|
Monty McGahey (Ozaawaa
Giizhigo Ginew) and Emmaline Beauchamp (Mshkogaabwid Kwe)
are learning Anishinaabemowin along with their kids. (Submitted
by Emmaline Beauchamp)
|
A couple in Ontario are trying to raise their kids in an English-free
home.
Emmaline Beauchamp (Mshkogaabwid Kwe) and her husband Monty McGahey
(Ozaawaa Giizhigo Ginew) are aiming to speak to their children exclusively
in Anishinaabemowin, to ensure they carry the sounds of their ancestors.
"I just feel like it's the most beautiful gift you can ever
give somebody," said Beauchamp about raising their two toddlers
in Anishinaabemowin. "It's a language that is alive. It's a
spirit in itself."
But it's been challenging, especially given that neither parent
was raised in the language.
Despite belonging to Long Plain First Nation in Manitoba, Beauchamp
grew up in Halifax, where her parents and Mi'kmaq nanny spoke to
her in English. As a young adult, she studied Spanish and German
while traveling through Europe. At 20, she moved to Vienna and was
working as an au pair for a German-speaking family when she felt
a deep longing to learn about her own culture.
"The best way I can describe it is," Beauchamp said,
"it felt like someone was holding Silly Putty from here and
I was all the way over in Austria. I could just feel like that tiny,
tiny little strand was still there. And I needed to go back and
kindle that fire."
Beauchamp returned to Turtle Island and that fire quickly grew.
She fell in love twice. First, while studying the language
at Georgian College, and then with McGahey, one of her teachers.
"It was like the language found us and brought us together,"
she said. "The language itself was like, 'Your children are
going to need you to be able to pass this down. And you guys are
meant to do that together as a team.'"
|
Emmaline Beauchamp (Mshkogaabwid
Kwe) and Monty McGahey (Ozaawaa Giizhigo Ginew) are raising
their children in Anishinaabemowin. (Linda Yolanda Photography)
|
They began to grow an immersive world together getting a
home, where they challenged each other to only speak Anishinaabemowin,
and a dog they named Bzaanaagmisin, meaning calm waters.
"He was our guinea pig," Beauchamp said. He helped them
test out how it felt to call out Anishinaabemowin words in public.
"Of course, first comes the dog, then comes the baby!"
Beauchamp laughed.
She'd hoped to be fluent by the time they had children, but their
daughter, now three, came earlier than expected. Beauchamp realized
she'd have to learn alongside her little one.
Today, they have two toddlers, Bzaanaagmisin, and a podcast they
launched in April called Enweying - Our Sound. On it, the husband
and wife make each other laugh as they share their experience trying
to stick to Anishinaabemowin with their family.
Their main message to listeners is that language fluency won't
come from a once-a-week class. If that's all you do, "you'll
be waiting a long time," McGahey said in a recent episode.
Instead, proficiency is built over time, through small daily actions.
|
The couple held an immersive
Anishinaabemowin wedding. (Submitted by Emmaline Beauchamp)
|
As their daughter makes new discoveries in the world, the couple
learn new vocabulary along with her. They add sticky notes with
the new words on mirrors and appliances, and try to bring the sounds
into frequent use.
To her frustration, the pandemic has thwarted their goals for an
entirely English-free home, Beauchamp said. Their kids experience
virtual Zoom calls with friends and relatives, and overhear their
parents working remotely with English-speaking colleagues. To reduce
their exposure to English in the house, their toys are switched
to Spanish, household devices often speak in French or German, and
Disney movies are turned to a foreign language.
"There's times I just want to give up," Beauchamp said
about spending the past four years challenging her brain to find
the words to express herself at any given moment, and not revert
to English, especially in front of her kids.
But her daughter is beginning to describe the world around her
in Anishinaabemowin, making "sounds that were always meant
to be hers," and witnessing that makes it all worth it for
Beauchamp.
"Not only is it like just the most rewarding, special, beautiful
sound that could come back to me," Beauchamp said. "But
it's healing so many people that have gone before us. And I can
feel that from the core of me, from my spirit. Those that walk with
us, walk within our bloodlines, and we carry them."
"And when I get to watch my daughter laugh and jump and, you
know, say, 'Gnaajiw' ('You are so beautiful') and 'Gizaagin' ('I
love you') ... I'm speechless. ... I'm trying to gift her stuff,
but she's gifting it right back to so many people that walk with
us as a family."
|