Page 5 - 1st Anthology 2011

Blueberry Hill during haying time. You met and saw a lot of wagons and teams of horses.
I remember the sweet smell of the sweet pine after it rained.
They all spoke of their experiences while attending school. The experiences varied
according to the age and gender of the interviewer. It is evident that the residential
school and day school did not differ a great deal. The corporal punishment and exposure
to traumatic events are the same, witnessing beatings of students for stealing food by
Archdeacon Timms and the death follow students and the uncertainty of not knowing if
they will survive the night.
During the interviews some of the Elders suggested that the only way to speak
Tsuut’ina was through oral teaching and repetition. This approach has been tried many
times since 1972 with no positive results. It proved difficult for retention. We discovered
that there was too much interference and a pervasive influence from audio and video
electronic devices. It would be more productive if the speakers play supportive role in the
delivery of Tsuut’ina Language in their homes.

It was decided long ago that rather than compete with DVD’s, CD’s, iPods and
Video Games we would embrace the technology and use it to our advantage. We also
uploaded some Tsuut’ina material that has been developed over the years and some
stories. We hope to upload more material to develop an on-line in home program.

We created a Web Page that has Tsuut’ina sounds using non-sense words in
morphemic form that have consonant and a vowel. It is meant to expose the learner to
Tsuut’ina sounds and appreciate consonant and vowel quality.

The project was undertaken by Earth Magic Media a company that is well versed in
the production of documentary films. They interviewed the fifteen Elders with excellent
video quality. We are able to edit and create videos of the speakers for use in the schools.
This project with Earth Magic Media has a variety of applications that can be used in
many settings, e.g. home, school, cultural camps, and adult language classes.

The transcribing and editing helped young people to understand the strict
vocabulary nature of Tsuut’ina. The storytelling rules and the identification of sentence
endings and paragraph completion is a unique feature of oral tradition. It could very well
be another project to study the view of First Nation Language Speakers about English.
The booklet of the First Edition of the Anthology of the Tsuut’ina Elders was kept
to four speakers or 40,000 words or more. The booklet must be user friendly and be
available to be used for schools and school projects.

The Tsuut’ina Gunaha Institute would like to thank Dit’oni K’odza Charities, the
Income Support Program, Tsuut’ina Education Board, the Elders that were interviewed
and last but least the Tsuut’ina Nation Chief and Council for making this project a
possibility.

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