Free and classroom ready language lessons for Canadian teachers
When Indigenous languages appear in provincial curriculum, many teachers face a practical problem: they do not speak the language that they are expected to teach. This is the gap that Wahbi Zarry, a University of Regina (U of R) B.Ed graduate, hopes to address with Canadian Languages, an online platform launched Sept. 21.
The website provides free, classroom ready Indigenous language lessons by speakers from the nations whose languages are being taught. Every kit holds a video lesson filmed with a teacher fluent in the language, four pdfs you can print, and a plan for a 30-minute class.
The Nakoda language is already available on the platform with Cree, Dakota, Dene and Michif in the works.
How it was created
“After filming 10 Days of Nakota in 2022, I wanted to bring Nakoda into my lessons, and I struggled. The curriculum exists: Nakoda 10, 20, and 30 have been available in Saskatchewan since 2021, developed by Carry the Kettle Nakoda Nation with its own linguists and knowledge keepers. But what’s often missing in a school is someone who speaks the language,” said Zarry. “Without a speaker, even a motivated teacher feels lost very quickly. That’s when I understood that a curriculum on paper and a language in the classroom are two different things.”
When asked where his inspiration came from, he said:
“It’s at the University of Regina that I discovered Indigenous languages, through conversations with professors and students, and by attending conferences. That’s where I started to understand what was being done for these languages, and what still needed doing. Later, as a French immersion teacher, I understood what a minority language goes through, and how much it needs the school to be passed on. Canadian Languages brings those two experiences together.”
When you’re learning a language, hearing someone actually speak it makes such a difference. -Danielle Willes, a U of R student taking NAK 100
Bridging the classroom gap
The platform launched with Nakoda as its first language, with lessons taught on video by Theresa O’Watch of Carry the Kettle Nakoda Nation.
Each lesson includes a video from a language speaker alongside printable materials designed around provincial curriculum outcomes. The goal is to make the material accessible even for a teacher who has no prior knowledge of the language.
According to Zarry, he and Theresa shared the same ideas about the language and about how to reach young people.
“She shaped the lesson in a very concrete way: she told me to add more listening and speaking. Writing came later, because Nakoda is an oral language, so spelling is never graded. Every word in the material was confirmed by her. She also showed me, through her daily work at the Carry the Kettle school, that a language lives through consistency: a small lesson often, rather than a big one once,”he said.
Learning Indigenous languages at the U of R
The idea behind Canadian Languages may be particularly familiar to students at the U of R, where Indigenous language courses include Cree, Dakota, Dene and Nakota, also known as CREE 100, DAK 100, DENE 100, and NAK 100.
For students already learning Indigenous languages on campus, having classroom resources that allow students to encounter those languages could make the learning process feel more accessible.
Danielle Willes, a U of R student taking NAK 100, said hearing a language spoken by someone who knows it is an important part of learning.
“When you’re learning a language, hearing someone actually speak it makes such a difference. You’re not just memorizing words from a page, you’re hearing how the language is supposed to sound,”said Willes.
Another student, Mary Kate, is taking CREE 100 and thinks the platform is a great way to start learning Indigenous languages.
“I think a lot of teachers do want to start teaching and including Indigenous languages more, but do not know where to start. If there is already a video lesson, it can make learning less intimidating,” she said.
Kerry Smith, a student taking Indigenous 100 said it was great to see Indigenous languages represented on a proper platform rather than in a textbook.
“It’s more helpful when students get to hear the language and participate in it themselves. It shows these are languages people are still learning about and passing on,” said Smith.
I hope the teacher thinks, ‘I can do this.’ That’s the real obstacle: most teachers in Canada don’t speak an Indigenous language, and that stops things before they start. -Wahbi Zarry, founder of Canadian Languages.
Nakoda is only the beginning
Nakoda is the first language available on the platform through Canadian Languages, but Zarry said the platform is intended to expand. The website is expected to add lessons in additional Indigenous languages as the project develops.
“I hope the teacher thinks, ‘I can do this.’ That’s the real obstacle: most teachers in Canada don’t speak an Indigenous language, and that stops things before they start. With Canadian Languages, you print the documents, you press play, and you have a real lesson of about 30 to 45 minutes. For the students, I hope it’s a first door into a culture. Language is the mirror of a culture, so learning a few words of Nakoda is already a way of entering it, and respecting it,” said Zarry.
For the Canadian Languages platform, this is where language education begins: not with a teacher already knowing the language but with giving classrooms a way to hear it properly.
Zarry hopes the project will feature 100 free lessons for every language that exists in Canada, developed in collaboration with knowledge keepers across the country.
