My final couse post....first I must say this term has pushed me to the limit. We had so much to do, it was terribly hard to balance work, home, and classes. The time seemed to fly by, especially when you feel like you could never stay ahead of the work or that you would never catch up. In regards to technology and teaching the ojibwe langauage I think one benefit is that we have many more resources through the means of technology, and that those resources will continue to improve and grow. Sadly, our first language speakers are going to be less and we will need to rely more and more "different" ways of teaching and learning. A potential drawback will be that the essence of the language is passed on by living it the langauage and culture are intertwined. Technology more than likely will not be able to capture the humanistic side as we teach with technology. I learned that there are many different/new resources available especially the internet all of the language learning websites were exciting.

Brian, I went into wimba and tried to upload my speech I watched the umconnect session and have replayed to your speech. That's the only way I could hear my recording. I did the speech recording three times, I only got one of them to playback for me. The quality is low however, I could listen to the one. Late but done. Tabatha

Speech Journal

These were the steps I used to prepare my very first ojibwe speech.
1. down load and print the speech, the speech was easy to download and print out. I had to make many copies for editing.
2. look up the words in the ojibwe dictionary this took a very long time as i was not so familiar with all the words, the ones i couldn't find or needed help with led me to the next step.
3. asked daughter for help with the words i didn't know she was very helpful.
4. daughter recorded speech on my ipod
5. made index cards i tried to write them phonetically so I could pronounce them, so i wrote them as they sounded, in English and in double vowel. I used a different color for each so I could keep them organized.
6. I read my speech and listened to the ipod at the same time to practice, I also listened to the speech while driving.
7. read speech to family and co-workers

Good Job!!!

Class,
I have been thinking about our last F2F class your speeches were all so amazing. You did not compromise you stuck to it and did it!!! I wanted to say good job. I like to do things well, I let my fear get the best of me. That was the first time I would ever speak any ojibwe in front of anyone other than my family(same as some of the group). I was so nervous and afraid that I almost didn't even come to class. My compromise was to shorten my speech and do it well, and come to class. That was very hard for me. I guess, I feel that I owed you all some sort of explanation. Sometimes I get hung up on my own expectations and don't take enough risks. I learned from you all that day and I know given the chance I will draw from your courage and take the risk to do it!

Hypothesis #2
Opportunities should be provided for students to practice carrying out a range of functions (tasks) likely to be necessary in dealing with others in the target culture.

I agreed with this hypothesis, the main idea is giving students the opportunities to learn, and students learn when they are in thought evoking emotional situations. Many of the ways we could use this hypothesis are project or activity based learning, hands on learning, and immersion.

The information below was part of a website 200words-a-day.com

“Learning the language in its natural environment one of the benefits of such a strategy is that one sees and feels the language in its natural environment, and the learner sees, hears, feels and 'lives the language', seeing expressions, words and phrases in context, complete with the physical movements, facial expressions, hand motions and tone of voice. In this situation, the third ear starts to come into play at a subconscious level. This is the mind's innate ability to learn the patterns and structure of a language when one is surrounded by it”.

Technology is ever changing. We are always looking for the best and fastest way to create, communicate and teach. What did we do with out all of those conveniences? I believe that technology has an important role in education, however, we are still mindful that technology is on medium or teaching tool and strategy. Children and adults have a variety of different learning styles. The software we have used so far is fun and engaging I think learners of all ages and development can use these tools.

Anwaatinabiikwe-

This name is referring to when the lake is calm like glass or a mirror. This name or her spirit is described to be in this fashion of calmness. Ojibwe/Anishinaabe.

The woman who named me was amikagaabowiikwe-(iban). She has since passed on. She was known for her traditional ways and language revitalization. My mother’s cousin on the Sargent side, Julia Shingobe was her English name. Amik often referred to me as calm, quiet and peaceful she said that my name suited me, because she could see the calm thoughts around me while watching as I worked with 3-5 year olds in all of their chaos, fun and learning…she said I always maintained the calm. My time with Amik was too short, now I realize that I did not learn as much as I needed to learn from her, she is truly missed and I think of her every time I hear my name. My sadness is waned knowing that she is with family healthy, strong and happy cause she went home( Gagigeminowaanagooziwining-the land of everlasting happiness).