Students could soon be climbing over one other to get a spot in Ojibwe language classes as the Simcoe County District School Board introduces virtual reality technology as a teaching tool in the new year.
It's a dichotomy: tying an ancient language to high technology.
"It's a unique initiative to learn language," said Ixchel Bennett, principal of Indigenous education with the SCDSB.
The school board has purchased 60 headsets and teachers are being trained in how to use them. A start date has yet to be announced but it will be this academic year, said Bennett.
Unlike an online computer class, virtual reality provides a three-dimensional view. It allows students to move and touch and have a conversation with one another, Bennett said.
Currently, the SCDSB has three full-time Ojibwe language teachers, two for secondary schools and one for elementary schools.
"We are growing. We are in the process of hiring another two for elementary. The problem is finding language teachers," she said.
Indigenous languages and cultures took heavy blows through colonization and the residential school system to the point where many languages are near extinction. Along with the loss of language comes a loss of culture and identity, said Bennett.
"That's why it's one of our top priorities to promote language to revitalize the language, to protect it. It's not only something from the past, but it's present and it's something in the future."
The Ministry of Education has now made Indigenous language promotion a top priority, said Bennett. The SCDSB is working to build greater access to Ojibwe education, she added.
Jake King is currently completing a semester of Ojibwe Second Language at Georgian Bay District Secondary School. He said the class benefits GBDSS and the Beausoleil First Nation students in various ways.
"It helps create a discussion toward truth and reconciliation," he said. "I truly believe there are real, meaningful benefits to the Anishinaabemowin continuity. We share our culture and identity through Indigenous languages, which offer us healing and strength when we speak them," he said.
King is working alongside Bennett and others "to help bring change in language revitalization efforts and keep the beauty and power of
Anishinaabemowin around for generations to come."
The Indigenous education department now has 26 staff at the board.
"From what I know we are the largest in the province" Bennett said.
Currently, Ojibwe is being taught at schools in Orillia and Midland due to the close proximity to Rama First Nation and Beausoleil First Nation, both of which offer Ojibwe from Kindergarten to Grade 8.
"When they come to us in high school, we want to ensure they can continue their language program. It builds that nation-to-nation trust," said Bennett.
Elementary Ojibwe teachers work at Lion's Oval and Regent Park public schools in Orillia. Secondary level Ojibwe teachers work (on the semester system) at Orillia Secondary, Trillium Lakes Secondary and Georgian Bay District Secondary schools.
The students who take Ojibwe are Indigenous and non-Indigenous. For some students it's a second language and for some it's a third language, said Bennett.
"At Lion's Oval, a third of the student body takes Ojibwe. So it's very popular."
Virtual reality headsets will be distributed in both elementary and secondary schools where Ojibwe is already being taught and also at other schools where they need access to Ojibwe teachers, said Bennett.
"Our dream would be for all schools to have Ojibwe as an option."
The SCDSB Indigenous Education department has also made a connection to Georgian College. The Barrie campus offers the Maajii-Anishnaabemdaa certificate, a one-year, full-time, in-person and hybrid option program that teaches the language and culture of the Anishnaabe. That program already uses virtual reality.
"It's creating a seamless Ojibwe language education for students," Bennet said.
The goal is to increase Ojibwe language fluency so that it creates a career path for the next generation of teachers.
"It's about having access to opportunities so we can have a different outcome for our students in the future," she said.
In April, Bennett's team is hosting the first Ojibwe as a Second Language (OSL) conference at the Education Centre.
"We are trying to get all the Ojibwe language teachers together to share resources, network and build capacity," Bennett said.
Teachers from 10 First Nations including Rama, Georgina Island and Beausoleil, and from public boards in Simcoe County, York Region and Grey-Bruce counties are invited.
"We are very excited about it," she said.
