Wenaboozhoo! Nishinaabemwin-Bemwidood ndizhnikaaz. Falcon nmaage Bemwidood dash ndigoo. Shagi ndoodem. Nbiising ndoonjibaa mina ndoo-daa mina ndoo-dbendaagoz. Mbaabaa gewiin njibaa Nbiising. Nmaamaa dash njibaa Mchigiing.

Greetings, My spirit name is “Keeper of the Language” but I also go by “Falcon” or “Bemwidood”. I’m from the crane clan. I’m from, currently reside and a band member of Nipissing First Nation. My father is also from Nipissing but my mother is from Mchigeeng First Nation.

I’ve been teaching Nishnaabemwin at Near North District School Board for 8 years and during my time with the school board have been working on making Nishnaabemwin language learning accessible to many youth. Unlike most teachers I am not situated at one school but am spread across a few. It is through my Nishnaabemwin accessibility work and collaboration between NNDSB and KEB that I get to be the LNOC language teacher at KEB. I have experience teaching Nishnaabemwin in several secondary schools and teach part time at the university level at Nipissing University. I have learned Nishnaabemwin from a number of sources and teachers. I have participated in immersion camps in Cloquet, Minnesota and Sudbury, Ontario. Since my experiences in immersion camps, I’ve been able to recognize the direction that has helped me reach low-levels of fluency in Nishnaabemwin. I am excited to help direct other learners on what they should know in order to reach some fluency in Nishnaabemwin. While I do teach from my home dialect of “Nipissing”, the skills acquired from this course can be transferable to any other dialect.

Miigwech bsindwiyan! Noongom dash kweji-nishnaabemdaa!