Dakelh language puppet show helps students and Elders alike connect with Indigenous culture

It’s a fun and engaging ways for students to learn, and Chai believes taking students out of a more traditional textbook approach can greatly enhance the overall learning experience.

“I believe that we all think in stories. So if we we teach through a story, they can remember the story better and all the words that are inside that story,” Chai said.

When building a fire in the puppet show, Chai also taught students how to say different colours in the Dakelh language.

Chai performs the show alongside Indigenous Elder Clifford Quaw and the puppet of himself. For Quaw, a residential school survivor, the experience he’s able to provide students is the opposite of what he experienced as a young student. Rather than strip the language and culture away, he is now embracing the opportunity to pass that knowledge on to the next generation in a fun way.

“A lot of people say we’ve lost the language. We haven’t lost it, just forgotten. It’s very deep inside of you, and you have to dig it out,” Quaw said.

He explained he can’t speak the Dakelh language due to his experience in residential schools, although he knows how to read and understand it. This adds even more significance to the show for him, as it’s not just about teaching students, he’s been able to learn how to speak it as well.

“I never knew how to count 1 to 10. But now I’m learning colours, everything, all the language, it feels good,” he said.

He added he’s especially happy to see how Indigenous education has been integrated into the school system, as he says when he was young he would hear the language from those older than him during the summer, but as soon as it was back to school he would speak only English.

“Cherie has allowed my brain to really relearn the language. And I have fun doing that,” Quaw said.

The puppet show certainly is a lot of fun for the students, but Chai adds there are many tangible learning benefits to the puppet show too.

“It involves the whole body, right? Even singing, as well as drumming, and the story. They remember the phrases through the story, and also with drumming, the repetitive movement will help them to remember the lyrics better,” Chai said, when explaining how integration into the show helps students retain knowledge.

One grade one student in attendance, Maddox, has enjoyed not just the puppet show, but the entire process of learning the Dakelh language in school. Proudly saying he doesn’t even need the paper to count to ten anymore, Maddox has enjoyed the various puppet shows he’s gotten to be a part of.

“My favourite part was Clifford at the end, when Clifford was trying to steal Cherie’s pointer. You know, that was the funny ending,” he said.

The puppet show will continue in various schools across SD57, much to the delight to many students like Maddox.

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by Tommy Osborne

Dakelh language puppet show helps students and Elders alike connect with Indigenous culture

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