Saskatoon-produced children’s TV show teaches Cree language to new generation
Stories from the North debuted on Citytv Saskatchewan on May 3 and airs every Wednesday and Saturday until June 3.
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Stories of the North, a television series filmed and produced by Campfire Stories Inc. in Saskatoon, brings Cree language and storytelling to a new generation.
In a series of 10 seven-minute episodes, a ‘moshoom’ (grandfather in Cree) shares the Cree language with his two granddaughters through stories, just as he was taught.
The stories are shown as cartoons, encouraging viewers of all ages and cultures to learn along with the young characters.
“It’s really about teaching not just the word, but the concept of what that word represents. And we feel that that’s a very effective tool for teaching rather than rote learning, where you repeat after me … It has to have context,” said co-producer and former Tsuut’ina Dene Nation chief Lee Crowchild.
Written by Calyn Stange and directed by Betty Ann Adam, Stories of the North premièred earlier this month on Citytv Saskatchewan. It airs every Wednesday and Saturday until June 3.
As the production team prepares to work on season two, Chief Crowchild chatted with the StarPhoenix from his Southern Alberta home.
Q: What inspired the creation of this children’s series?
A: There was certainly a need to start making more proactive ways of teaching and retaining language. For many educators, there wasn’t anything that was easily available to school districts. As it’s grown — and it has grown even since we first started — we’ve learned so much about how to deliver content.
With the animations that go with it, it appeals to not just a younger set of learners, but actually all learners because, I mean, let’s face it, a lot of (older) people don’t know the language either. As this develops, I think it’s going to really kick off in some other directions with other teachers of the language. We’re always encouraging collaborations and we’re encouraging learners.
Q: What types of stories does the grandfather tell?
A: It’s just about the sound that a beaver makes, or this is what a rabbit does. Those examples can be put into the natural world, and the natural world is where all language originates from. With any language, the references are based on what the lived world is. For ours, whether it’s Cree or Dene or Blackbird or Mohawk, they’re based on descriptions of what we’re seeing.
You can’t just say ‘rock.’ There’s a whole translation of what that rock represents. For example, a rock is not just a rock, it’s a grandfather, because rocks have been here since time immemorial. They know the history of the land, they retain the knowledge, they share the knowledge. You just have to know how to ask the question.
Q: Why is it so important to teach Indigenous languages to the next generation?
A: I think it’s important for identity, and not just for First Nations, young learners and the next generation, but for identity of this bigger country, this bigger continent called North America. It creates an understanding and maybe more clarity to knowing how we’ve all got to work together to maintain this earth that sustains us.
In terms of language, ‘this is why the rabbit was important, this is why a porcupine did these things.’ That’s the teaching of the natural world. So then we begin to know, understand and respect why it’s so valuable that we do these actions to preserve humanity.
Q: How does it feel for the series to be a Yorkton Film Festival finalist?
A: That’s pretty big stuff for Saskatchewan. To have accomplished that in our first year, I think we’re on track with something here. That’s actually a really nice feeling, to know that something we’re doing actually matters — not just to us, but there’s a whole bigger community that wants to learn the same thing and the approach we’re taking. That’s another step in helping to learn in different ways. And we’ll encourage maybe other languages to be able to teach, too.
Q: What do you hope viewers take away from the series?
A: I think first and foremost just, ‘hey, I learned that word today,’ and they learn what’s the story behind that word and why it’s said that way. That might be all that listeners will take away, but they’ll know that. It’s not foreign to them anymore.
So that’s what I hope, is people actually learn phrases. When you think about it, even a simple word like ‘wapos,’ or rabbit, there’s another 4.5 billion people in the world who don’t know that word, but you do. Well, that’s kind of something.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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