Episoder
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This weeks special guest is Shirley-Anne Lazaruk.
Shirley is originally from Waterhen Lake, Sask but has lived in the Slave Lake, AB area for decades.
Shirley is a retired registered nurse who is also a fluent Cree speaker.
As one of the only home care nurses who is fluent in nehiyawewin, Shirley was often consulted to also interpret for doctors. Shirley shares some great words related to nursing and health care, including Diabetes, heart conditions and more.
Shirley also shares some fond memories of learning valuable lessons on the land with her father.
She also teaches us some words we can use for modern inventions like televisions and texting. She even teaches us to say Hippopotamus!
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Rick Mirasty is a fluent Cree-speaking criminal defense lawyer based from Big River, Saskatchewan. Rick calls Alberta home and has practiced Law throughout the province and is known for his work in criminal defense, often advocating for Indigenous clients.
Rick has been described as a "road warrior" for his extensive legal work in rural communities.
Rick has openly shared his personal journey of resilience, overcoming challenges in his early education to practice law for over 20 years.
In this weeks episode, he joins Rellik to teach some some words related to spring time, including weather related terms, spring cleaning and more. He also shares some personal stories from growing up and spending time in the local swimming pond to mentions of other fames members of Indigenous law in Alberta.
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Manglende episoder?
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In this weeks episode we are joined again by Les Skinner.
Les is a Cree Teacher with the Canadian Native Friendship Centre as well as the Edmonton Public Libraries.and online classes. Les also teaches nēhiyawēwin classes through Concordia University and Grant Macewan University.
Les has been teaching the Cree classes for over ten years, after attending them himself to regain his language.
He aims to create a community among the students, as well as preserve the language and the traditional knowledge it holds.
anohc kâ-ispayik itwēwina - This weeks words
Sâkahikan - Lake
Sîpiy - River
Nipimohtân sisonê sâkahikanihk - I walk beside the lake
Nipakâsimon - I Swim
Wâpos - rabbit
Tâpakwân - snare
nitâpakwâhâw Wâpos - I snare a rabbit
itê kâ-mâtâhat wâpos, tâpakwê - Where you track a rabbit, set a snare
Pihêwak - prairie chickens
Nanâtohk - different kinds, variety of
Paskwâwi - plains, prairie
Oskâhtak - jack pine
Wîhkasin - it tastes good
imâcihowin - way of living
Mêskanâs - small road, small path
Nîpisîs - small willow, willow branch
Oskan - bone
Oskon - liver
Niwîkin - I live / reside
Wîki - home
kapêsiwin
Katawasisin - it is beautiful
tahkâyâw - it is cold weather
Mihta - pieces of wood (plural)
Iskotêw - fire
Kotawân - campfire
Kotawânâpisk - a stove
Nitâskatahimihtân - I chop fire wood ( Independent)
Ê-tâskatahimihtêyân - as I am chopping firewood (conjunct)
Ninikohtân - alt verb for saying it I chop / gather / prepare firewood
Kîskipocikan - a hand saw
Nikîskipocikân - I am sawing wood
Pôna - build a fire ( command)
Nipônên - I build a fire
Mihca - kindling , small pieces of wood
Wâskahikan - house, cabin
mistiko-Wâskahikan - A log cabin
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Aaron Fay is a Cree language learner with Metis roots in Saskatchewan. Aaron is an advocate for the Cree language and has garnered much notoriety through his social media presence and online learning via Tiktok.
He currently calls West Kelowna his home but spent much of his life between Edmonton and Rocky Mountain House.
Aaron is also the developer of Kiyanaw.net ( translates to “all of us” ), a website dedicated to learning the Cree language containing tools and resources.
Aaron joins us to give an in depth breakdown of VII, VAI and VTI's and also go into detail regarding animacy within the Cree language.
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Aaron Fay (@otipeyimisow) joins us for back-to-back episodes to continue where we left off.
In this weeks episode we take an in-depth look at VTAs ( Animate Transitive Verbs ) and also go over some examples, while creating simple sentences combines VTA's and VAIs. We also go over some key survival phrases that you can use in everyday conversations with fluent speakers, which were first created by Wayne Jackson.
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Wayne Jackson is a Cree language teacher from Good Fish Lake First Nation and has also taught at University of Blue Quills.
An advocate for the Cree language, he has also created language immersion class and is passionate about preserving nêhiyawêwin. Wayne is also an accomplished musician, performing under the name W.T. Goodspirit and has numerous albums recorded in the Cree language.
Wayne joins us to teach us words we can use in the work place.
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Rebecca George hails from Big Island Lake, Saskatchewan.
Rebecca has taught in different schools in her home community to different grades and levels.
She learned to speak nehiyawewin in the home around her Mother and Grandmother.
She joins Rellik to teach us words related to time and frequencies of time. Not only will you work your way around a clock, but learn how to say words like soon, later, today, tomorrow and so many more!
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In this weeks episode we are joined by Deloris Rain, a fluent Cree speaker and teacher from Maskwacîs, AB.
Deloris teaches us the fundamental phonetic sounds in nêhiyawêwin, some great conversational terms we can use in our daily speaking and also treats us to a traditional teaching and story of wîsahkêcâhk.
Deloris is available to teach the Cree language in person in both individual, and classroom settings and has plans to create audio lessons for home study learners.
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Dan Cardinal is a Cree language teacher who has taught with many schools throughout Alberta including St. Josephs High School, Ben Calf Robe, Concordia University, CNFC, Red Deer College and Portage College . Dan also spent many years as the Vice President of the Metis Nation of Alberta. Dan continues to be a strong advocate for preserving the Cree language since the 1980's.
