These First Nations students are teaching themselves — and their peers — to speak Cree

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Inside Vern Lewis’ classroom, Frog Lake First Nation students are often directed to pull out their cellphones, an instruction not frequently heard at Tustukeeskaws High School, nor in classrooms across Alberta.

“I’m probably the only teacher in school that will allow them to bring out their cellphones,” the teacher told CBC News.

Frog Lake First Nation is located in east-central Alberta, approximately 30 kilometres west of the Alberta-Saskatchewan boundary.

But Lewis’ class is far from a free period where students can scroll on social media or pass digital notes.

Here, students are using technology to preserve tradition by learning — and teaching others — how to speak Cree. And they’re doing it with a smartphone application created by Lewis.

“I had an idea; instead of creating an app that will tell you what this word means, like a dictionary — and there’s quite a few of them online — I wanted to create something they could use in terms of phrases,” he said.

Vern Lewis is in his first year of teaching at Tustukeeskaws High School. He said watching his granddaughter's journey to continue learning Cree after leaving a language immersion program inspired him to create the app. (Lexi Freehill/CBC News)

The app, called “How do I say this in Cree,” started as an idea approximately one month ago. Grade 10 student Gabriel Morris said when Lewis first pitched the concept, he wasn’t immediately sold.

“I didn’t really know what to think because it was a very interesting idea,” Morris told CBC News. “I thought it could be very ambitious, and I thought it also might not work.”

Lewis, a first-year teacher, said he used his computer science background to create a database with common English phrases students wanted to learn in Cree.

Students can upload recordings of themselves reciting the phrase in Cree, so they can replay it as needed. The app also allows other users to play the recordings back to help with their own learning.

“I feel like by learning Cree, I’m doing my part to preserve it.” - Gabriel Morris, Grade 10 Tustukeeskaws student

One month in, Morris is an avid user of the app, frequently suggesting new phrases to include, and often recording his own voice to practise pronunciation. He and his immediate family are not fluent in Cree, a disconnect from tradition he said he, his dad and his siblings want to change.

“The Cree language is kind of hanging on by a string, and we need people to actually speak the language,” Morris said. “So I feel like by learning Cree, I’m doing my part to preserve it. And it’s part of our culture too, so it’s a very important aspect of Cree culture.”

Gabriel Morris scrolls through the phrases and recordings stored in the app. He uses it at school to brush up on phrases like "can I go to the washroom?" or "it's nice outside." (Lexi Freehill/CBC)

Lewis said seeing students engage with the app gives him hope the disconnect from culture and community some students feel can be bridged.

“My generation and even the next generation down still speak Cree,” he said. “But our problem is we don’t do it with our children, we don’t talk to our children in Cree.

“Why? Because they’re learning English and that’s fine. But they’re also learning it on TV, they’re learning it on the games they play.

Lewis said the app can give all users a place to start, and help them to play a part in preserving the spirit of spoken Cree.

“When an elder’s talking, especially in the language, what they’re saying means so much more in the Cree language than when you try to translate it into English,” he said. “Now, having said that, those elders are waiting for our youth to come along.”

Lewis envisions his app eventually being used in other First Nations schools in Alberta, and even across the country. He said he plans to make it accessible to non-Indigenous users looking to learn the language in the future.

A screen grab of the "browse" section of the app, where students and other users can see and hear what phrases have already been translated and spoken in Cree. (Submitted by Vern Lewis)

In its current state, access is granted by Lewis through a QR code that changes with every update. But even within the school, the app’s impacts are rippling beyond students to parents and other staff.

Patti Brown manages the Tustukeeskaws High School greenhouse, and said trying to pick up the language by reading it from a textbook was proving difficult.

“I was getting very confused, making the wrong sounds with the letters,” she told CBC News. “I don’t need to know what the signs say, I just need to be able to have a conversation.”

Now, using the app, Brown is working on learning Cree names for vegetables, which she can then use with students in class.

“I just think it’s wonderful because that is their culture and they need to not lose that.”