This is the first installment of a two-part series.

As summer temperatures rise and greenery grows everywhere, Dolly 鈥淒ee鈥� Pierrot is beginning a 10-month journey to get closer to her Indigenous roots.

Pierrot is among 80 participants in the 2021-2022 Mentor-Apprentice Program (MAP) that pairs a fluent speaker of an Indigenous language with a learner. The goal of MAP is to boost the ability of apprentices to understand and speak their language over a 10-month period, with seven to 10 hours of immersion sessions per week. The program operates under the Department of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE)鈥檚 Indigenous Languages and Education Secretariat.

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The 2021-2022 MAP offering pairs training in Inuvialuktun, Gwich鈥檌n, Dene K鈥檈de (Sahtu Got鈥檌ne), Dene Zhatie, Tlicho and Denesuline (or Chipewyan).

Pierrot鈥檚 teacher, Mary Jane Blancho, is instructing her in Dene K鈥檈de, the language spoken in Fort Good Hope and in the Sahtu region, where both women are from.

They were in Yellowknife on July 8 and 9 for a training session at the Explorer Hotel for the 12 pairs of Tlicho and Dene K鈥檈de language participants. Sessions for the Inuvialuktun and Gwich鈥檌n pairs are due to be held in Inuvik on July 13-14 and in Yellowknife on July 20-21 for Dene Zhatie and Denesuline participants, said Angela James, director of the Indigenous Language Revitalization Initiative.

MAP began as a pilot in the NWT in 2019-2020. During the 2020-2021 program, 74 participants completed the 10-month course.

鈥楲anguage is at the tip of my tongue鈥�

Pierrot applied to MAP in May. The program stipulates that mentors can鈥檛 be friends or relatives of the apprentices, although Pierrot was familiar with Blancho from Fort Good Hope.

鈥淚 selected (her) because she鈥檚 a patient person and I needed somebody that鈥檚 going to be committed to my learning process for the next 10 months,鈥� Pierrot said. 鈥淚 asked her and she said she was interested (and) she eventually said she would be my mentor.鈥�

Pierrot鈥檚 goal in MAP is to advance her proficiency in the language to the fluency level. Although she said she can understand Dene K鈥檈de fluently, she struggles to string words together into smooth sentences.

Growing up, everyone around her spoke the language but no one in her immediate family actively encouraged her to speak it or helped her with pronunciation.

鈥淚 feel like the language is at the tip of my tongue and it needs to flow,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hen I told that to the MAP interviewers they said that I鈥檓 at the advanced stage and that learning can happen really quick at that stage. That made me excited and hopeful that I鈥檓 going to start speaking the language fluently. I asked (Blancho) to help me keep this dream alive. She said she would. I needed to hear that commitment from her.鈥�

Mentors and apprentices can agree upon the weekly hours and schedule them how they want. They must submit details on how they spent their time to the MAP coordinator.

Pierrot and Blancho have yet to prepare a detailed plan of their speaking sessions, but Pierrot said they鈥檝e discussed cooking together in Sahtu Got鈥檌ne, talking about recipes, going for walks and picking berries.

鈥淭he other idea was reading a children鈥檚 story book in Dene K鈥檈de,鈥� she said.

Gardening in the language could be an option too, since Pierrot鈥檚 community plot is next to Blancho鈥檚.

This is the first time Blancho has worked in a teaching capacity with the language. She holds a part-time job as a custodian in the Fort Good Hope band office.

Blancho admits to feeling both excitement and nervousness when Pierrot chose her to be a mentor.

鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 sure if I was going to be able to teach her the correct pronunciation, but she said that鈥檚 OK as long as she learns the right words,鈥� she said.

Originally from Colville Lake, Blancho was raised speaking Dene K鈥檈de by her parents.

鈥�(Pierrot) has to work on pronunciation and naming things. I鈥檓 not going to throw big words at her but start with short sentences,鈥� she said.

Outside of the MAP sessions, Pierrot encourages friends and family to speak to her in the language as much as possible to give her added encouragement.

鈥淚 want people around me to keep me afloat,鈥� she said. 鈥淚鈥檓 looking forward to the next 10 months of learning my language fluently, and also building my confidence around my language as well. I think that鈥檚 a barrier to many people learning the language.鈥�

Next week: Paid to learn the language