About a year ago we partnered with Dustin Rivers, to train him and his community in WAYK and support the revitalization of the Squamish Language. Squamish Nation is located in British Columbia, Canada. A few months ago Dustin began spear-heading weekly WAYK Squamish language classes. Dustin adapted the Zero to Intermediate scale to the Squamish… Read more »
Here’s a short video of the SYL 2010 conference, held on June 5th and 6th in Vancouver, B.C, hosted by Squamish Nation language revitalization activist Dustin Rivers. Evan and I graduated the biggest batch of language hunters yet, all ready to enter the world and apply their skills to their endangered heritage languages. [vodpod id=Video.3793523&w=425&h=350&fv=]
59 minutes and 24 seconds. [direct download] 1. Technique “Backup“ Dustin brought Tiffany and her toddler son with him, two regulars from his Vancouver Squamish language night Squamish Valley is located in the country, about 80 kilometers from Vancouver 2. Technique “Set-up“ The game took place in a community/rec center He set up a “Lotus“… Read more »
The “Universal Speed Curriculum” is a way of transcribing the core WAYK conversation, designed to go up to “want/have/give/take” transactional conversation in the target language. We have several examples of this online; the original English version, Estonian, and Spanish. Dustin Rivers has been hard at work, improving the Squamish language Universal Speed Curriculum (USC) with… Read more »
49 minutes and 52 seconds. [direct download] We debrief Dustin’s fifth WAYK Squamish language conversation night, that he holds in Vancouver, B.C., with plans to start another in nearby Squamish Valley, B.C. 1. Technique “Accent“ Gabriel George attends – the grandson of the late Chief Dan George. Dustin speaks about his people, and the relationship… Read more »
48 minutes 47 seconds. [direct download here] If you regularly listen to our podcasts, you know by now how highly we value debriefs, and the tremendous insight and improvement that emerges from them. In this episode, Willem debriefs Dustin’s Squamish Language Night game, for the first time in a few weeks. 1. Technique “the Lotus“… Read more »
[direct download here] Evan Gardner and Willem Larsen interview Dustin Rivers, a Squamish Nation WAYK instructor, in the ongoing progress of establishing a community WAYK Squamish language night, and other issues in applying WAYK to revitalizing language in his community. 1. Technique “Set-up“ Dustin describes his “set-up“; attendees, game flow, “the Walk“, use of technique… Read more »
[vodpod id=Video.3312342&w=425&h=350&fv=] This video marks the end of the second session, where Dustin Rivers (Squamish Nation WAYK instructor) brings Justin Robinson (Chinook Nation WAYK instructor) all the way to the goal conversation, “Do you want my black car? I give you my black car.” Every game they play sets a new speed record for learning… Read more »
[vodpod id=Video.3312271&w=425&h=350&fv=] This marks the beginning of Justin Robinson’s (a Chinook Nation WAYK instructor, who runs WAYK games with us in Chinuk Wawa) second session of WAYK Squamish, as led by Dustin Rivers (Squamish Nation). Dustin begins session two by “starting at the beginning” with “what’s that?“.
[vodpod id=Video.3289634&w=425&h=350&fv=] Squamish Nation WAYK instructor Dustin, now begins adding more and more complex language structure into the game, taking Justin (Chinook Nation WAYK instructor) all the way to “Is that my snake? No, that is not your snake, that is my snake”, using all the techniques he can to continue to stretch Justin’s fluent… Read more »
WAYK Podcast, Episode 8: “Hunting the Hunter”. 57 minutes and 35 seconds. [direct download here] In this episode, Evan and I debrief a session of WAYK Squamish language, where Dustin Rivers, a Squamish nation WAYK instructor led Justin Robinson, a Chinook Nation WAYK instructor (Chinuk Wawa). 1. Technique “Hunt the Hunter“ Dustin takes Justin farther,… Read more »
[vodpod id=Video.3289465&w=425&h=350&fv=] In this video Squamish nation WAYK instructor Dustin continues leading Chinook Nation WAYK instructor Justin in a game of Squamish language WAYK. Dustin has now begun to add to the complexity of the language structure, by moving to using negation with “No, not, don’t”, as in “No, that is not a snake, that… Read more »
[vodpod id=Video.3288955&w=425&h=350&fv=] In this video Squamish nation WAYK instructor Dustin continues leading Chinook Nation WAYK instructor Justin in a game of Squamish language WAYK. Dustin has now begun to add to the complexity of the language structure, by moving to the question “Is that your [object]…? Is that my [object]?”, using techniques “Contract Sign” and… Read more »
[vodpod id=Video.3285762&w=425&h=350&fv=] In this video Squamish nation WAYK instructor Dustin continues leading Chinook Nation WAYK instructor Justin in a game of Squamish language WAYK. To accelerate the acquisition of fluency, before making their conversation more complex, Dustin begins throwing more “techniques”, what we consider “the rules of the game”; in this case, techniques “Slow/Fast” and… Read more »
[vodpod id=Video.3286281&w=425&h=350&fv=] In this video Squamish nation WAYK instructor Dustin continues leading Chinook Nation WAYK instructor Justin in a game of Squamish language WAYK. To accelerate the acquisition of fluency, before making their conversation more complex, Dustin begins throwing more “techniques”, what we consider “the rules of the game”; in this case, techniques “Pull me… Read more »
[vodpod id=Video.3278615&w=425&h=350&fv=] more about “WAYK Squamish language: “What’s that?””, posted with vodpod Squamish language is a very endangered indigenous language, native to Vancouver, B.C., with about only 10 fluent speakers left, all over the age of 65. “Where Are Your Keys?” is a community language revitalization method, that uses a viral, collaborative game for… Read more »
WAYK Podcast, Episode 6: Dustin Starts the Squamish Language Night. 52 minutes and 25 seconds. [direct download here] Dustin Rivers (@dustinrivers) talks about the first WAYK Squamish language night that he hosted at his house, following up from our visit there in North Vancouver, B.C. a week ago. This night is the first of a… Read more »
As we’ve mentioned before, you take the first, most critical step in revitalizing a language (or achieving any goal) by holding a regular space for conversation. The first night of the Squamish Language Team Orientation went so well that they immediately decided on a weekly night to meet. This was incredibly important. See video from… Read more »
WAYK Podcast Episode 1 “the Squamish Language Team” [direct download here] Squamish Nation member Dustin Rivers hosted us recently in Vancouver, B.C., where we helped him share the WAYK game with his community during the Squamish Language Team Orientation night. The Squamish Language team is composed of community members committed to using the WAYK game… Read more »
[vodpod id=Video.3217710&w=425&h=350&fv=] I’ve made a short video excerpt of the game night footage I took at Dustin Rivers’ March 10th language team orientation. We’ve been working with Dustin to train him to teach his community this method of language revitalization. For you WAYK game players out there, you have the skills to easily follow along… Read more »
