is an Interior Salish language and is critically endangered with fewer than 40 fluent Elders, and only a few handfuls of intermediate-advanced speakers. The Syilx Nation stretches across the Interior Plateau from Revelstoke BC to northern Washington.
An introductory course, FNIL 110, is offered at the Kelowna campus in Fall term. The course provides an opportunity for students to learn some basics words and phrases. By the end of FNIL 110, students are able to introduce and describe themselves, as well as convey foods and activities they like and dislike.
FNIL 120 is a continuation of the FNIL 110 N̓syilxčn̓ book 1 curriculum, and it is offered in the Winter term at the Kelowna Campus. In FNIL 120, student learn more complex words and phrases, including nouns, pronouns, and past, present and future tense verbs. By the end of FINL 120, students can hold a complex conversation that includes asking and answering questions in a more descriptive manner.
Learn more at https://nsyilcn.wordpress.com/.
Sʔím̓laʔxʷ Michele Johnson, PhD, is the current teacher and also is executive director of the Syilx Language House. For more information: www.thelanguagehouse.ca, syilxlanguage@gmail.com, michelekjohnson@gmail.com
Tags: Indigenization
