Friday, December 20, 2019

100 songs translated into Miꞌkmaq


From the article:

"According to Statistics Canada, 8,870 people were knowledgeable of Miꞌkmaq in the 2016 census. But the language's vitality is categorized as vulnerable according to UNESCO's atlas of endangered languages.

It's the reason why Googoo said it's important for him to sing covers in the language. Googoo was raised by two fluent parents. He said even though that made him struggle with learning English when he was a child, his upbringing helped shape his sense of identity."

Thursday, July 4, 2019

Fist Nation Help Desk - links and aps

Many great apps to help with language learning
http://firstnationhelp.com/links.php



Wanting to learn phrases, words and expressions more easily? Check out the FNHD page, and scroll down the left-hand side to see many apps you can choose from: 
  • L'nui'suti- Mi'kmaq Words and Phrases
  • Tal-Tluen? -Mi'kmaq Phrasebook App
  • Nilu'nal -Mi'kmaq Recipes
  • Alasutmaqn- Mi'kmaq Prayers and Songs
  • Ktapekiaqnn- Mi'kmaw Immersion- Songs and Poems
  • ESK Sight Words- Mi'kmaw Immersion- Sight Words Flash Cards
  • Astue'kl- Mi'kmaw Opposites Game
  • L'nu Stickers- iOS Keyboard Stickers
  • Wowkwis aq Ka'qaquj- Mi'kmaq Story Book
  • Mnumkwej Na'kwekm- Mi'kmaq Story Book
  • Antle Netake'k!- Mi'kmaq version of a Robert Munsch classic
  • Antle Netake'k! for iPhone- Mi'kmaq version of a Robert Munsch classic
  • Puktewit- Mi'kmaq Story Book
  • Wen Wikit?- Animals
  • Malia'n aqq Wiklatmu'j- Mi'kmaw Story Book
  • Ksalultes Iapjiw- Mi'kmaq version of a Robert Munsch classic
  • Ta'n Wejiaq Epekwitk- Mi'kmaq Story Book
  • Mi'kmaw Colouring- Learn Mi'kmaw colours by colouring scenes
  • Antle Ewe'kitek Wipit- Mi'kmaq version of a Robert Munsch classic
  • Kaplie'l Naji-e'sue'ket- Mi'kmaw Story Book
  • Ki'kwa'ju aqq Muin- Mi'kmaw Story Book
  • A'tukwen- Mi'kmaq History Month 2014
  • Elatikl- Matching game featuring the art of Gerald Gloade

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Wednesday, July 3, 2019

Honouring the ancestors through an ancient art form

Birchbark quillwork - new art with traditional techniques
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-birch-bark-harvest-1.5197546




"An Island Mi'kmaq artist is doing her part to honour her ancestors and cultural values through an ancient art form using birchbark in her quillwork. Melissa Peter-Paul started doing quillwork in 2014, but it was the work of her great-great-grandmother that first got her interested. "She has a lot of her pieces in the archives today," she said. "I've been able to look at all of them and get a lot of my inspiration." Peter-Paul incorporates porcupine quills, sweet grass, spruce root and birchbark in her quillwork.
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Tuesday, July 2, 2019

I AM L’NU (Je suis Mi'gmaq)

Naomi Condo and identity
http://www.wapikoni.ca/films/im-lnu-je-suis-migmaq#lid=828f2693-0c4d-402a-bfc9-19ccf0bcdc06&videotype=vimeo


Naomi, mother of two, unpacks stereotypes about Native women and claims her identity as a proud and strong Mi'gmaw person.

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Listuguj Mi'gmaq Legends

 Grade 7 students share Mi'gmaq legends and cultural stories
http://www.wapikoni.ca/movies/listuguj-migmaq-legends


"An elder visits Grade 7 students at Alaqsite'w Gitpu School in Listuguj to share Mi'gmaq legends and cultural stories.  The students then narrate the stories in their own words, combined with a mix of animated drawings, real life footage and homemade sound effects." 


