Voices from the Land: Indigenous Peoples Talk Language Revitalization - Kim Halcrow

The Legacy of Hope Foundation (LHF) is pleased to announce the release of episode 19 with Kimberly Halcrow. Kimberly lives in Gillam, Manitoba and is a mother, a Cree language teacher and Pow Wow Instructor among other important roles.  

Kimberly has been teaching the Cree language in school for over 6 years. She loves the process and finding ways to get the kids feeling excited and engaged with the language. One method of teaching the language to her younger students is by translating English songs like The Itsy Bitsy Spider into Cree. Kimberly’s teaching strategy is creative, intuitive and supportive. Kimberly talks about how she uses the Total Physical Response method (TPR) and how it helps to communicate and understand student’s comprehension. As the only Cree speaking teacher at the school, Kimberly shares how important it is to go to conferences because they connect her to other language teachers. Her mindset goes beyond the classroom and into community efforts of making the Cree language more visible. She shares: “I always have new ideas to introduce Cree language, for them to have fun… I always try to speak it first because growing up we weren’t given a book in Cree or sheet to do. It was always spoken to us and it's a very good teaching.. you just have to listen and look around your environment and surroundings.” Kimberly is the kind of teacher students hope for!