Oct 3 - Entrance Slip

 "Learning the Grammar of Animacy" is a beautifully written chapter by Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer in which she highlights the absence of words in the English language that effectively include "things" in nature as our family members. My mum tells stories of me as a toddler being taught to respect everyone, and so I started calling fruits as kela ji - Mr. Banana. I viewed it as someone who gave me sustenance when I was hungry. As an adult, I find it interesting how this is considered funny but endearing in Hindi but grammatically incorrect in English. We grow up being taught the importance of saying the right terms for every little thing we are taught in class and eventually lose sight of the many perspectives that can be taken into account, as Dr. Kimmerer mentions. While I think it is beneficial to learn the scientific names and the names of many mathematical objects, I think it could be just as beneficial to teach our kids to respect them all and see them as beings.

Now living, loving and playing in Canada, I cannot help but think about the many immigrants that come here due to a variety of reasons and how we force, to a certain degree, English upon them. To avoid passing by another beautiful perspective to view a certain concept being talked about in class, I think we need to encourage our ELLs to talk about how their ancestors' point of view as well. As well, educating ourselves and our students on the indigenous perspectives is, in my opinion, one of the best things we can do as part of our efforts towards Truth and Reconciliation.