 My name is Rosa Nantla, and I work here at the TCSA and the King Chung Community Education Services, and our agency would call it. And I coordinate the King Chung Language and Culture programs in the schools, in the region. Can you describe your programs? The programs that we have in the schools and here in the offices, yearly we have orientation for all the teachers, like the whole staff, even the bus drivers that participate, and we have elders including youth, so that they're aware of the programs as they are being presented and also demonstrated cultural activities and language programs. So we do have King Chung Yat-hee programs in all our schools, in the other communities like Wukwetee, Gametee, and Wattee, at Elizabeth McKenzie Elementary School, and Chief Jimmy Bruno School, and we also offer other lessons, like the King Chung History and that we have, to do a lot of translation for the teachers materials. What is the aim of your programs? We want to follow the mission statement that was made years ago by the old chief and Jimmy Bruno and the elders at that time, that our children, even the staff, to be strong like two people, meaning to be strong in King Chung language and cultural, especially our way of life, to understand our spirituality, so that the teachers can also pass on the knowledge in their teachings, to promote it in their classes, to encourage the children that there are King Chung people, to speak King Chung language as much as they can, and also with the parents, not only with the parents, but the leaders as well too, so that they can help support these programs. What happens in your programs, can you describe different activities in the program that participants are involved in? When we have our cultural programs in the schools, we help the cultural instructors to organize their camps and also to select elders, and the school does that too, but we help and we go over their activities when they're going to be out on the land, how they can speak in the language, in King Chung language with the young kids. The camps are like each season, like fall, winter, and spring, so each season has its own lessons in different activities, so we help provide that, and we also offer to help the teachers to follow up after the camp, so that we encourage them to participate, and also with the parents, because we have so many young parents that don't understand the language or speak it, or they don't value their cultural background, so by promoting language and cultural camps, we ask them to participate as much, not only the oral or hands-on activities, but also to speak the language, read the language, and write the language in King Chung. How do you measure the success of your programs? By the end of the camp, we as coordinators here plan or set with the language instructors, and we share how some students have been participating, and they see a lot of determination from children of what they like to do, like for the little one, if they're picking berries in the fall time, they'll learn the names of the berries and what it's used for, even firewood and different types of trees, and the fish, how it used to be harvest by our people, so at the end of the fall time, if they have learn naming the fish and try eating the fish, so even that is a learning, it's learning for the J2-3 and then 3-6, they have different activities where they learn more, all the organs, and then the past history of our people, and in the winter time, how do they survive? All land-based activities are connected to the language, so we'll find out if they have learned these skills, even at the end of the year too. What challenges have you faced within your program and how do you overcome them to make the program the success that it is? Sometimes we have a lot of rotation of staffing, even with the language coordinators or instructors, sometimes the cultural instructors need to be given a refresher course, and it's like you have to go over the steps of what cultural camp is about, what is their role and responsibilities, and then with the elders, we have to tell them about this campus for this unit. It's hard when you're telling an elder what they're supposed to do or just talk about, but if the unit is on fish, they have to participate in fish lessons, and winter time is the same thing in the spring time, or anything that has to come up during the school year, but a lot of times some parents don't want to send their kids out, or they're not ready to offer the help that their child needs. Sometimes children want to go out, but if parents say no, then it's just like yeah, it's a challenge for the parent and the child to work together too, but teaching our way of life is important. If the parents didn't really went through that system, it's hard for them to understand, but even to read in cultural language, it's very challenging because it kind of compete with English, and the English language is more now in the community through TV and other like iPhone and things that they see more in English, so it's a challenge for us to put a lot into the public. Sometimes you kind of have to work with the whole community to promote that and to make improvements. From your perspective, what is Indigenous education? Indigenous education for me is if you haven't been brought up on the land in your traditional way of life, you're not really Indigenous in your cultural language and spirituality or your history, so Indigenous education is to revitalize your way of life is all land-based, cultural, and even the language that's connected to cultural perspective of being in control or Aboriginal, and also to live to live it. If you haven't lived your way of life then your identity is not recognized, but to really understand Indigenous education is to want to learn your language and even to read and write and to be aware that we have our beliefs, we have our taboos and spirituality. These are important teachings even to go through puberty camps, you know, and call it passage of rights for boys and girls, and to understand that every living thing has its own way of using us lessons, we need to understand that. What is your perspective on the importance of languages and language revitalization in Indigenous education or for Indigenous peoples? I would like to see more of language programs in all the communities and to train more language teachers, cultural teachers, because we have some elders, but they're not like the old professionals that we had in the past, like they were our professors. They were so great to have like in the early 70s, you know, how they would come to the schools and just participate with the students, the teachers. We don't need to ask them to do this, but they just fit in. That's how it was. So our perspective as Tinchong is how we work together, share our knowledge and our wisdom, and also the stories, the stories of the animals are so important because when the world was new, like the talk about the animals, there used to be people, we were animals, all that is connecting to the land, and to connect to the land is where you learn a lot more. What knowledge is important that you would like to pass on to the next generations? Never give up your identity in your lifestyle. Always speak your language, live your culture and traditions, and don't be ashamed of it, of who you are, and always have respect and accept the things that you have in the modern world, but never forget who you are as an Aboriginal person. What is your vision for Indigenous education over the next 10 years? I would like to have more speakers, language Tinchong Yati speakers, and more of our leaders to be supporting the language programs, the authentic of teachings, the oral language, the written and the speaking, the writing system, and to work together, all of us, not just small groups of people, and to really share a lot and to collect a lot of information while our young, of while some of our elders are still alive with us, and while there are some people still living off the land.