Language Nest

Our vision: The ckʷukʷ ƛ̓lap il skʷkʷƛ̓ilt, nalɬ ƛ̓x̌əx̌ƛ̓x̌ap (the sun shines on the fawn and the old people) Language Nest is an early language immersion program for infants, toddlers, and preschool aged children. The program reconnect children with fluent Elders and immerses them in the nsqilxʷcen (the language of the sqilxʷ people) language and culture though play-based activities that are delivered in a homelike environment.

Language Nest Programs

In 2018-2019, the Language Nest day program continued to successfully reconnect fluent speaking Elder with infants and young children and to activity encourage pregnant women and new mothers to attend the program so that their babies will hear the sounds of the language in utero and during early infancy. Young children are also reconnected to their traditional land though the joy of simple play in nature that included short nature walks in the surrounding area, as well as the gathering of traditional foods when possible. Program participants learn how to prepare and process traditional foods, such as siyaʔ (saskatoon) jam, and are introduced to a variety of traditional foods at snack time and lunch time when these foods are available. One of the prerequisites for our children’s parents/guardians is to attend a weekly language learning program.

Buddy Program Partnership with nk’mapəlqs i snmamayaʔtn i kel sqilxʷtet

Grade 7 students from nk’mapəlqs i snmamayaʔtn i kel sqilxʷtet attend the Language Nest every Wednesday to mentor the young children for one hour to play games, do activities, and go for walks in the language with the children, supervised by the nest assistants. The purpose of this program is to encourage our older students to be mentors and to share their language through songs, drumming, stories, and Total Physical Response activities.