When We Were Alone
The Grade 2/3’s have been reviewing their Indigenous Perspectives lessons this week. They started off with vocabulary and what Indigenous means, remembering that the term includes three groups of people – the Métis, First Nations and Inuit. They talked about what they learned about Residential Schools during Orange Shirt Day earlier in the school year. They also read “When We Were Alone”,
a storybook about the residential school experience. The children were interested in the grandmother and empathized with how the children must have felt when they were forced to cut their hair, were kept from their families, and were forbidden to speak their languages.
a storybook about the residential school experience. The children were interested in the grandmother and empathized with how the children must have felt when they were forced to cut their hair, were kept from their families, and were forbidden to speak their languages.
“It’s important to learn and talk about it so that we can learn from the mistakes that were made so something like that never happens again.”
~ Kenna
The children are already wise. They will only benefit as more and more Indigenous curriculum and literature becomes available to them as they grow up. CGS Staff is joining in too – Marie has recently arranged for the Staff to join an online course with the University of Alberta called Indigenous Canada. We’re very much looking forward to deepening our understanding too. Marie and Paula are also hard at work behind the scenes putting together a CGS Indigenous curriculum for next year.
If you’re looking for a way to spark a discussion at home, check out the video below.