Dual or Triple Language
Synopsis:
Designed as an introduction for Cree language learners, Beginning Cree acts as a self-study aid--a much-needed resource in today's world where most students cannot speak Cree fluently. Basic grammar units and everyday vocabulary items guide the student through the building blocks of the language, and expansion drills and exercises reinforce lessons and prepare the student for further study. With over 100 delightful illustrations, Beginning Cree grounds the language in traditional and contemporary contexts.
Educator & Series Information
This book is recommended for ages 12+.
Table of Contents
Chapter One: Introduction
Chapter Two: Nouns
Chapter Three: Prepositions and Pronouns
Chapter Four: Animate Intransitive Verbs
Chapter Five: Inanimate Intransitive Verbs
Chapter Six: Possessives: Kinship Terms
Chapter Seven: Transitive Inanimate Verbs
Chapter Eight: Transitive Animate Verbs
Verb Charts
Conjugation Patterns
Vocabulary List
Bibliography
Notes
The Canadian Indigenous Books for School list recommends this resource for Grades 1-12 for these subject areas: Indigenous Language Studies, Language Studies.
Part of the Indigenous Languages for Beginners series.
The book is specifically geared towards learners of the Plains Cree "Y" dialect, also known as the "Y" dialect.
Additional Information
165 pages | 8.50" x 11.00" | black and white illustrations | spiral bound
Synopsis:
Francis Pegahmagabow (1889–1952), a member of the Ojibwe nation, was born in Shawanaga, Ontario. Enlisting at the onset of the First World War, he became the most decorated Canadian Indigenous soldier for bravery and the most accomplished sniper in North American military history. After the war, Pegahmagabow settled in Wasauksing, Ontario. He served his community as both chief and councillor and belonged to the Brotherhood of Canadian Indians, an early national Indigenous political organization. Francis proudly served a term as Supreme Chief of the National Indian Government, retiring from office in 1950.
Francis Pegahmagabow’s stories describe many parts of his life and are characterized by classic Ojibwe narrative. They reveal aspects of Francis’s Anishinaabe life and worldview. Interceding chapters by Brian McInnes provide valuable cultural, spiritual, linguistic, and historic insights that give a greater context and application for Francis’s words and world. Presented in their original Ojibwe as well as in English translation, the stories also reveal a rich and evocative relationship to the lands and waters of Georgian Bay.
In Sounding Thunder, Brian McInnes provides new perspective on Pegahmagabow and his experience through a unique synthesis of Ojibwe oral history, historical record, and Pegahmagabow family stories.
Awards
- Fred Landon Award, Ontario Historical Society (2018)
- American Book Award, Before Columbus Foundation (2017)
“Debwemigad Nimkiig gaye Aadizookanag zhawenimaawaad. Brian McInnes has clearly been blessed by the Thunders and Great Storytellers. With Sounding Thunder he has achieved the perfect balance of personal memoir and scholarly inquiry. He shares with readers the stories that have connected one generation to another and in these cycles we find the truth about living. Dibaajimowinan omaada’oozhinang mii igo aanikoobijige.” – Margaret Ann Noodin, Assistant Professor, Department of English, University of Wisconsin
“Sounding Thunder is invaluable for those working in biographical, historical, Indigenous, military and political studies and the general reader. McInnes skillfully contextualizes his subject as one of Canada’s greatest war heroes as well as a member of his family, community, and Anishinaabe people.” – Brock Pitawanakwat, Assistant Professor, Department of Indigenous Studies, University of Sudbury
“Brian McInnes’ book is both elegant and masterful in its weaving of language, spirituality, storytelling, family, community, and physical place on the lands and waters of Georgian Bay as he presents the world and life of his great-grandfather, Francis Pegahmagabow. McInnes’ presentation of family stories in both Ojibwe and English, and his placement of them within their historical and geographical context, underlines Waubgeshig Rice’s claim in his foreword to Sounding Thunder that the book will remain ‘a vital resource for generations to come.’” – Jurors, Fred Landon Award, Ontario Historical Society
This book would be useful for social studies and history courses for students in grades 11 and 12 or at a college/university level.
240 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | 31 b&w illustrations | 5 b&w tables | bibliography
Synopsis:
The first comprehensive lexicographic work on Cayuga, an Iroquoian language spoken in southern Ontario at Six Nations of the Grand River, this dictionary, combines the work of Dyck, a professor of linguistics, and Froman, Keye, and Keye, all Cayuga language teachers at Six Nations. It contains over 3000 entries, including 1000 verb forms and many nouns never before printed; extensive cross-referencing, thematic appendices that highlight cultural references and provide 1600 further entries, and a short grammatical sketch complete this accomplished work.
Entries in the main dictionary are organized by bases, which will make the dictionary especially helpful to those learning Cayuga as a second language. The dictionary's accuracy and extensiveness will make it an indispensable reference not only to the Cayuga speaker and student, but also to other Iroquoian speakers, linguists, anthropologists, and historians of Indigenous Peoples.
Produced under the auspices of the Sweetgrass First Nations Language Council Inc.
