Chinook Jargon in the news: BC teachers get a CJ workshop
Pages 24-25 of BC Teacher magazine’s January-February 2025 issue report on a recent conference of social studies teachers from around that province.
Looks like some interest may be building for teaching BC’s historic language. (I would be glad to provide classes to BC school students.)
Here’s an excerpt telling about a workshop of Chinook Jargon that was presented to them:
In a workshop titled Teaching BC History while
Revitalizing the Chinook Jargon Language, partici-
pants were given an overview of resources that
can help them introduce students to the history and
legacy of Chinook Jargon.Chinook Jargon is a language that borrows words
from several different Indigenous languages spoken
across BC, Washington, and Oregon, as well as
settler languages. This relatively easy-to-learn
language facilitated conversation between groups
with different linguistic backgrounds. In the late
1800s and early 1900s, BC even had two dedicated
newspapers published entirely in Chinook Jargon.
Today, the language’s legacy is still evident in place
names across the province.Workshop participants were given lesson plans and
resources to help them introduce Chinook Jargon
to their students as part of their exploration of BC’s
history.Like all good professional development, some
wonderful connections between teachers occurred
during this workshop. Tim O’Donnell, a teacher at
Tamanawis Secondary in Surrey, shared that his
school has a Chinook Jargon name, and he was keen
to hear the presenters’ interpretations of the meaning.Paisley Mckenzie, a UBC student who is learning
Chinook Jargon, said that she had seen a dictionary
define Tamanawis as “spirit” or “power.”Another teacher in the workshop, Emmett
Keyserlingk, noted that he came across the word
Tamanawis while working with his BC
First Peoples 12 students to write poetry
in Chinook Jargon. Emmett used the
word Tamanawis in the poem he wrote
alongside his students as it was the
closest translation he could find to “I feel
that too.”The definition shared with Tim by his
school district for Tamanawis was “one
who teaches wisdom.”The presenters noted at the beginning
of the workshop that language is more
meaningful when it’s shared. This
point was highlighted by the collective
meaning-making and language explor-
ation that occurred in this workshop.
