Patricia Nadeau: Drop Your Baggage, Let's Journey Forward Together: Overcoming Barriers...

The presenter has taught her language at universities and community language camps for a long time. One obstacle that comes up in language classes is the difficulty that some Native students have in learning their own language. These students excel in other classes but not their language class. Non-native students usually ace these courses. This may not be a question of Native students having different learning styles. It seems to be an emotional block to the subject, although the student wishes to learn his/her language very much. The presenter will discuss the situations she has had in her classrooms and how she has met these challenges with sharing circles, prayer, games and other activities that enable the student to lose his/her fear of performing in the language.
Patricia Ningewance Nadeau (Ojibwe, Bear Clan, Lac Seul First Nation) began working in native language development, teaching, translation and Ojibwe language media in Sioux Lookout and continued in Thunder Bay and Winnipeg. She teaches Ojibwe at Lakehead University and University of Manitoba. She writes textbooks, a dictionary, phrasebooks in Ojibwe and publishes Native Language materials including those in Inuktitut and Cree with her company Mazinaate Inc. She is a board member of the IndigenousLanguage Institute and of the Mahkwa Lodge in Lac Seul, Ontario where a Winter Ojibwe Language Camp is being established this year.

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You are so beautiful!