Reviews
"The first extensive dictionary of Cayuga, this benchmark work documents the language in 3,000 entries and in word lists organized thematically in appendixes ... A valuable tool for linguists of Iroquoian languages and anthropologists, as well as those who study the Cayuga language. Summing up: Highly recommended."— R. Hanson, Choice
"A major milestone in Iroquoian studies and an extremely important tool in the preservation of the Cayuga language."— Blair A. Rudes, Department of English, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Additional Information
786 pages | 6.88" x 9.73" | Paperback
Synopsis:
George Kenny is an Anishinaabe poet and playwright who learned traditional ways from his parents before being sent to residential school in 1958. When Kenny published his first book, 1977’s Indians Don’t Cry, he joined the ranks of Indigenous writers such as Maria Campbell, Basil Johnston, and Rita Joe whose work melded art and political action. Hailed as a landmark in the history of Indigenous literature in Canada, this new edition is expected to inspire a new generation of Anishinaabe writers with poems and stories that depict the challenges of Indigenous people confronting and finding ways to live within urban settler society.
Educator & Series Information
Indians Don’t Cry: Gaawin Mawisiiwag Anishinaabeg is the second book in the First Voices, First Texts series, which publishes lost or underappreciated texts by Indigenous artists. This new bilingual edition includes a translation of Kenny’s poems and stories into Anishinaabemowin by Patricia M. Ningewance and an afterword by literary scholar Renate Eigenbrod.
Although most of the books in this series are non-fiction, this one is listed as fiction.
Additional Information
190 pages | 5.50" x 8.50"
Synopsis:
Humour is not only the best medicine; it is also an exceptionally useful teaching tool.
So often, it is through humour that the big lessons in life are learned--about responsibility, honour, hard work, and respect. Cree people are known for their wit, so the tales in Woods Cree Stories are filled with humour. The book includes nine stories--including Boys Get Lost, Foolishness, and Animals Become Friends--and a Woods Cree-to-English glossary.
All the stories are presented in Cree syllabics, Standard Roman Orthography, and English translation and can be enjoyed by those new to the language and more advanced learners.
Educator & Series Information
Woods Cree Stories is part of the First Nations Language Readers series. With a mix of traditional and new stories, each First Nations Language Reader introduces an Indigenous language and demonstrates how each language is used today. The University of Regina Press’s long-term goal is to publish all 60+ Indigenous languages of Canada.
Additional Information
138 pages | 5.50" x 8.50"
Synopsis:
These seven tales are the traditional teaching stories of Nenapohs, the Saulteaux culture hero and trickster. Oral in origin, they have been passed on through generations by the traditional teachers, the Elders.
For the first time, they are published and made available in Nahkawewin or Saulteaux, the westernmost dialect of the Ojibwe language. Each story is illustrated and is presented in both Standard Roman Orthography and syllabics, with English translation. The book also includes a pronunciation guide and a Saulteaux-to-English glossary.
Educator & Series Information
Nenapohs Legends is part of the First Nations Language Readers series. With a mix of traditional and new stories, each First Nations Language Reader introduces an Indigenous language and demonstrates how each language is used today. The University of Regina Press’s long-term goal is to publish all 60+ Indigenous languages of Canada.
Additional Information
112 pages | 5.50" x 8.50" | Narrated by Saulteaux Elders, Transcribed and Translated by Margaret Cote
Synopsis:
This is the first in a series of readers in the First Nations languages of the prairie provinces meant for language learners and language users. The stories in this volume come from a variety of sources, all being narrated or written by fluent speakers of Cree, whether students or instructors of the Cree language or Elders. Funny Little Stories is a collection of nine stories representing the Plains Cree, Woods Cree, and Swampy Cree dialects, with a pronunciation guide and a Cree-to-English glossary.
Students and Elders come together in this volume to offer samples of three distinct genres of Cree storytelling: word play, humorous accounts of life experiences, and traditional stories about Wisahkecahk, the trickster-hero.
Each story is illustrated and is presented in both Standard Roman Orthography and syllabics, with English translation.
Educator & Series Information
Funny Little Stories is part of the First Nations Language Readers series. With a mix of traditional and new stories, each First Nations Language Reader introduces an Indigenous language and demonstrates how each language is used today. The University of Regina Press’s long-term goal is to publish all 60+ Indigenous languages of Canada.
Additional Information
110 pages | 5.50" x 8.50" | Narrated by Cree-speaking students, instructors, and Elders | Transcribed and Translated by Cree Linguistics Students | Edited and with a glossary and syllabics by Arok Wolvengrey
Authenticity Note: Because of the contribution of Indigenous Peoples, such as Cree-speaking Elders, to this work on Cree storytelling, it has received the Authentic Indigenous Text label.
Synopsis:
Based on Métis artist Christi Belcourt’s painting “Medicines to Help Us,” this innovative and vibrant resource honours the centuries-old healing traditions of Métis women. With contributions from Métis Elders Rose Richardson and Olive Whitford, as well as key Michif phrases and terminology, Medicines to Help Us is the most accessible resource relating to Métis healing traditions produced to date.
Educator Information
This resource guide does not include the study prints referred to on the back cover and within the book.
Michif Translators: Laura Burnoff and Rita Flamand
Elder Validation: Rose Richardson
Format: Book Only - English, with plant names in Michif, Nehiyawewin (Cree), and Anishinaabemowin (Ojibway)