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Mi'kmaq speakers create new immersion curriculum

"Alaqsite'w Gitpu School on the Listuguj First Nation has been offering a Mi'kmaq immersion program for students from kindergarten to Grade 4 since 2002 and is now taking the next step and developing its own curriculum. Since September, Mary Ann Metallic, 66, has been working with a group of Mi'kmaq speakers in an effort to improve their fluency, along with their reading and writing."

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Thursday, June 27, 2019

Visiting With Our MI’KMAQ Elders

A glimpse of what it was and is to be Mi'kmaq in Cape St George
https://www.mun.ca/ich/resources/DIGITAL_Mikmaq_elders.pdf

"Cape St George is unique in many ways. It has been isolated from the rest of Newfoundland for so long that it has a very unique cultural identity. In a time when the rest of western Newfoundland was being assimilated into English Newfoundland culture, a few communities on the end of the Port au Port peninsula held onto their culture and language. Alas, the French barely held on and the Mi'kmaq language all but disappeared. The cultural identity, however, remained....In this booklet we have scratched the surface of the rich history and culture that surrounds this area. The men and women that have revealed a glimpse of what it was and is to be Mi'kmaq in Cape St George have invited you to experience a small part of their experience. I hope you enjoy."
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Monday, June 24, 2019

Mi'kmaq flag fly permanently in Moncton

Flag to fly permanently outside City Hall
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/mi-kmaq-flag-moncton-city-hall-1.5184481





"To mark National Indigenous Peoples Day, the Mi'kmaq flag will be raised Friday at Moncton City Hall and will be flown there permanently. The Mi'kmaq Grand Council flag joins the Canadian, New Brunswick, United Kingdom, Acadian and Moncton flags already flying outside the building."
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Friday, May 10, 2019

Schools across P.E.I. Sing the National anthem in Mi’kmaq

O Kanata
https://www.theguardian.pe.ca/news/local/schools-across-pei-singing-national-anthem-in-mikmaq-281716/

On Jan. 6, 2018, the students from Mount Stewart Consolidated School sang the national anthem in Mi'kmaq at the Island Storm basketball game in Charlottetown. On June 21, 2018, National Indigenous People's Day, schools across P.E.I. started their morning with the recording and many schools continue to play it on a regular basis.
The nine-minute film, entitled "Oh Kanata", is a call to action for educators and parents to download the recording so that any school in Canada can listen to the anthem in Mi'kmaq in the daily morning rotation as a way of making steps along the road to reconciliation.


Words and music:
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Wednesday, May 1, 2019

Pu’tliskiej wapinintoq

Blackbird - in Mi'kmaw
https://windspeaker.com/news/windspeaker-news/listen-blackbird-beatles-sung-mikmaq-student

The International Year of Indigenous Languages is a United Nations observance in 2019 that aims to raise awareness of the consequences of the endangerment of Indigenous languages across the world, with an aim to establish a link between language, development, peace, and reconciliation.

To bring awareness to this important cause, students at Allison Bernard Memorial High School in Eskasoni, Cape Breton recorded Paul McCartney's Blackbird in their native Mi'kmaq language.

Pu'tliskiej wapinintoq

(Blackbird singing in the dead of night)

Kina'masi telayja'timk 

(Take these broken wings and learn to fly)

Tel pitawsin 

(All your life)

Eskimatimu'sipnek nike' mnja'sin 

(You were only waiting for this moment to arise)

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Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Mi’kmaw Pronunciations for "Teaching About the Mi’kmaq"

Audio files word by word
http://www.mikmaweydebert.ca/home/sharing-our-stories/education-and-outreach/school-curriculum/mikmaw-translations-for-teaching-about-the-mikmaq/

Use this page to review the pronunciations of words used in the teaching series. (both "fast" and slower versions) This is a great place to get a better feel for the rhythm of the language.

