The class has nearly accomplished eight full months in the Language House, and we have started having Elder visits. Our first two visits were with K̓ninmtn t̓a nq̓ʷic̓tn Grouse Barnes. We made x̌ʷəx̌ʷƛ̓miłp Indian tea and talked about family. It is amazing to see how far we have come and to know that we are able understanding our fluent speakers more and more. It is an exciting time for us!
We had a magical day on Thursday we took our afternoon language immersion and review lessons onto the land, learned some plants, wikntm pqlqin naʔł yilíkʷłkn and visited one of our q̓y̓íksxn pictograph sites. qʷamqʷəmt iʔ sx̌əlx̌ʕaltət. xərxart iʔ nqəql̓xʷáqaʔs naxmł qlnunm uł x̌əstmintm iʔ swíklaʔxʷtət. We are going strong after Spring break, this week the class completed Lessons 8 & 9 in Nsəlxcin 2 as well as several C1 and N1 review lessons. The Language House and Sʔímlaʔxʷ received appreciative words from our Elder Sʕamtic̓aʔ, to ʕAn̓n last week ... "x̌ast iʔ sck̓ʷul̓s Sʔím̓laʔxʷ... c̓x̌ił t mnim̓łtət, k̓ʷul̓m uł qłnus."
We received an evaluation visit from Aliana Parker from First Peoples' Cultural Council last Wednesday. It was a full day of immersion learning (we are well into the third Paul Creek textbook) and the take-away messages are: Aliana was "very impressed," and "it's so much more impressive in person than on paper", and "it's four in the afternoon and nobody's falling asleep!" Aliana witnessed our first trial of immersion UNO which was a big hit with the students ... it was hard to get them to stop at 4pm! Thank you for the uplifting visit and kind words, Aliana, we were proud to share our day with you.
The Syilx Language House hosted an Elders recording session last week. It was a great time to be together in the language and we were very proud and grateful to record stories in nqilxʷcn from Sʕamtíc̓aʔ, Salʕáwaʔt, Kiʔláwna, Qʷlqʷlmnalqs, uł Kuxaʔstminaʔ. Thank you to the Elders for coming and sharing. We are so thankful to be able to share good stories, food and laughter.
We are very happy to see that the Penticton Newspaper has picked up our story.
the Syilx Language House celebrates milestone of completing our second book, Captíkʷł 1 , and we will be moving onto our third book, Nsyilxcn 2! http://infotel.ca/…/okanagan-first-nation…/it27856/penticton This is the last week of Captikʷł 1. Stories 15. snkstíyaʔ naʔł ʔarsíkʷ (Skunk and Turtle), and 16. snkstíyaʔ naʔł yx̌ʷyx̌ʷutxn (Skunk and Badger). Along with Captikʷł 1, students have been learning songs from Song book 2. Many of the students have children and are fortunate enough to teach and share the stories and songs.
Andrew McGinnis shared that, If you are having difficulty saying a word or words together, make a song and sing it. By singing it, it makes the transition of sounds flow together into sentences. We appreciate all of the fluent speakers who continue to revitalize, renew and preserve the language. We also appreciate our students for all of their hardwork and dedication they share with us each week. way̓ límləmt! k̓ninmtm taʔ nqʷic̓tn dropped by to give encouraging words to our students. He is very proud of the students and their teachers.
Students have been given their stories that they will be presenting on February 10th! This week stories 13. ʔarsíkʷ naʔł ml̓qnups (Turtle and Eagle), and 14. sk̓awílx naʔł c̓q̓c̓q̓am (Watersnake and Thunder). With only 2 more stories next week, the stories are getting more difficult but our students are rockstars. We are very fortunate to have 2 amazing volunteers from the University of British Columbia join us and assist us in some of our projects. From helping us edit audio, organizing lessons, and working on uploading our materials to the internet, they are very much appreciated! way̓ límləmt! This week students are working on stories 11. stm̓tímaʔ naʔł spapʕálaʔ (Grandmother and Monster), and 12. k̓ʷík̓ʷxʷnaʔ naʔł kiʔláw̓naʔ 2 (Mouse and Grizzly pt.2). Only four more stories and the students will do their oral and written presentations in completion of Captikʷł 1.
Their presentations are on February 10th. Students will begin their oral presentations from 9am til 10:30. Then from 10:30-noon, there will be a community feedback session. We hope many of our community members from our surrounding communities will have the opportunity to come and see how the students have progressed and continue to strive for excellence in learning the language. Lunch will be provided. Guests are welcome to stay the afternoon while students finish their oral presentations. Co-teachers continue to teach and transcribe. They are working on raising their fluency levels by teaching and transcribing records. By teaching it helps them to really focus on annunciation and clarity. But also allows them time to further improve their understanding of the grammar. By listening to the recordings over and over again, this improves their listening skills and gives them space to listen for grammatical structures that may get lost by only hearing a speaker once. It’s a really neat tool, and we are excited to see them work just as hard as the students in improving their language learning experience. CBC Daybreak radio interviewed Sʔímlaʔxʷ and students January 21. Listen to the podcast below. Scroll down to "Saving a First Nation Language". Sʔímlaʔxʷ talks about the origin of the Syilx Language House and you can hear the class singing the Alphabet song and praying in the Language. Our hands go up in the air to Penticton Indian Band, Osoyoos Indian Band, Westbank First Nation, Okanagan Nation Alliance, and Okanagan Indian Band. kʷu sqʷaʔqʷaʔal! http://www.cbc.ca/daybreaksouth/ From snow, rain and ice to sunshine and blue skies our students and teachers have made it to class safely. This week students are powering through stories 9, and 10. Which are 9. sn̓k̓lip naʔł x̌ʷʕaylxʷ uł iʔ‿ʔaʔúsaʔ (Coyote, Fox and the Eggs). 10. sn̓k̓lip naʔł sƛ̓aʔcínm (Coyote and Deer).
|
Archives
January 2024
Categories
All
|