If you were to walk into Shirley LaMalice’s class at Princess Alexandra school in Hay River, you’d be expected to greet her and your classmates in the Dene Zhati dialect.
From there you’d say the date, comment on the weather and if you’re lucky that day, you may get to go to the school’s culture camp.
For these efforts, Ms. LaMalice has been awarded Indspire’s Indigenous Educator award in the Language, Culture and Traditions category. Indspire is a national charity that focuses on improving the outcomes of Indigenous students and their families.
Ms. LaMalice says she was very emotional when she heard she’d won the award, and pointed to her strong support from the school and larger community.
The payoff
The everyday use of the language and culture camp are two of the numerous additions Ms. LaMalice brought to Princess Alexandra, says Principal Carolyn Carroll.
Carolyn Carroll is the principal at Princess Alexandra school in Hay River. (Photo courtesy of Princess Alexandra school.)
She added the school is proud to play a role in Indigenous language revitalization, something that wasn’t happening nearly as much a decade ago.
It’s well-known that there are fewer and fewer Indigenous language speakers in the NWT.
Faced with this reality, CKLB asked Ms. LaMalice what keeps her motivated.
She says she draws her strength from growing up with her grand-parents who taught her both Dene Zhati and English.
“A lot of it comes from the children,” she adds. “They brighten up your day. They bring happiness and are eager to learn, so it ties it all together.”
Principal Carroll says Ms. LaMalice’s work has gone a long way to “infuse” the Dene culture into the school overall, and making it about more than just a language class. She adds that about 70 per cent of students are Dene.
“We were really, really proud of Ms. LaMalice before this award, this is just icing on the cake,” says Principal Carroll.
Ms. LaMalice will now travel to Toronto on Thursday, November 21 to accept her award.
She says that seeing all students, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, use the language and even the teachers is what “keeps me young.”
And adds, “If you like what you do, you do the best you can.”
