National Indigenous Languages Day: Supporting Language Learning in the Classroom
March 31 marks National Indigenous Languages Day in Canada. This day recognizes the importance of Indigenous languages and the work communities are leading to reclaim, revitalize, maintain, and strengthen them.
Across the country, Indigenous Nations are reclaiming their languages that colonial policies attempted to suppress for generations. Residential schools and other assimilation policies intentionally disrupted language use in many communities. Despite these harms, Indigenous languages continue to endure through the work of Elders, language speakers, educators, and community leaders.
As educators, National Indigenous Languages Day offers an opportunity to help students understand the importance of Indigenous languages and their role in culture, identity, and community life.
Even small classroom activities can support this learning. We might explore local languages, examine Indigenous place names, or listen to Indigenous speakers sharing their language. These experiences help students recognize the strength and resilience of Indigenous languages.
Why Indigenous Languages Matter
Indigenous languages carry knowledge, cultural teachings, and relationships to land that have developed over thousands of years.
Language shapes how people understand the world around them. It reflects relationships with land, animals, water, and seasonal cycles. Many Indigenous languages contain knowledge about ecological systems and local environments.
The First Peoples’ Cultural Council (FPCC) highlights this relationship:
“Language diversity is directly connected to cultural and ecological diversity. Indigenous people recognize an essential connection between language and land.”
Language also supports identity and cultural continuity. FPCC explains:
“Language is essential to identity and transmits values, spiritual and traditional practices, and history across generations.”
When Indigenous languages are strengthened, the cultural knowledge they carry gets stronger as well.
Language revitalization is also deeply connected to healing. Colonial policies disrupted language learning in many communities, but revitalization reconnects people with identity, community, and cultural knowledge. Revitalization efforts help rebuild cultural connections and strengthen community well-being.
Indigenous language advocates frequently speak about the importance of this work. As Khelsilem Tl’aḵwasiḵ̓an Sxwchálten, a Skwxwú7mesh-Kwakwaka’wakw political leader raised in North Vancouver, British Columbia, explains in his TEDx talk on language revitalization, language renewal is fundamentally about rebuilding community connections and cultural knowledge systems. Language revitalization is not only about preserving words. It is about restoring connections between people, culture, and place.
As educators, this perspective can shift how we introduce Indigenous languages in the classroom. Rather than presenting language as isolated vocabulary, we can help students see language as part of broader knowledge systems rooted in land, relationships, and community.
How Educators Can Support Indigenous Languages in the Classroom
Indigenous language revitalization is led by communities, Elders, language speakers, and educators who are working to strengthen language use for future generations. While schools cannot replace community language learning, we can support this work by creating respectful opportunities for students to learn about Indigenous languages and the knowledge they carry.
The following approaches can help introduce Indigenous languages in meaningful ways.
Learn From Indigenous Language Advocates and Communities
Indigenous language speakers, scholars, and advocates regularly share perspectives about language revitalization. These voices help students understand why language revitalization is such an important part of Indigenous cultural resurgence.
As educators, we can explore talks, articles, and community initiatives led by Indigenous language advocates. These resources help students see that Indigenous languages are living and actively used today.
Start With the Indigenous Languages In Your Area
One of the most meaningful starting points is learning about the Indigenous languages connected to the land where we teach.
You can begin by exploring:
- the Indigenous Nation or Nations connected to the territory
- the language or languages spoken in that region
- the meanings behind local Indigenous place names
Many Indigenous place names describe geographic features, animals, or cultural teachings connected to the land. Exploring these meanings helps students understand how language reflects relationships with place and reinforces the connection between language, land, and knowledge.
Tools like Native Land Digital can help us identify the Indigenous languages and Nations connected to our local area.
Use Indigenous-Created Language Learning Resources
You do not need to be a language expert to introduce Indigenous languages in the classroom. Many resources created in collaboration with Indigenous communities can support this learning.
For example:
- FirstVoices provides interactive dictionaries and pronunciation recordings for many Indigenous languages. Students can hear words spoken by fluent speakers and language learners from the communities where the languages originate.
- The Canadian Language Museum offers educational tools that highlight the diversity and history of Indigenous languages across Canada.
- The Office of the Commissioner of Indigenous Languages maintains an extensive resource library for Indigenous language learning programs and educational materials in many languages.
These resources help students hear Indigenous languages spoken by community members while learning about the ongoing work of language revitalization.
Create Opportunities for Ongoing Learning
National Indigenous Languages Day can be a starting point for deeper learning throughout the year.
As educators, we can connect language learning with culture, land-based education, and community knowledge. For example:
- inviting language speakers, Elders, or Knowledge Keepers to share their experiences when appropriate
- attending community language events or cultural gatherings
- exploring seasonal teachings connected to land and environment
- discussing how language expresses relationships with animals, water, and land
These experiences help students understand that Indigenous languages are living knowledge systems connected to culture, land, and community.
Continuing the Learning Journey
National Indigenous Languages Day celebrates the strength and resilience of Indigenous languages across Canada. It also reminds us that language revitalization is ongoing work led by Indigenous communities.
As educators, we can support this work by helping students understand community efforts and by creating space for Indigenous Languages in the classroom. Learning alongside students, listening to Indigenous voices, and creating space for Indigenous languages in the classroom can help learners better understand the relationships between language, culture, and land.
Through these learning experiences, students gain a stronger appreciation for the diverse Indigenous cultures and histories that shape Canada today.
