Learning Story – Talking About Language
The Week of October 13, 2023
What Happened?
We asked what gifts the Land gave us today?
- Wood to build forts with.
- Tools to whittle with.
- New friends to play with (new Bushkids and Aurora College interns).
- Time to be with each other all day.
- All this space.
- Moose meat (thank you Sophia!) and ducks (thank you Chloe Dragon Smith!). -The lake.
- Fun.
Why is it Important?
We watched so many relationships develop today – with each other, with ourselves and the Land. Quiet time and alone time was taken by the Bushkids when they needed it. Instead of ringing a bell, the Bushkids are learning to eat their snacks and drink hot chocolate, tea or water when they feel their body needs it. Don’t worry – we know this takes time so we will remind them! We saw older Bushkids helping younger Bushkids after they fell or when the trail was hard to navigate. We saw new Bushkids and Aurora College interns being invited to play with returning Bushkids, making them feel welcome and included. Educators and Bushkids are making an effort to use the right pronouns for each other. The Bushkids showed so much patience with each other and with the educators – sometimes you have to wait for help, sometimes you have to change your play and adapt to the new kids who join in. The Bushkids are taking time to reflect and express gratitude to the Land. As we identify the gifts the Land offers – we begin to truly appreciate that everything comes from the Land.
What Does This Mean For Next Time?
We heard the question “If Bushkids was on different Land, would we still speak Wıı̀lııd̀ eh YatııɁ̀ ” We also heard “If we were Russia, what do they speak there? Are there different Indigenous peoples there and what do they speak?” This adds to the discussion that language comes from Land too. The staff at Bushkids have taken Wıı̀lııd̀ eh Yatıı̀and Tlı̨c̀ hǫ̀ Yatıı̀lessons and we are going to continue doing this more intensively this month and we hope to have more thoughtful conversations about language. We have lots of whitefish coming in for this Friday so we hope to learn how to better infuse the language into the play the best we can.