PI Week

Learning Inuktitut from Mishak Allurut.
Picture taken by Iga Muckpa.

Professional Improvement (PI) Week - sometimes referred to as Professional Development (PD) Week - takes place during the third week of February, giving teachers a mandatory opportunity to complete activities that will benefit them professionally.  Students get a week off to relax or catch up on any work they've missed.  Last year, the Nunavut Teachers Association (NTA) held a territorial wide PI conference in Iqaluit.  Teachers from all the communities participated in a variety of classes.  I happened to be teaching at Inuksuk High School at the time (you can read about my experiences here: Part 1 & Part 2).

            

This year, PI (February 18 - 22) was done individually by teachers.  You could stay in your community, travel to another, or even travel outside the territory.  Before you can go ahead with your activity, an application needs to be submitted to the NTA for approval and funding.  At the end of PI Week, you have to submit a brief report, explaining what you learned and how it made you a better prepared teacher.

            

In my case, I was staying in Arctic Bay to learn Inuktitut since it is the language of choice in the community.  I wanted to be able to have basic conversations with Inuit teachers & students.  I had learnt some Inuktitut at last year's PI Conference in Iqaluit but never had the chance to use it because English is predominantly spoken in Nunavut's capital.

            

Most of the non-Inuit teachers were travelling down to Iqaluit to take part in jewelry and badminton workshops.  The Inuit teachers of Inuujaq School were staying in town to learn sewing, skinning, and making traditional clothes from local Elders.

            

The Inuit language is spoken from Alaska to Greenland and encompasses six main dialects: Inupiaq (northern Alaska), Inuvialuktun (northern Northwest Territories), Innuinnaqtun (western Nunavut), Inuktitut (Nunavut and Nunavik), Inutut (northern Labrador), and Kalaallisut (Greenland).  But it doesn't stop there.  The main dialects can be broken down into smaller dialects.  For example, all the Inuktitut dialects can be grouped into 9 main categories:  Inuinnaqtun, Natsilingmiut, Aivilingmiut, Kivallirmiut, Paallirmiut, Aggurmiut (North Baffin Island), Qikiqtaaluup kanannanga (Central Baffin Island), Uqqurmiut (South Baffin Island), and Sanikiluarmiut.  The people of Arctic Bay follow the Aggurmiut dialect.  Although there exist many dialects, communication between fluent speakers is not much of a problem despite slightly different vocabularies and pronunciations.

            

My Inuktitut instructor was Mishak Allurut, a local resident who works for the Hamlet office and as a freelance translator.  He was recommended to me by the principal.  For the lessons, we used three resources: Workplace Dialogues: Igloolik Version (loaned by the principal), Inuktitut Essentials, and Pocket Inuktitut: A Phrasebook for Nearly All Occasions.  We mostly focused on the Workplace Dialogues book because it was specifically designed for beginners.  The lessons with Mishak were intensive, from 9:30am to 4:30pm, with breaks and lunch.  

            

We started with a review of Inuktitut syllabics.  The Inuktitut writing system became standardized in 1976, thanks to the efforts of the Inuit Cultural Institute (ICI).  Two forms exist: roman orthography (using the Latin alphabet) and syllabics.  There are only three pure vowels: i (ee), u (oo), and a (ah).  As for consonants, there is p, t, k, g, m, n, s/h, l, j, v, r, q, ng, and ł.  For non-native speakers, the r, q, and ł sounds are the hardest to pronounce.  From there we moved on to basic words, greetings, and place names. 

Examples:

ii - yes

aakka - no

qujannamiik - thank you

ilaali - you're welcome

mamianaq - sorry

ullakkut - good morning

unnusakkut - good afternoon

unnukkut - good evening

ulluqattiarit - enjoy the (whole) day

kinauvit? - what's your name?

Mishak also taught me some very useful words and phrases that I could use in the classroom, such as:

uqallaktunga - I am speaking

uaittiaruait - One moment please.

angirraunnaqsijuq - Time to go home.

sapilingilutit - Don't give up.

iqqummalaurit! - Wake up!

uqallangillutit - No talking.

(I had to severely limit the amount of examples I could share, because I learned so much Inuktitut that I could write a separate blog.  Because of this, I encourage you to research Inuktitut online).

The lessons grew more challenging with each passing day.  There were noun endings, verbs, conjugations in past/present/future, numbers, days of the week, identifying items, and of course, how to carry a conversation.  I recorded as much as I could and completed all the writing activities in the Workplace Dialogues book.  I completed the writing activities using roman orthography.  There wasn't enough time to learn to write in syllabics.             

Health Centre

There were many things I found interesting about the Inuktitut language.  First, there were words that sounded the same in Ukrainian but meant something different.  Several examples made me laugh because they would be considered rude and/or awkward.  Secondly, Inuktitut is a non-sexist language meaning there are no distinctions between he/she/it.  Thirdly, there are 48 words that describe various appearances of snow!  (Aput is the general term).  Fourth, the Inuit do not name bodies of water; they are named according to the piece of land they touch.  And lastly, how words and phrases are constructed.

Mishak explained that Arctic Bay's Inuktitut name is Ikpiarjuk, meaning portage or "the land that is a short travel to the other side."  The 'other side' is Victor Bay.  'Pocket' is a second, but less accurate meaning of Ikpiarjuk. 

Inuktitut is one of those languages where words can be quite long.  The root word is placed at the beginning and everything else (time, action, possession, etc) is added on, like putting Lego blocks together.  Mishak explained that Inuit play a game by challenging opponents to create the longest possible Inuktitut word.  As a demonstration, he came up with:

            

Taimailauqsimajutuqaluulauqsimajututqalujuuiniuliq&uaiaasit,

            

which means:

            

"It is like that, and it has been like that for a long time, not knowing that it was happening all along, again."

            

Sometimes during our breaks, Mishak would talk about how the Inuit lived out on the land and what life was like growing up.  I found all of this quite intriguing because it gave me a more in depth and personal look at how the Inuit were able to survive and persevere in a harsh and unforgiving environment.   

            

On the last day of PI Week (February 22), the Inuit teachers were having a traditional celebratory lunch in the staff room.  On the floor, raw Arctic Char and narwhal lay on pieces of cardboard.  There were also other appetizers on nearby tables.  I was the only Qallunaat in the room.  Not bothered by this, I sat on the floor next to Iga who asked if I wanted Arctic Char.  "Ii," I replied.  As she handed me a small piece, an Inuit Elder sitting on a nearby couch asked me, "Inuktituusuunguviit? (Do you speak Inuktitut?)"

            

Silence filled the room and all eyes were on me.  I gathered enough courage and answered, "Inuktiturunnaqsivalliajunga. (I am learning to speak Inuktitut)."  Everyone was impressed by my response.  I enjoyed eating raw Arctic Char but skipped the narwhal; my body still needed time to get used to the smell.   

            

After the celebratory lunch, I thank Mishak for teaching me Inuktitut and assured him that I would do my best to use it and not to forget it.  He thanked me for giving him the opportunity and wished me all the best with my teaching career.

            

In the end, I had a really fun time learning the local language.  I learned the core basics in just five days.  There's still more to cover but right now, I need to strengthen the basics.  Inuktitut is a fun language.  I even have a favourite word: aullaqsimajuq ((S)he's out of the town).  It's my favourite because it sounds like a Ukrainian last name.

King George V Mountain - February 21, 2013