'Anyone can teach': Training program fosters a new generation of Gwich'in speakers

In Old Crow, Yukon, Sophia Flather is excited and hopeful about an upcoming Gwich'in language course she's organizing — a teacher training program that will have up to 20 students, including some who will fly in from other remote northern communities this month to participate in the week-long program. 

"You don't need to be a speaker to teach it, that's the great thing about this method, anyone can teach, it's a really simple method to learn and it's a good and effective teaching method."

First developed for the Salish language and then adapted for various Indigenous languages, the Paul Creek Method aims to get more people learning language quickly. The method uses recordings of fluent speakers, organized into a sequential program. 

Flather jokes it's like a pyramid scheme, getting more people to teach means more people learning and in turn, encouraging others.

"Then we don't have to rely on our fluent speakers to be teaching basic level courses."

Sitting at her kitchen table with her three-year-old, Thomas, on her lap, she says there's been a huge jump in interest, way up from just two students the first time the program was offered in her community.

The Paul Creek Method is a fluency transfer system that aims to get speakers to a high proficiency level. It's been used by numerous Indigenous communities across Canada to help with language revitalization, including Tlingit in both Yukon and northern B.C. 

Interest in the method is also growing rapidly in other parts of the world. 

"We are astounded," says Chris Parkin, principal of the Salish School of Spokane in Washington State and one of the creators of the program.

He says to date 19 Indigenous language communities have adopted the system for language revitalization projects. From Montana to Alice Springs, Australia, the demand keeps growing. 

"Adopting this fluency transfer system, converting it, loading it up with their own language, culture and environment and traditions and then using that to train new advanced fluent speakers," Parkin explained.

The system is always freely given to any Indigenous language community that wants to use it, he says. Parkin has spent time with Flather in Old Crow and is impressed with her drive and determination to help foster new Gwich'in speakers. 

Flather has spent the last few years developing Gwich'in-specific textbooks for the process. She says students are provided with a lot of resources including recordings of master speakers to help with language acquisition. 

UNESCO has identified Gwich'in as a "severely endangered" language. In the most recent census data, Statistics Canada reports fewer than 300 Gwich'in speakers; there are several hundred more in Alaska.