 I am Warner. So the program, the wind talkers is a family literacy program that we do for 20 weeks and we do it in partnership with the native council so that we can use the space here. And we open it to families with children of all ages and they can be Aboriginal or they may have Aboriginal children in the home or their grandchildren or so we would open it to any of them. And if their children can sit for about an hour of for class time for just sitting there to listen then they're free to come. We usually offer them a meal to start with and so that they don't have to go home and do all of that before they get here. I guess the the aim for us is that we're actually trying to rejuvenate the language in this area because it's something that has been lost and not used a lot. So our hope is if we target a lot of the everyday language pieces of talking to one another that will try to that will start to revive some of those pieces. I think so there's a lot of just overall the teachings and learning about the culture itself how was it before contact and the difference that that has played in our society today and how can we go back to using a lot of those traditions. So we do not just talking we do a lot of hands we do a lot of hands on pieces so they may make their medicine bags that that would be theirs. We do some stories that they will actually make it's like bringing those stories alive so it's pieces that they can take home and actually have a visual of what they've done and to have a way of sharing that with their with their families especially if somebody has a really young child that's not present with them that they have that to take with them when they go and a lot of the books are centered around it has both the English and the Big Maw writings in them so that when they're telling the stories they're seeing the language also when they're doing those pieces so people keep coming back and also we do a lot of feedback from the people we want to know like what it is that's working for them is there something we need to change we really center around them telling us how they feel things are going but we know that for the last couple of years that we've done it we've always had a list of names of people that even want to come back if we offer it again yes yes and some of them feel more comfortable by that time even with in their everyday language of how they're talking about the culture and the traditions and those pieces that they've learned during this journey with us for those 20 weeks of a difference of how they interact and pieces that they've learned to be able to take away from some of the feedback that we get is they enjoy hearing the stories or learning about them about the even the pieces of the traditions but having hands on or having guest speakers come in and talk about it because they're the ones that have that knowledge we can tell them what we have read or seen or those things but we also bring in other knowledge keepers so if it's a storyteller or if it's like somebody about the medicines or whatever like we bring in different ones so our feedback is usually pretty pretty good from them even for the length of the program that they're here during that time so well we have fun I guess to me I give them just a general over like all the pieces that it includes not just about the books but that we do have guest speakers come in and that we do do crafts and activities and whatever pieces to have a variety of pieces to do and that it is aimed at any of them that want to come in and learn before I well I know that sometimes this program was offered in the schools and usually like after school so it was just offered in the schools and when we approached about doing this piece it was I had actually asked our to join me in the meeting because I seen it as a great opportunity to expand on even though it's a family literacy program it's a way for us to bring back a lot of those pieces in a way that we're still meeting the goals of those funders but we're also teaching them a part of their culture and those and those traditions that it's not easy it's not easy as being an adult to learn the language because it's we're older and our minds aren't that sponge anymore so it's it is a challenge and a lot of us face that challenge and try to overcome that piece of even a little piece at a time is a we celebrate those pieces some of it is just like legends like we'll talk about legends of pieces that used to be passed on orally but to bring those back so that they understand like what it is that they were talking about when they talked about these or when you hear about these pieces what did that mean and then we're learning the alphabet so that's a big piece of it and the learning is to learn their alphabet and what difference what rules apply to the to that language compared to the English language um and then I think just each week we just build from that um that we start using like basic words that you would use every day um even so as putting out stickers in their homes of different items so that they get used to seeing it and using the words um and we also like if we're talking about doing legends of about the medicine poach like they would make a medicine poach so that they have that to take home the stories like they would make a a piece of those stories to take home so it's like a it sounds like it's a long time but it's really not a long time to put in a jam pack as much information as we can give them but also we give them the hands on material to take home so that they can continue on with it and at home I guess of what my hope would be is that any of it if they keep something and they build on that so whether it's the legends or their traditions or whatever just even taking those little steps they all will add up in time it's doing all the pieces and it's not just getting it from a book it's actually physically doing those pieces so that you're out in nature or if it's whatever it means but it's bringing pieces in or going out to those pieces to learn it it's not just about sitting down with a book to study it or to read about it I think it's really important I think it's especially here where we don't have a lot of it in in our area in Queens County I think it's it's a big piece that's missing and I think it's really important that we bring that back and hopefully it just spreads where that's what our goal is is to spread it and by targeting all the age groups we're not saying that any of them can't come because we want all of them to come in I guess for me it's any pieces even new pieces that I learned that I never knew before about my culture to share that with my grandkids and my children even though they're adults it's to share that and for it to be able to continue on and it's bringing some of those pieces back that haven't been there for a long time the medicines are a big one even for the younger children that is in our group there they really enjoy hearing about them but also being able to tell us what they remember is it's really it's gratifying to us to see when they contribute what they remember and what they can tell us about those pieces so it's not just us being the teachers but it's them being teachers too and we're all learning together I guess we do a lot of just telling stories or if we hear of something that's happening or something that's found is to go to them and take the children with us it doesn't matter their age it's the experience that they're going to get from being there my vision would be that we actually could walk down the street and beat somebody and be able to use our language to talk to one another even in just to have a basic conversation but also those traditions that they're being they're not just talked about but they're being lived so they get to actually do those pieces in the communities I think this program helps some of them especially ones that haven't had the cultural contact or the knowledge of the traditions to be able to learn those pieces is big for some of them and that sometimes is what we get from feedback from them and when we do the evaluations is pieces of some of the things that we didn't realize at the time that it was something that they may not have known but what they learned in that process so they get to grow along with us as from from even doing the program