Talking to Young Children About Residential Schools
In September, Colleen Devlin, our Indigenous Kindergarten program teacher, presented to our teachers on this topic. Her wisdom and experience is so helpful to us. We are grateful for the suggestions she provided and the warm and caring way she approaches this topic. Click on the link to see her written piece she shared with our teachers.
A̱m’lala sa Ḵ̓umux̱se’
Here is the link to the song by William Wasden Jr. that was gifted to Comox Valley Schools:
On this page you will find the recording, the words and the history of the song.
Here is the animal dance that Colleen Devlin shared with us, that she and Brooke use with the song.
There is the Kwak̓wala word, the phonetic pronunciation, and the English word, as well as the actions that go with each animal. Don’t forget that as you are learning the rhythm and timing, you can always insert the actions of “Mu’lan”–“we are grateful” or ‘Gilakas’la’–“thank you”, as you dance in the circle.
And finally, here is the link to Brooke’s class doing the dance.