xwməθkwəyə̓ m: qwi:lq̕ wəl̕ ʔə kwθə snəwe̓ yəɬ ct
Musqueam: giving information about our teachings

Lesson: ctamət tə sweyəl?—How’s the Weather?

 

Background

Lessons from the Musqueam Teaching Kit use the Teacher’s Resource PDF (available in French and English) and Teaching Kit website. The kit is written from the perspective of the community and provides an opportunity for students to learn about the land on which most of Vancouver, including the Museum of Anthropology, is situated. Learning about Musqueam directly from Musqueam community members is extremely important. Today, we continue to learn as our ancestors did, from experiences and stories.

Lesson Background

Stories are tools that our community uses to share important events, happenings, values and teachings. The Musqueam Language and Culture Department developed a series of storybooks in order to encourage language use and revitalization within the Musqueam community. These storybooks were developed in collaboration with many Musqueam community members who contributed their time and expertise to the success of the series. These storybooks capture contemporary stories written for the purpose of language learning.

We call these stories xʷʔəw̓yaθənəq because they are used to help teach hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓. The teaching kit contains both physical and digital copies of each storybook in addition to corresponding activity guides. Embrace our teachings with an open heart and mind.

This book’s story is by Jill Campbell. The illustrations are by Diamond Point and it is narrated by Stan Charles and Jill Campbell. ctamət tə sweyəl?­­—How’s the Weather? covers the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ names associated with weather phenomena.

Big Ideas

Stories support the learning and speaking of hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓. Weather is a fundamental aspect of life.

Understandings

Students will be exposed to a small set of hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ weather terms.

Materials

• ctamət tə sweyəl?—How’s the Weather? digital storybook
• Community Quotes, Teacher’s Resource PDF, p. 42
• Activity Description & Extension, Teacher’s Resource PDF, p. 52–53

Activity

• Using the digital storybook, read through the story as a class.
• Listen to our words then try to pronounce some of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ names associated with weather.
• You can use this book to introduce basic weather terms in hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ and as a springboard for discussing the impact weather has on our daily lives.

Suggestions for Starting a Discussion

• Consider the traditional livelihoods of our ancestors which involved fishing, hunting and harvesting food and other resources from the land. Why do you think weather words are important?
• Weather terms were important for our ancestors and continue to be used in our daily vocabulary. Brainstorm other sets of words that are just as necessary to contemporary society as they were thousands of years ago.
• Which one of these words do you think was most essential to our ancestors? Why?

Connections

• Community Voices Videos:
  • qiyəplenəxʷ—Howard E. Grant talks about environmental impact
  • xʷən yəʔe:y̓ tə šxʷtəhim̓s kʷθə syəw̓en̓əɬ ct—Our ancestors’ ways continue
• hən̓q̓əmin̓əm Storybooks, Teacher’s Resource PDF, p. 46
• Musqueam website