Thanks to Heather Souter for her personal endorsement of this general language teaching (non-Cree) program. Learn more online: https://forms.gle/6FXM4HTdvsGBf1kb8)
Heather writes:
My friend and mentor Tina Hargaden is offering scholarships to her Summer Institutes for teaching language. The focus is using a flexible and culturally- responsive framework that is student and community-centred and is based on a Comprehensible Input approach. You will learn so much more than techniques, strategies and methodologies, such as TPR, TPRS and One Word Images, etc. (And, literacy is used in a structured and effective affordance to language learning!) It is much more of a “post-method” empowering way of learning/teaching language.
You will not only be exposed to how it feels to be a learner and see the framework modelled but also see how it’s flexibility can be used to your advantage within your cultural context. You will be invited to share your challenges and triumphs with other teachers and share ideas for more holistic ways of teaching language—whether in the home using “print learning packets”, asynchronous over the Internet, synchronous using Zoom, etc., in the classroom or on the land.
Of course, we will need to take the framework and strategies, etc. and make creative use of them and the knowledge of our Elders and transform our language work into something even more powerful than it is now. New speakers are created through this way of teaching. It isn’t the whole solution to our language revitalization challenges, but I think it is another important part of it.
US$75 (aprox. CA$105-110) is amazing for a full week of classes! (The full tuition is US$300!) And, you will have access to the recordings as well if you have to miss a class here or there or want to review them. Chose a language you don’t already know to feel what novice learners of our languages experience! Latin, Spanish, ASL, and German will be offered for the lower level course and Spanish and French for the upper level. I went in person last year and benefited greatly. Follow the link and check it out. Language learning as STUDENTS in the morning SEEING the framework modelled and then debriefing and skills training in the afternoon by experienced language teacher trainers. It was an amazing learning and community-building experience!
