For Fort McPherson Elder Sarah Jerome, a fluent GwichSA国际影视传媒檌n language speaker, itSA国际影视传媒檚 one thing to listen but another to be actually heard.

This is the challenge Jerome has encountered at times during her lifelong quest to preserve the language of her ancestors and to ensure it is taught in the traditional GwichSA国际影视传媒檌n way.

SA国际影视传媒淚 think we need to go through our own self-government through our Aboriginal organizations, then make our own decisions on what is best for us instead of the government always thinking that they are making the best decisions for us,SA国际影视传媒� Jerome said.

SA国际影视传媒淲e are telling them, SA国际影视传媒榃hy donSA国际影视传媒檛 you do this according to our way?SA国际影视传媒� or SA国际影视传媒楲etSA国际影视传媒檚 do it our way, you have been trying your way for so many years. We know what is best for us.SA国际影视传媒�

Words and ways

Jerome, a former languages commissioner for the NWT, said it matters greatly how GwichSA国际影视传媒檌n is taught because itSA国际影视传媒檚 an all-encompassing language SA国际影视传媒� not one that can be solely taught or learned in a classroom.

SA国际影视传媒淎ll through my life, I knew the importance of the language because the language is the base of our GwichSA国际影视传媒檌n way of life. And incorporated into that we would have the culture and the traditional way,SA国际影视传媒� Jerome said. SA国际影视传媒淲e have the beliefs and the value systems all in that language. So, when we are teaching the language in the school system, it is not the natural environment for teaching the language.SA国际影视传媒�

Jerome said the difference in teaching the language on the land in the presence of Elders, however, is that learning incorporates the land base, the beliefs, the value systems, the traditional knowledge and the culture of the GwichSA国际影视传媒檌n people.

SA国际影视传媒淎ll are incorporated into the grassroots of the language. And this is part of teaching. It is absent today from teaching our language,SA国际影视传媒� she said.

The GwichSA国际影视传媒檌n way of teaching their language should be done while participating in on-the-land immersion camps because many of the language teachers are not fluent, she added.

SA国际影视传媒淭hey are struggling trying to learn the language while they are trying to teach the language to our children. So therefore, we need to set up immersion camps so that we immerse them in the language on the land surrounded by Elders who still speak the language,SA国际影视传媒� she said.

After partaking in such immersion camps, by hiring Elders to work alongside teachers in the classroom, Jerome said a transformation would then begin in not only learning but in truly understanding the language.

SA国际影视传媒淎 lot of times, what happened is that it was all to do with the weather, the colours, the numbers SA国际影视传媒� it was teaching by isolating topics. It wasnSA国际影视传媒檛 taught through sentences, so therefore we need to change that as Elders in the community.SA国际影视传媒�

Taking back their essence

What was taken away from the GwichSA国际影视传媒檌n people in residential school must be rebuilt and restored as much as possible while the Elders are still alive to teach it, according to Jerome.

SA国际影视传媒淚t is really a transition that we have gone through, from land-based living and speaking the language, into going into the residential school system, and how we lost so much of the language SA国际影视传媒� the value of it, the meaning of it. Now we are trying to reteach that language.SA国际影视传媒�

Anyone who speaks GwichSA国际影视传媒檌n should ensure that future generations are able to communicate in their ancestral language, Jerome advised.

She estimates that only about 200 people in the NWT speak GwichSA国际影视传媒檌n, with fewer than 100 of them making the Beaufort Delta region their home.

SA国际影视传媒淔or those of us who still speak the language, I think we need to continue to speak the language, even though our children or our grandchildren donSA国际影视传媒檛 understand. This is what I am now doing with my grandchildren, I talk to them. Eventually they understand what I am saying.SA国际影视传媒�

One of the more common phrases Jerome said she uses when speaking to her grandchildren is, SA国际影视传媒淪hiSA国际影视传媒� tshuu tyah gweejii?SA国际影视传媒� which translates into English as, SA国际影视传媒淲here is my cup?SA国际影视传媒�

SA国际影视传媒淚 keep saying that and eventually they realize what I am saying.SA国际影视传媒�

Jerome encourages speaking the language as often as possible in day-to-day life, although she knows that for some Elders it is a difficult or traumatic thing to do because they were punished for speaking their language in residential school.

Being on the land would help heal those traumas as well, she said.

SA国际影视传媒淚 feel it is very important, and teaching our children about their heritage, their genealogy and to try to bring back the teachings of the Elders SA国际影视传媒� of respect for land, people, places, everything around us, and that also includes hunting, fishing and trapping,SA国际影视传媒� she said.

SA国际影视传媒淲e need to get back out there and work with them and walk them through what they had experienced and to teach them that we can take back our voices, we can take back our power and we can take back our language.SA国际影视传媒