The gap most teachers are quietly facing
Indigenous languages are written into K–12 curricula in nearly every Canadian province. Saskatchewan publishes a First Nations and Métis Language Framework for the development of Indigenous language courses, British Columbia embeds the First Peoples' Principles of Learning across every subject, Alberta runs a full Cree Language and Culture program of studies, and Manitoba formally recognizes Aboriginal Languages and Cultures. Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick each have a framework of their own.
Inside most schools, though, these outcomes go unmet, and the reason is practical rather than political. Most teachers do not speak an Indigenous language, few have had any training in one, and nobody has handed them a kit they can pick up and use on a Monday morning. The policy exists while the classroom-ready material does not, and that is the gap Canadian Languages was built to close.
Our promise to teachers. Every kit is built so that a teacher who does not speak a word of the language can open a browser, print four sheets, press play on a video, and run a respectful and accurate thirty-minute class the same day.
Why a class of children saying words out loud is the whole point
The counts usually cited are sobering. Around four hundred and fifty Indigenous languages and dialects were spoken in what is now Canada at the time of first contact; roughly sixty are still spoken today, and only three of those sixty, Cree, Inuktitut and Anishinaabemowin, are generally expected to survive on the strength of their speaker base alone.
What matters most for a teacher is the finding underneath those numbers. Research summarised by Onowa McIvor, of the University of Victoria, is direct about it: the number of speakers a language has is a poor indicator of its health. What actually predicts survival is intergenerational transmission, which is to say whether children are learning the language and using it with other people.
That is why thirty minutes in a Grade 4 classroom is not a symbolic gesture. A room where children say Ába wašté to each other out loud, and then say it again at home that evening, is the mechanism itself, working at the only scale any of us has access to.
Onowa McIvor, Strategies for Indigenous Language Revitalization and Maintenance, Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network.
What a Canadian Languages lesson contains
Each lesson arrives as a complete kit rather than a pile of loose resources you have to stitch together yourself, and it downloads in under a minute or runs straight in the browser. There is no account, no login and no paywall, now or later.
- A video lesson, taught by a teacher who speaks the language at home, filmed on their own territory, with captions in English.
- A student sheet, two pages: the expressions with a pronunciation guide and tick boxes, a matching exercise, the full conversation to run in pairs, and a task to take home.
- A teacher guide, six pages: the thirty minutes minute by minute, the outcomes written in the Ministry's own codes, guidance on what to assess and what not to grade, the Treaty Education links, and the answer key.
- A one-page check, seven questions in three parts, corrected out loud with the class so that every expression is spoken once more before the bell.
- A poster and eight flash cards. The poster is made to be enlarged to A3 and left on the wall for the week, which is what brings students back to the words between one class and the next.
Curriculum alignment across Canada
Here is how the Nakoda unit maps onto the most common K–12 frameworks. The languages that follow will be built on the same pattern.
| Province / Framework | Relevant Outcome or Principle | How our kit meets it |
|---|---|---|
| Saskatchewan · First Nations and Métis Language Framework | Step 1 outcomes across the four goals: ST1.1 strategies, LC1.1 language concepts, AP1.1 and AP1.2 applications, CU1.1 culture. Steps are set by language level, not by grade. | The five outcomes and their lettered indicators are written out in full in the teacher guide, in the Ministry's own format, ready to paste into your plan. |
| British Columbia · First Peoples' Principles of Learning | "Learning is holistic, reflexive, reflective, experiential, and relational"; "Learning involves generational roles and responsibilities" | The lesson is led by a language teacher from the community, filmed on the territory where the language is spoken, and carries its cultural context with it. |
| Alberta · Cree Language and Culture / similar frameworks | Communication: interact in the target language on familiar topics; Culture: demonstrate understanding of Indigenous worldviews | Parallel vocabulary sets and cultural notes translate cleanly to Alberta's structure. Same pedagogical frame. |
| Manitoba · Aboriginal Languages and Cultures | "Language is more than communication; it carries cultural identity" | Every lesson pairs language with a cultural note drawn from the community where it was filmed. |
| Saskatchewan · Treaty Education, K–12 | Four strands, one outcome per grade. The closest fit for this lesson is TPP34: explore how the use of different languages in treaty making presented challenges, and how those challenges affect people today. | The teacher guide lists the grade-by-grade outcomes this lesson serves directly, and tells you where to find your own grade's outcome for any other year. |
| National · Truth and Reconciliation Call to Action #63 | "Building student capacity for intercultural understanding, empathy, and mutual respect" | Brings Indigenous voices directly into every Canadian classroom, in the language itself. |
| International · UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Art. 14 | Right of Indigenous peoples to establish and control their educational systems in their own languages | Every lesson is built with a teacher from the language's own community, and each expression is confirmed with that teacher before it is published. |
How to teach your first lesson, on under ten minutes of preparation
The day before
Open the lesson page, watch the video once, and skim the teacher guide. Print the student sheet and the check, one of each per student plus a few spares, and print the poster at A3 if your school has a large printer. Decide whether you want to pause the video partway through for a round of repetition out loud; we recommend it, although the lesson works without it.
In class
Give the class two or three sentences of context from the first page of the teacher guide, about the language and the community it comes from, then hand out the student sheet and play the video without stopping. Put the students in pairs to run the conversation, twice in each role. Finish with the check, corrected out loud together, and put the poster on the wall before they leave.Class time: thirty minutes. Preparation: under ten.
You do not need to speak the language to teach this lesson. The video does the linguistic work, and your job is the one you already do in every other subject: frame the lesson, run the room, and notice who is taking part. The guide is explicit that pronunciation and spelling are not graded at this step, because grading either is the fastest way to stop the quiet students from speaking.
Frequently asked questions from teachers
Do I need to pronounce the words correctly myself?
No. The video gives the native pronunciation. Your job is to model respect and curiosity. You do not need to be a speaker yourself.
Are these lessons approved by the community?
Every lesson is developed with a teacher from the language's own community, and the spelling of every expression is confirmed with that teacher before publication. The guide also says something we mean: dialects vary between communities, so if a student's family says a word differently at home, that student is not wrong, and it is a conversation worth having in front of the class.
Can I use these lessons for French immersion or other immersion programs?
Yes. The materials carry over into any language of instruction, and the teacher guide can be adapted. Write to us if you need a French-language guide; we are building them as we go.
Is there a cost, now or in the future?
No. Canadian Languages is free for K–12 educators and will stay that way, with no accounts, no paywalls and no advertising.
My school's WiFi is unreliable. Can I download the video?
The PDFs download and print, so the whole paper side of the lesson works with no connection at all. The video itself streams, so if your connection is unreliable it is worth opening the lesson page once at home or in the staff room and letting the video load before class.
What grade range is each lesson designed for?
Every lesson is open to the whole of K–12, and that is a deliberate consequence of how Saskatchewan builds these courses. The framework sets out nine steps defined by the learner's level in the language rather than by their school year, and it says plainly that a step may not coincide with the actual grade of the students. Lesson 1 is Step 1, so it can be taught in a Kindergarten room and in a Grade 11 room on the same afternoon. What changes between the two is your framing and the pace, not the content.
I want my language added. How do I start a conversation?
Write to us at canadian@canadianlanguages.org. We partner case by case with community teachers, Band offices and school divisions.
Ready to teach?
The Nakoda lesson, Greetings and Introductions with Theresa O'Watch, is online now: the seven expressions, the teacher guide, the student sheet, the check and the poster can all be printed today. The video lesson joins them on Monday 21 September 2026.