Say It First


Indigenous Language Revitalization

My Language is Me
My Language is Me
My Language is My Culture
My Language is My Culture
My language is My Community
My language is My Community
My Language is Wellness
My Language is Wellness
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Il Manque Quelque Chose

Zach’s tooth floats away on a log he is chewing on. His teeth and gums are not very good because he doesn’t take care for them. Join Zach as he learns from his brother Ben about taking care of his choppers.

Books with video have an *. Books for the Aurasma app and video have two **

Il Manque Quelque Chose: 

 

J'ai Tellement Soif!**

Recommended for beginner to 8 years old.

Zach keeps getting up to go pee in the night and cannot finish off his superhero adventure. Read this book to understand the reasons Zach keeps waking up and why he wants to finish his dreams

This book helps to introduce concepts around early warning signs of diabetes. Diagnosis must be done by a doctor but the experts we have worked with have let us know that night time bathroom visits and drinking an incredible amount of water are two symptoms which we should be aware of.

Be sure to watch the videos of Elders reading our stories. Books with video have an *. Books for the Aurasma app and video have two **

J'ai Tellement Soif!:

Le Pique-nique Sous la Pluie

Recommended for 4-6 year olds.

Peacock gets left out of the picnic and has her feelings hurt. Peacock ends up saving the day for all of the birds when the rain threatens to wreck the picnic. It turns out she has a special gift.

This book helps to introduce concepts around bullying prevention for an early age group. The other birds didn’t include Peacock in their picnic and left her alone to cry, her feelings were hurt. Owl recognized this dilemma and invited Peacock to their own picnic. Exclusion is a painful part of bullying a lot of people do not consider. Owl recognized Peacock had her feelings hurt and took action to include her.

Be sure to watch the videos of Elders reading our stories. Books with video have an *. Books for the Aurasma app and video have two **

Le Pique-nique Sous la Pluie:

Ça ne Peut pas Attendre**

Recommended for 4-6 year olds.

Santale shares a secret with her best friend Sillipay. Yesterday, an event happened in the forest which she didn’t understand. Together the girls try to understand its meaning through questioning about Santales’ ancestors.

This book tries to bridge the understanding of why language is important to preschoolers. The method of anchoring happy thoughts with cultural ties is an attempt to motivate a youngster to continue speaking their ancestral language.

Be sure to watch the videos of Elders reading our stories. Books with video have an *. Books for the Aurasma app and video have two **

Ça ne Peut pas Attendre:

 

The Promise of Language

Identity  Culture  Community  Wellness 

"What one cannot argue is that the First Nations' languages are travelling well along the road to extinction. They are having a near death experience and will cease to exist if not acted upon by an external force. This defeat is a given, like it or not."

"My deep concern is that the Native population is running out of time and we are at the last place in time to attempt a recovery before these natural resources are gone forever"

"One thing we can do to change the erosion of language and culture is to digitize the older peoples' knowledge and incorporate it in a way that this information will get consumed by the younger generation"

Mike Parkhill Signature

Mike Parkhill,
Founder, SayITFirst

'Life Is Not Easy - Laughter Means Survival'

A Seven Generations Education Institute project funded by the Department of Canadian Heritage.
Laughter isn’t just a part of Anishinaabe culture, it was described by Tommy White as a survival mechanism, much like water, food, and shelter. All of the stories in this book are the results of the effort to capture funny, real life recollections from over 30 Elders across the Treaty #3 Territory.

A very special thanks to Gilbert Smith, Adik clan, Naicatchewenin First Nation for his guidance, Kristy Cameron for her interpretation for the cover and Carol Anderson for her extensive editing. 

Thank you for all those who showed the courage to be interviewed for this book and for the translators showing respect in the translations of other people’s stories.

Click on the cover image for a free download of 'Life Is Not Easy - Laughter Means Survival'.

Life Is Not Easy Book Cover