Learners

The Rainy River District School Board and Seven Generations Education Institute have partnered to support Anishinaabemowin programming in schools. Along with programming within the elementary and secondary schools, we are fortunate to be partnered with preschool settings in the district where Anishinaabemowin is encouraged and supported.

Land based pedagogy increases experiential learning and emphasizes the interconnectedness of Anishinaabe language, culture, and land which is highly valued in the classroom. The use of technology in the Anishinaabemowin program enriches students’ 21st Century skills and allows them to explore further language learning.

This programming is supported by language speakers, knowledge keepers, and elders who come into the classrooms and offer learning experiences. This supports students, teachers, and families in their journey of learning and speaking Anishinaabemowin which is the goal of the Anishinaabemodaa initiative. 

Additionally we are able to offer virtual learning opportunities for the public which focus on Anishinaabe language, teachings, and culture. These sessions are recorded and offered to the public. Some session recordings are not offered on this public platform, but can be accessed if requested. Please contact us if you would like to access these recordings. 

Formerly known as the Mentor Learner Program

RRDSB, SayITFirst, and Seven Generations Education Institute have co-developed this program to help learners achieve higher levels of conversational skills and comprehension in Anishinaabemowin upon graduation. This program has been created to support students wishing to pursue careers which would benefit from having Anishinaabemowin as a skill i.e. Education, Early Childhood Education, Social Work, Health Sciences, etc. 

Students in Grades 9 and 10 who are enrolled in Anishinaabemowin for the 2024-25 school year are invited to apply for the Mentor-Learner Program. 

Students will work to complete 120 hours of an instructor-led computer-based program in Anishinaabemowin. Once the computer-based training modules are completed the students will be paired with a fluent speaker from their home community in order to further develop conversational fluency in the language.  Both instructor-led training and working with a fluent speaker will be scheduled in agreement with the student and the instructor/fluent speaker.

Start date for next cohort: January 6, 2025

Application Deadline: November 22, 2024

Interviews: November 25-December 06, 2024

Rate of pay: $16/hour

Time: 15 hours per week

Location:  Virtual – The first phase of this program is accessible to any learner with reliable computer and internet access.
The second phase of the program will be online and/or in person with a fluent speaker. 

Selection: 10 learners will be selected through a review of their completed application, an interview, and academic standing.

Commitments: Participants in the Mentor/Learner program must be willing to make a commitment to learning and speaking Anishinaabemowin for 15 hours per week and be enrolled in Anishinaabemowin classes at Fort Frances High School each year until graduation. Learners will commit to at least 36 months of program participation over the next three years.

Please contact Niigaanigaabawiik Carissa Copenace for more information: carissac@7generations.org

The Anishinaabemowin Revitalization Program is a three-year adult language program that blends incremental immersion and conversational skills with a number of unique features such as opportunities to learn teaching methodologies, history, protocols, linguistics, and cultural identity. This unique program includes both international revitalization methods, contemporary education support, and interdisciplinary learning to construct opportunities for learners to learn how to speak, understand, read, and write Anishinaabemowin.

Zhingwaako Zaaga’iganing, Naongashiing, & Mishkosiminiziibing

The Community Adult Anishinaabemowin Programs have been in place since 2018. Small cohorts of adult learners gather with their instructors to learn Anishinaabemowin in a community setting. The programs are community driven and center on learning plans created by the fluent speaker instructors. These programs were created in response to the need for semi-structured adult learning within the communities that were too distant to participate in the Adult Anishinaabemowin Revitalization class at SGEI. 

To learn more about these programs, contact Waawaategiizhigok Shannon King.

Seven Generations Education Institute & Sault College have partnered to create an online learning experience which centers Anishinaabe Gikendaasowin – Anishinaabe Knowledge – by utilizing Anishinaabe songs and stories to assist learners in their journey of understanding fundamental concepts in relation to language revitalization and resurgence. The course begins by inquiring into the history of Anishinaabemowin (the Ojibwe language) and forming a beginner’s comprehension of introductory language skills in Anishinaabemowin. Learners will explore their role in maintaining the Anishinaabe stories and songs shared throughout the course. Learners will also build the capacity to engage with knowledge keepers and elders to support the ongoing resurgence of Anishinaabemowin within their respective fields.

This is a beginner-level Anishinaabemowin course consisting of 120 modules. Each module takes approximately 1 hour to complete. You will learn how to use various types of vocabulary and basic sentences (grammatical patterns). This course is designed to help learners attain a basic understanding of the dialect after completing the first 40 modules. Learners at this point should be able to provide one word responses. After completion of the entire course (120 modules), learners should find themselves with the ability to respond with 2 or more sentences.

This course has been designed to give you more vocabulary and grammar patterns than you can learn immediately. Students who have gone through this course have found that after Module 20, comprehension and retention gets easier. Keep in mind that developing any new skill, such as language learning, takes time, effort, dedication and practice – it will not “click” right away, and that is okay!

To see more videos visit our YouTube Channel

These conjugation charts have been created based on many years of learning and teaching in local environments. They can be edited for your community speech patterns, and are colour and shape coded for easier referencing while teaching. There is also an Anishinaabemowin Quick Reference Sheet included for rules and information at a glance when needed. To see more paradigms we encourage you to visit Rand Valentine’s work online.