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Prince of Wales

Mohawk Language Program

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The Mohawk Language program enhances our students’ cultural awareness and improves their communication skills. When students develop the ability to communicate in the Mohawk language, they are likely to experience increased proficiency in their first language.

The Mohawk Language program is not designed to make students fully bilingual; rather, the program offers students the opportunity to develop a functional command of their Mohawk Language, which can be expanded through further study or through contact with other speakers of the language.

Program Objectives

The Mohawk Language Program provide students with learning opportunities that will enable them to:

  • Listen to and understand ideas and Mohawk language under study
  • Express their experiences, thoughts, and feelings orally with clarity and confidence
  • Read/Write in the Mohawk language with growing proficiency
  • Acquire and develop learning skills pertinent to language study
  • Improve their use of language through study, practice, and communication
  • Become familiar with the traditions, customs, social structures, history, geography, and arts of the pertinent Mohawk language family, as well as those of other Indigenous communities in Canada and North America
  • Develop an appreciation of the value of Mohawk language and Indigenous identity
  • Link their classroom experiences with life in their community

Here is an example of our learning:

Tsyorthorkó:wa eh ne Tsi Thatiya’tayeríhstakhwa yá:yakwe ne Rotihnonhsón:ni aka Haudenosaunee nè:ne Shotinonhtowanen’á:ka, Kayohkwenhá:ka, Onon’ta’kehá:ka, Onenyo’te’á:ka nok Kanyen’kehá:ka. Tsi Thatiya’tayeríhstakhwa yá:yakwe ne kati ayakwakwé:ni tayethihnonwerá:ton akwé:kon kén:tho tsi Ohwenhtsyá:te, ne kati shé:kon aón:ton ayakwatkáhtho tyohserá:se. Orihowá:nen tsi taetshitewanonhwerá:ton ne shonkwaya’tíson tsi shé:kon tyónnhe.

Ón:wa ken wenhní:ta wahontewéyenhste ne ki yoterihwahtentyá:ton nè:ne yena’tónhkhwa ne Anonhwaró:ri nè:ne 6-8 nikentyohkhò:ten. Roti’nikonhrayén:ta’s tsi tekyattí:hen ne ó:nen tayotahsawen ne tyohserá:se.

In January the People of the Longhouse aka the Haudenosaunee, this being the Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida and the Mohawks would go to Longhouse to begin ceremony. There, we give our thanks and respects to everything on earth and that we are able to see a new year. It is important to us to give our thanks and respects to the Creator that we are still living.

This month the grades 6-8 have studied about this ceremony called the Midwinter Ceremony. They understand now the difference of when the people of the Longhouse begin their new year.

Kanerahta’kérha – Kherihonnyén:nis ne Kanyen’keha (Mohawk Language Teacher)

Updated on Sunday, August 27, 2023.
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