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Mend-*v, 4, 1963■■ ■■Two Languages Best..(Continued from Page 2)I did not sell the idea to the people in the Education Department cn the first try! But, I found support in unexpected ways. With a new brand of administrators called Northern Service Officers, there had come a new change in policy.Their instructions were the opposite to mine; they were to learn Eskimo (since they were all going to the Arctic) and dispense with the interpreters as soon as they Could after reaching their field stations.Their orientation program covered a six month period during which two hours a day for three months were spent learning Eskimo, The instructors were three Eskimos of varying dialects and an Eskimo-speaking linguist,I quickly obtained permission to sit in on the course as I was planning to return to Ungava Bay for the summer of 1960.ExperimentThe rest of the winter I spent trying to get authority to teach in two languages the following summer and to evaluate the program a? an “experiment. There was much opposition to the idea but as I took off for the airport with my sleeping bag under my arm, I received a hesitating “okay, 1 wasdelighted, of course.Learning CenterThe summer of I960 was different in many ways since, instead of doing itinerant teaching going fromcamp to camp, we gathered the children at a middle point, set up tents for cooking and sleeping and used a log cabin (which the men built) for the school.Parents were not more than 30 miles away and came often by boat to visit. The people were delighted that I had learned some Eskimo over the winter and spent many evenings helping me learn more.The children were rather startled to be using both languages in school, but soon became excited gbout the idea. We used only vocabulary from the environment, for example, boat, fish, net, water, etc. The children said the words and sentences in Eskimo, then in English and then wrote them in both English and Eskimo.The Canadian Eskimo use a form cf syllables for writing and we taught the younger children to use this system as well as he regular alphabet. The use of syllables meant that they could have their parents read their lessons and stories too. Parents have no way of sharing the child's school experiences when only English is used.Bilingual CommunicationContrary to all the arguments, the use of two languages did notlower the desire of the children tocommunicate in English. Manytimes when I wanted something in a hurry and would ask for it in Eskimo, a student would “eee his agreement and then ask “how in English.Outside school hours we were often surprised to hear the children in their tents talking to each ether in English.Certainly the motivation and interest in learning English had not been dampened! And too, much more was learned in a shorter period of time. The Ungava children covered and recalled more material in three months than the Lac La Martre children ever experienced as they struggled through their one-■way learning day.Way of LifePerhaps the greatest benefits came from the realization that it Was truly possible to communicate With the adults and that attitudes and sensitivities changed as a result.There was far more mutual respect and warmth with two languages than ther could ever have been with one; nothing was lost and much was gained in the process.1* for one, would not want to facrifice the many evening hours ISizable MistakeThere were many times of laughter; 1 recall my puzzlement one day when I was asked if there were any fish in the cooktcnt for lunch. T replied that there were—three large ones. The suffix for “large in some cases is—juak but apparently it did not apply to fish for when T used the word ilkalwjtftak the tent I was in emptied and I rejoined a laughing group at the cooktcnt. Ilkalujuak meant shark, rnd “big fish and everyone had gone to sec how I had gotten three sharks into the tent! There weremany such incidents provided by my errors!Letter to EditorBroke BarriersT do not speak Eskimo well nor is it likely that I ever will. But I found that fen words ran take you past barriers that years of unending effort cannot; T learned that there is much human warmth to be shared in listening to story-tellers if you can understand enough to catch the drift of the story and T was able to catch a glimpse of a philosophy and a way of life 1 might never had known had I not learned my basic Eskimo.It was an experience not only of satisfying teaching but of effectivelearning. It was an experience in communication that might never have been, I would not sacrifice it for any other experience I might have had before or since then.There is too much to be lost in being monolingual.Anchorage. Alaska February 6, 1963 Dear Gentlemen:Recently 1 had the pleasure of looking over your wonderful newspaper and I liked it so well that I would subscribe for one year.3 think you have very interesting articles and I enjoy it so much. Looking forward to receiving your paper soon, I am,Sincerely,Edna Thomasispent in a warm tent repeating phrases until the adults nodded approval and I could go to my own tent with a feeling of accomplishment at having learned a few new * words. iIt became a way of life that was j filled with many things and many moments that I will long remember, Perhaps the most important thing I learned was to laugh at myself! It is difficult not to laugh when everyone else is laughing atan error you have just made—you stand very much alone until you join in the laughter and then you find yourself one of the group.rc$$tcft$ft1a\JicI1(1Ilt;1(■ITccIGOOD LI*AROUND T24 Hour* a BMusk - News -KFI900 ON YC
Newspaper Details
Tundra Times
Fairbanks, Alaska, US
Mon, Mar 04, 1963
Page 5
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 13 Apr 2022
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