Hello everyone! Last week Comhairle na Gaidhlig shared the
news about a teacher’s meeting in Antigonish Nova Scotia. The purpose for this
gathering of Gaelic educators was to start compiling materials to be added into
a resource guide for the Department of Education’s new curriculum. If you
didn’t know already let me be the first to tell you that Gaelic is going to be
incorporated into every grade level and every subject.
The Nova Scotia curriculum is going through enormous changes.
The four heritage cultures, Acadian, African Nova Scotian, Mi’kmaq and Gaelic,
are taking center stage. To have the Gaelic community and culture be included
on something like this is a huge win. The number of people who have expressed
their excitement and support for the work that is being done on the new
curriculum has been so heartening. There are also a lot of questions. And
that’s what this blog post is going to be about. Hopefully, providing you with
more information about what has been happening in our schools and what is
coming down the road.
To help explain, I spoke with Tonya Lundrigan Fry, president
of the Gaelic Council of Nova Scotia and host/facilitator for last week’s
meeting in Antigonish.
***
INTERVIEWER What
is the history behind the new curriculum?
TONYA About a
year ago the Department of Education approached the Gaelic Council and informed
us that they were developing a new curriculum for all of Nova Scotia. In a
nut-shell, Gaelic, Mi’kmaq, Acadian, & African Nova Scotian, are being
incorporated into the learning outcomes at every grade level and every subject
being taught in Nova Scotia. Teachers will have the ability to use cultural
aspects of all four heritage cultures to inform and teach their students,
emphasising the historic cultures that have developed and shaped our province.
Of course, this initiative requires a lot of resources. The
Mi’kmaq resource guide was developed last summer. The Acadian resource guide
has been in place for quite some time now, through their own School Board’s
support. The African Nova Scotian community is working with the Department of
Education on the development of a Resource Guide too. All three of these
cultural groups have been well-represented on the school boards. When the
Department of Education approached us it was to ask for our help in compiling
the data to support the Gaelic resource guide.
Over the last 10 years there has been a curriculum in place
for Gaelic in the schools of Nova Scotia to support grade 3 and 4 cultural
Gaelic learning and Grade 11 social studies programs. Some schools have also
adopted a Gaelic language program because the demand in their communities was
so great. So the resources have been in place for quite some time, and over the
years those resources have been added to and modified. Those are extremely
valuable resources and the new curriculum is going to create a huge demand for
them. Teachers in Nova Scotia are going to want help with Gaelic cultural
connections for the purpose of learning for themselves and their students.
INTERVIEWR So
teachers who have not previously been engaged with Gaelic language and culture
will now be incorporating it into their lessons?
TONYA Absolutely,
and what we’re doing right now is trying to provide them with the resources
that they’ll need to represent the culture appropriately, and who better to
supply the resources than those in the community who are already teachers, and
that includes those in public school, in university and those that are teaching
in the community?
INTERVIEWER The
curriculum is being introduced in phases. When was the first phase introduced?
TONYA The New
curriculum for grades primary to grade 3 was released in September 2015, as
part of the Department of Education’s efforts to improve the provincial school
curriculum and it was released without a Gaelic recourse guide. Not that they
are entering into the next phase which will include higher grade levels,
teachers are going to be asking for more help with Gaelic cultural learning: ‘How
am I going to teach children about numbers in Gaelic if I don’t know them
myself? How am I going to be able to inform children about the Gaelic identity
and way of life—the way they value the community elders, the way they revere
nature, the blessings for the moon, for the harvest, for the meal, for the
family? How can we share that?’ Well that’s where we come in.
Comhairle na Gaidhlig is taking the lead role in
coordinating the collection of these learning resources. It’s taken quite a few
months to pull all of this together. Last Friday was the first time we were
able to get all the Gaelic culture and language school and community teachers
together to share with us their best practices. We shared ideas and started
collecting their recourses. We have framework and a proposed delivery approach
for the Department of Education.
INTERVIEWER Has
is been a long process of lobbying and advocating for Gaelic to be incorporated
into something like this?
TONYA Very long.
Over 10 years. And all of those that have gone before us have contributed to
where we are now. For example, there has been a group that as led by the Office
of Gaelic affairs meeting in Mulgrave every quarter for the last year and a
half. They have made great strides and gave the Gaelic Council more doffer
required for our own lobbying and advocating work. Teachers have been similarly
engaged for a long time now, and we have had school-boards and teacher’s unions
working toward the same goal. We’ve also had representation at the
universities—hence we were able to see StFX offer Gaelic as a teachable to
students working toward their Bachelor of Education degrees.
INTERVIEWER What
do you think has changed over the last ten years that has brought Gaelic from
being not on the radar as a heritage language in Nova Scotia to now where it is
on the government’s new curriculum?
TONYA It has
build momentum over time. People’s awareness has increased. We have put a lot
of
emphases on sharing Gaelic language as part of a culture and identity. We’re
not just trying to preserve language, we want to heighten people’s awareness of
their own culture and ancestry. A lot of people know that they’re from
Scotland, but they may not realise that their Scottish ancestors came with
their own language. So, valuing not just the language, but the identity that
goes with it.
I also think that the work of other cultural groups has
assisted our own efforts. The Acadian community is very strong in terms of
their awareness, development and engagement in being recognized as a leading
culture in the province. I would also say that the Mi’kmaq have had a longer
and harder battle than we have, but they’re about 10 years ahead of us in their
cultural awareness and community development around education, and the African
Nova Scotian community is on track with us in terms of representing their
culture and identity and what it has brought to the development of the Nova
Scotian identity.
All those things working together have helped each other,
either intentionally or inadvertently, and because the Department of
Communities Culture and Heritage has put all of these communities together
under their umbrella, we’re better able to boost historical cultural awareness.
That awareness broadens the community and more people are becoming aware of
their own Gaelic heritage as part of as a result of all that collaboration.
INTERVIEWER What is the
next step for the Gaelic community in Nova Scotia and the Gaelic Council with
regard to the curriculum?
TONYA The next
step is to prove the data for a resource guise to the Department of Education
before the next school term starts. The next level in the phase will be for
grades 4 to 6. We need to be prepared for a lot of teachers asking questions
and looking for guidance from individuals within our community. They will be
looking for resources and support. We’re going to have to build those
resources.
If anyone in the Gaelic community has any learning resources
that they would like to contribute we’re still open to receiving them until July
7th. After that we’re going to proceed with development of the
reference guide materials for the Department of Education. Community members
can forward their material to our email address, comhairlenagaidhlig@gmail.com),
and we will thank them for their contribution.
We can’t guarantee that everything will be in there. Right now we’re just
building the frame-work and attaching all the recommended best practices. It’s
on a volunteer basis that we’ve come together to do this. We all did a really
good job last Friday. We have begun to scratch the, but there is still more to
do.
INTERVIEWER Finally,
what is your favorite Gaelic word of Phrase?
TONYA My favorite
prase is “S’math dh’fhaicinn!” / “It’s good to see you!
”
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