Indigenous knowledges are rooted in their sense of place. Indigenous people are guided by their knowledge and relationship with the land around them. We will be exploring our own sense of place around West Langley in this lesson.
"The concept of Place goes far beyond the physical space. It includes a crucial Sense of Place, the memories, emotions, histories, spiritualities that bind the people to the land."
Five Common First Nations' Concepts of Place:
1) Place is more than just a space, it is your cultural, emotional, and spiritual connection to it.
2) Place is a relationship.
3) Place is experiential.
4) Place is local.
5) Place is land-based.
Importance of Language and Place:
Language is important to place, as it is through language that we can share knowledge and understanding. Unfortunately many Indigenous languages are becoming extinct and with them people's relationship to place. Names of places is a large part of this. When we forget the names of places we also lose the knowledge and understanding of these places. Language and sense of place go hand-in-hand with each other.
Questions to Think About:
1) What does place mean to you?
2) What place(s) do you belong to?
3) Are there places that you or your family have special names for?
Activity:
Part 1:
1) Get into groups of two or three and get a laptop to share.
2) Go to the First Voices website.
3) Select "Choose a Language"
4) Scroll until you find Halq'eméylem and select this language.
5) Select "Learn our Language" tab and then "Words"
6) Find one nature-related word (try checking under the categories: animals, plants, or nature/environment).
7) Listen to it being spoken a few times and try say it yourself.
Part 2:
1) Take your selected word and draw a picture of it on a piece of paper.
2) Under the picture write the word in Halq'eméylem and then beside it what it means in English. Underneath this in brackets write a pronunciation guide for how to sound out the Halq'eméylem word.
Part 3:
1) Leave your captioned picture on your desk and go on a gallery walk through the classroom to see what everyone else came up with.