- Episode 1: Anishnabe
- Episode 2: Mi'gmaq
- Episode 3: Abenaki
- Episode 4: Ktunaxa
- Episode 5: Australia
- Episode 6: Chitimacha
- Episode 7: Maya
- Episode 8: Sami
- Episode 9: Hawaii
- Episode 10: Words in the Air
- Episode 11: Bolivia
- Episode 12: Dancing with Language
- Episode 13: New Zealand
Rapid Lake, an Algonquin community where most people still speak Anishnabe, is divided between the traditionalists and the federally appointed band council. In the neighbouring community of Kiticiaskik, which has always refused reserve status, a young videographer uses his skills to revive culture and language.
Listuguj, Quebec is a Mi'gmaq community that lost touch with its language and values as it gained economic prosperity. The Listuguj Education Directorate wants to reintroduce the language into all aspects of community life. They're taking advantage of two powerful language tools. One important tool is a unique picture based teaching method that's made language learning as fun as being a child again. But the most important language resource is still the support of dedicated elders like John Isaac.
The Abenaki language has managed to survive the past several generations with only one speaker like Cécile Wawanolett or Monique Nolett-Ille teaching a handful of students in Odanak or the eastern United States. Today their students Philippe Charland and Brent Reader maintain the thin lifeline to this endangered language.
Can the 'wired teepee' help save the Ktunaxa language in the Kootenays?
The Ktunaxa people are going to find out thanks to a number of technology initiatives taking place in their community. From the First Voices project to the seven million dollar fiber optics network, to a young woman recording her great aunt for the virtual language curriculum and kids listening on their iPods in the school yard, the community is doing everything it can to preserve and share a language that only has twenty-four remaining speakers.
In the last two hundred years, Australia has suffered the largest and most rapid loss of languages known to history. In Nambucca Heads, the Guymbaynggirr people work to revive a near extinct language, while in Alice Springs vibrant languages learned at home are struggling to survive government policies and cultural prejudices.
The Chitimacha Nation of Charenton, Louisiana partners with Rosetta Stone, a language learning software company, to create teaching aids for a language that has no fluent speakers. Piecing together the language from old, wax cylinder recordings, this 1,000 member strong community is relying on its determination and thriving cultural identity to awaken the Chitimacha language from its long slumber.
The Mayan people and their languages have survived and even thrived despite brutal conquest, book burnings and civil war in Guatemala. Today's Mayans fight for the right to have education and government services in their own language, in one of the few countries where the majority of the population is indigenous to the land.
The reindeer herding culture and language of Norway’s Sami people still thrives in the far north despite past government policies of assimilation. From a Sami language theatre company and a children’s radio program to a band taking a contemporary twist on the Sami musical tradition of yoiking, today’s Sami are incorporating their culture and language into their daily lives.
The once banned Hawaiian language is now the only indigenous language officially recognized by any state in the United States. This recognition paved the way for a complete education in the Hawaiian language. From early childhood education to post-graduate studies, Hawaiians may choose to complete their full education in the Hawaiian language.
Traditional storytelling finds a new voice on the airwaves thanks to indigenous broadcasters in New Zealand, Australia and Canada. Bilingual young directors, producers and presenters who speak their languages are working and thriving in all three countries that have their own indigenous broadcasting systems.
Bolivia’s Aymara youth are showing new pride in their culture by creating and singing songs in their own language. From the country’s first Aymara president, Evo Morles, to it’s first Aymara Chancellor, the voice of the Aymara people is being heard around the country.
Episode 12: Dancing with Language
Broadcast Date: APTN HD - Tuesday, June 9, 2009 at 11:30 a.m. EST (Bell ExpressVu, Channel 808)
Standard Definition: Wednesday, June 17, 2009 at 10:30 p.m. EST on APTN
In the early days of talkies, film was used to capture the culture and languages of indigenous peoples who were thought to be on the brink of extinction. Not anymore. Today indigenous filmmakers, actors and directors, are using the medium to tell their own stories, in their own way, in their own languages.
Episode 13: New Zealand Language Nests
Broadcast Date: APTN HD - Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 11:30 a.m. EST (Bell ExpressVu, Channel 808)
Standard Definition: Wednesday, June 24, 2009 at 10:30 p.m. EST on APTN
Language nests, an immersive program for babies and young children started in the 1980s have renewed the Maori people's pride in their history, language, and culture. Key to the program’s success is the involvement of the family and most importantly the grandparents.