This weeks vocabulary
āsay – already, without delay
mīna – and
kitatamiskâtin – I greet you , ki (t) atamiskât in
namōya nantāw -I am not bad, I am fine
ninanāskomon ē-nitomiyan ōta kā – pē- piksweyan – I am grateful you invited me here to speak
tāpwē – it is true
nīsta mīna – me also
nimiywêyihtên – I am happy
āsay mīna – and , already
ê-wâpamitân – I am seeing you
nīsta – me also
tāpwē – it is true
anohc – today , miyo kīsikāw – it is a good day
anohc yîkwaskwan – it is cloudy today
apisis yîkwaskwan – a little bit cloudy
wāpahki apisis kā-yīkwaskwan – tomorrow it will be a little cloudy
kimiwan – rain, it is raining
mitoni – very , much , a lot
mistahi – very much , a lot , greatly
mitoni mistahi kimiwan – it is raining heavily
kîwê-sîkipêstâw – it is down pouring
aya – ah , well, hmm
ēwako – this , that
kimiwanayāw – it is raining there , misponayâw – it is snowing there
ninisitohtên – I understand
apisis kimiwan – a little rain
kimiwanis – a little rain
mispon – falling snow , there is snow falling
misponayaw – it is snowy (flurries)
kōna – snow ( on the ground )
mistahi ē-mispon – it is snowing alot
ē-pimohtēyān ē-misponayaw – I am walking as it is snowing
ê-kiskinwahamâkêyân nêhiyawêwin – I am teaching Cree language
kiskinwahamâkan – student
nikiskinwahamâkân – i teach
niyānan askiy – 5 years
wâwâskêsiw sâkahikan – Lac la Biche (Elk Lake)
wâhyaw – far away
mekwac – right now, currently
ka-otâkosik – in the evening
nikotwāsik tipahikan – six o’ clock
ayinānēw tipahikan – eight o’clock
isiyihkâtêw – it is called this
mīhcet – many , alot
ôma niya nikî-pê-ohpikin – ” where I grew up”
ôcênâs – town , village , settlement
tānisi isiwepan ? – How is the weather ?
Tānisi kīsik kīsikak ? – How is the sky today ?
anohc kisāstēw – today the weather is hot
anohc kisin – today is cold
ekwa mīna – and also
ka kītwan – you will say
anohc tahkāyāw – today is very cold
kisē – pīsim – january , cold month , great month
māyi – kīsikāw – it is a bad day
māyi – prefix for bad
miyo – prefix for bad
miyo kīskikāw – it is a good day
kīsikāw – day time
tipiskāw – night time, evening
pīsim – the sun
kīsikaw pīsim , the sun
tipiskāw pīsim – the moon
tahkāyāw ōma ka ōtakosīhk – it is cold this evening
yōtin – it is windy
anohc yōtin – today it is windy
yōtinisin – a little bit windy (diminutive)
mitoni yōtin – very windy
mistahi yōtin – very windy , big wind
ēkotē – over there
tānisi isiwepan ēkotē ? – How is the weather over there
ōta miyo kīsikāw māka yīkwaskwan – here it is a good day but it is cloudy
mistahi nimiywêyihtên – I am very happy , I am very glad
ē – wī – atoskēmak- my co worker i would work with
acimo – tell me a story
mawisowin – picking berries
kayās ka miywāsin – it was good back long ago
ayisiyiniwak – people ( plural)
ê-wîcihitok – we would help each other
nohkompam ka kīwē oho sīpiy – my late grandma lived in owl river
ekosi maka – that is all
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Originally from the Peace River region of Treaty 8, Kathy is a Cree language teacher with the Learning Centre in Edmonton and has contributed greatly to the community as not only a teacher but also an advocate seeking justice for the homeless and First Nations women, people and youth.
Kathy Hamelin joins Rellik to teach us some feelings and emotions. In this weeks episode, we also discuss tense markers, personal pronouns and learn a few morphemes.
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Neil Redcrow is a cree language enthusiast and teacher through acimowin opaspiw Society.
Neil is from Onihcikiskwapiwinihk (Saddle Lake, AB) but currently residing in Amiskwaciy Waskahikan (Edmonton.)
Neil is also heavily involved within cultural and language projects.
As a husband and father, Neil Joins us for an episode dedicated to parenting words and positive words of affirmation to teach our children.
We also introduce pre verbs like nitaw (go) and pê (come) and revisit personal pronouns.
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Les Skinner joins Rellikf or this weeks episode of Coffee and Cree.
Les is a Cree Teacher with the Canadian Native Friendship Centre as well as the Edmonton Public Libraries.and online classes. Les also teaches nēhiyawēwin classes through Concordia University and Grant Macewan University.
Les has been teaching the Cree classes for over ten years, after attending them himself to regain his language.
He aims to create a community among the students, as well as preserve the language and the traditional knowledge it holds.
Les teaches us words related to hunting and the bush, teaches us how to hunt and shares a memorable encounter with a skunk!
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Dorothy Thunder joins us for our inaugural episode of Coffee and Cree. Dorothy Thunder is a Plains Cree (nêhiyawiskwêw) from Little Pine First Nation, Saskatchewan and full-time Cree instructor in Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta.
She is a Language Keeper, educator, and an Aboriginal woman who practices the traditional way of life.
In this episode Dorothy teaches us words related to the fall season and also touches on animacy, diminutives, personal pronouns, VAI verbs and conversational departing phrases.
