IED 531! Researching Community-Based Initiatives in Language Revitalization! Instructor: Dr. Lorna Williams! Fall 2012 !
! Using Technology to Spark a Fire for Language Revitalization ! !
My final project for this course took the form of a twenty minute video which I crafted, to both answer a general question of inquiry around the use of technology in furthering my community’s language revitalization, as well as to identify my research methodology in pursuing that inquiry. My research community is the First Nation of the Kitsumkalum, located on the western edge of Terrace BC at the confluence of the Skeena and Kalum rivers which forms part of the Tsimshian Nation. I chose my particular inquiry after deliberating with some members of my cohort at the University of Victoria, and my seven years of experience as a teacher in our on-reserve school, ‘Na Aksa Gila Kyew Learning Centre. As someone who grew up before the invention of the internet I have been fascinated by my students, who I often refer to as the ‘net generation’, and who have grown up with the internet. Consequently the use of this technology appears to be second nature to them. Their enthusiasm for all things digital, and the enormous potential that the world wide web affords them has provoked the notion that maybe the traditional methods of teaching and modalities for learning are now going to be forever changed in ways that would have seemed like science fiction only a few years ago. In the interest of advancing my Sm'algyax language instruction perhaps the way in which we pursue and utilize research in our community will follow suit. I invite you to view the video I have published on YouTube: IED531 Project Presentation 8Nov12.