THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2016
«INSIDE: Friendship Centre could lose funding. Page A3
Alberni Valley
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NEWS
Keeping language alive
Nuu-chah-nulth education worker motivates kids to learn her culture KRISTI DOBSON SPECIAL TO THE NEWS
F
When Experience Counts... We Know the Valley
Roads face name change on main drag KATYA SLEPIAN
ALBERNI VALLEY NEWS
KRISTI DOBSON / SPECIAL TO THE NEWS
or the past six years, Jean Thomas has been going into elementary school classrooms to teach the aboriginal language to young students. This year, Thomas, a Nuu-chahnulth Education Worker (NEW), is at E.J. Dunn for the first time. At the age of 66, she is helping to contribute to the preservation and expansion of her heritage. Thomas goes into the classrooms primarily from Kindergarten to Grade 3, but occasionally up to Grade 6. She started out at Eighth Avenue Elementary, where she returned for the past two years, and prior to that, taught at Gill and Alberni. Her role is to make learning fun and interactive.
PAT & GERRY HICKEY
Jean Thomas, a Nuu-chah-nulth Education Worker at E.J. Dunn School, shows Edward Fedirchuk the phonetic alphabet in Mr. Koch’s Grade 2–3 class.
“I do activities with the kids,” Thomas said. “We have made button blankets, mini drums and did a series on the Raven Tales movie.” She also includes
activities for the various seasons and holidays. There is also a theory component to her lessons where she has the students write words and letters from the
phonetic alphabet. “I find they pick it up easier in Kindergarten and Grades 1–3,” Thomas said. The language is evolving, but she can still teach the basics
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for everyday greetings and conversation. “(The students) learn numbers, how to say good morning, their names and where they are from.” Cont’d on A5
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Port Alberni’s longest three streets could soon be amalgamated into one, if a proposal from city council to unify Gertrude Street, Stamp Avenue and Third Avenue is accepted. “That’s the one street that stitches the two sides of the city together so we decided a year ago that it would be a good process to go through in order to rename it,” said Mayor Mike Ruttan following Monday’s council meeting. “We would rename it on the basis of a competition and see what names people come up with.” According to city planner Scott Smith, the change would affect nearly 250 properties.
“The proposed street name change to Gertrude, Stamp and Third would directly impact about 110 commercial properties and about 140 residential properties,” Smith told council on Monday.
That’s the one street that stitches the two sides of the city together... – Mike Ruttan “If a street name was changed the city would certainly install new street signage and we would need to change our digital mapping and information systems.” Cont’d on A4
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