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Teaching Resource: Mi’kmaw history, culture​ ​and knowledge

Content and teaching strategies


"This curriculum resource was designed for anyone who teaches Mi'kmaw history, culture and knowledge. Through the stories and knowledge of Mi'kmaw Elders, educators, and other experts, this volume shares content and teaching strategies for three subject areas:"
  1. Welo'ltimk (Healing)
  2. Kejitasimkewey Kiskuk (Contemporary Issues)
  3. Netukulimk (Economic, Social and Political Life)

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Monday, February 18, 2019

Jordan Bennett - The 2018 Sobey Art Award

Interview with a Mi'kmaw artist
"Born in Stephenville Crossing Ktaqamkuk and of Mi'kmaq descent, Jordan Bennett's ongoing practice utilizes painting, sculpture, video, installation and sound to explore land, language, the act of visiting and familial histories. His work challenges colonial perceptions of indigenous histories, stereotypes and presence with a focus on exploring Mi'kmaq and Beothuk visual culture of Ktaqamkuk. Over the past ten years, Bennett has participated in over 75 group and solo exhibitions, both nationally and internationally."

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“Ketu’elmita’jik" - Jordan Bennett – Canadian Art

Traditional Mi'kmaq and Beothuk design motifs take on new life 

"In his new exhibition at Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, "Ketu'elmita'jik," Jordan Bennett has created something truly remarkable. Bennett, who is of Mi'kmaq descent from Stephenville Crossing, Newfoundland and Labrador, is now living in the Halifax region at Terence Bay, Nova Scotia. In this show—whose title term translates as "they want to go home"—Bennett makes full use of the gallery's architectural quirks to create an immersive environment where traditional Mi'kmaq and Beothuk design motifs take on new life through physical, graphic and conceptual extensions in time and space...."

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Friday, February 15, 2019

Quizlet Cards from learnmigmaq

Flashcards with audio
https://quizlet.com/learnmigmaq


Use these flashcards with audio files to memorize words and phrases in Mi'kmaw.

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A First Reading Book in the "Micmac Language"

From 1875 - a look into the past
http://tinyurl.galegroup.com/tinyurl/994TB2#.XGdChs9A9Mk.gmail

Although we use a different writing system now, this booklet published in 1875, gives a window into how Europeans understood the Mi'kmaw language.

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Thursday, February 14, 2019

Schools across P.E.I. singing national anthem in Mi’kmaq

"Oh Kanata", is a call to action for educators
"The Mi'kmaq version of the Canadian national anthem is being sung by Island children in schools across the province. ... Dunk River Sound studio [made] a professional recording of the national anthem in P.E.I.'s first spoken language."

"The nine-minute film, entitled "Oh Kanata", is a call to action for educators and parents to download the recording so that any school in Canada can listen to the anthem in Mi'kmaq in the daily morning rotation as a way of making steps along the road to reconciliation."

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Tuesday, January 15, 2019

Living By The Drum, Episode 3: Flat Bay, Newfoundland

From Mawi'omi to Pow Wow.


"Hit the trail with Hanwakan Blaikie Whitecloud to Flat Bay, Newfoundland - a Mi'kmaq settlement and home to one of Canada's newest Pow Wows. Watch as dancers and attendees explain the unique cultural transition from Mawi'omi to Pow Wow."

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Friday, January 11, 2019

Nitap - Interactive app

Traditional legends and stories

Nitap is an interactive First Nations legend & storytelling app, combining traditional legends and stories told by Mi'kmaq and Wolastoqiyik Elders with animation created by First Nation Artists in a digital game format available on Android & IOS."

An official language designation is needed

Chief Leroy Denny of Nova Scotia's largest First Nation would like to declare Mi'kmaq an official language in the province....The main hope, he said, is that an official language designation would prompt the province to protect and preserve Mi'kmaq, and to support language programs. "People have to understand the Mi'kmaq language is the core of our nation," he said. "That's the heartbeat, our language, from our elders.

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