Blog

Hello! My name is Nicole and I am thrilled and grateful to be joining the talented NWT Literacy Council as a Family and Community Literacy Coordinator. I have always enjoyed working with families and learning about their unique experiences. Before joining the NWT Literacy Council, I worked with public art galleries in their programming and education departments. My background is in Fine Arts,… Read more.

People from different parts of the globe who now call Yellowknife “home” gathered at the Bushkids site on Sunday morning for a Cultural Sharing and Exchange workshop. The morning was the first of four half-day sessions that welcomed folks who, recently and not-so-recently, arrived to Canada and the community of Yellowknife from other countries. The space provided a rich opportunity for cross-… Read more.

Dàąt'e, ?édlánet'ea, Tanisi, Dànch'ùh, Haluuqqagin, Ainngai, Aaqana, Negha dágǫ́ht'e, Negha dágǫndíh, bonjour and hello!  My name is Kristie and I am proud and excited to be a new Community Literacy Coordinator.  Since I was a little girl, stories have been an important part of my life.  Listening to stories, reading, retelling tales, writing, and watching movies have helped make me who I am. … Read more.

Until I began to learn my language, I didn’t realize that a part of my identity was missing.  As a Dene person affected by residential school intergenerational trauma, I was never taught to speak my language. My grandmother – we called her Mama -- was a residential school survivor and never taught her children or grandchildren her language of Dëne Dédlıné. Mama felt ashamed of her language and… Read more.

Kyle Napier chu Eileen Beaver Eight months ago I only knew four phrases in Dene Dedlıne Yatı. Now, I can have a basic hour-long conversation with my language mentor, Eileen Beaver, almost entirely in the language. Eileen Beaver is my language learning mentor through the Mentor-Apprentice Program. She is a Dene Elder, as well as a 25-year instructor and resource translator for Dene Yatı. Eileen… Read more.

We are excited to celebrate Family Literacy Day on January 27! This day has been celebrated across Canada since 1999. This year, the theme is Learning in the Great Outdoors and we are encouraging families to take their learning outside! January may be cold, but the sun shines bright, and there is so much we can learn outdoors. Learning together outside has many benefits for everyone. When… Read more.

This is the fourth blog in our annual holiday book suggestions. For our final week, here are our suggestions for books you should check out in 2022. You can read each of the previous blogs in the series here. Families, by Jesse Unaapik Mike and Kerry McCluskey, follows Talittuq on his first day of grade two as he learns about the variety of families his classmates have. Some have one parent,… Read more.

This week we are continuing with more suggestions of books for the holiday season. This week our focus is books that we have discovered (or rediscovered) and enjoyed over the last year. This summer my four-year-old selected Crunch, the Shy Dinosaur by Chirocco Dunlap from a book store shelf. At first glance it looked like a cute book about a dinosaur, but it also teaches about self-regulation… Read more.

This is the second of our annual book recommendation blogs. Check out last week’s blog here to read more recommendations and watch for next week’s as well. This list focuses on biographies and memoirs. As I didn’t manage my goal of reading 10 books in 2021 (yet… there is still time!) I have a few books I plan to read in 2022. I am a big fan of fiction, especially stories that create intricate… Read more.

Each year NWTLC staff recommend books that we have read through the last year, books we are planning to give as gifts this holiday season, and books we hope to read over our holiday. We have a mix of children’s books, non-fiction, biographies, fiction and more. Check out all three of our blogs in December to find great book suggestions. This week we focus on books for gifts that keep giving. For… Read more.