Introduction-E

Teaching Children
Julia Shaimaiyuk
My theme is the teaching of children before schools were introduced to the
North. I selected this theme because I wanted to know how Inuit taught their
children in the old days. I also wanted to know how they felt about schools and
education today. I didn’t think it was so important until I interviewed some elders. I
think it’s important for other students and also for non-students to know how it was
back then.
First of all, I tried to find out how children were taught. Then I tried to ask more
specific questions. I tried my best although I wasn’t really organized. I prepared for the
next day’s interviews when Jarich asked us to do so. At first it was really confusing,
because I had not understood what he really meant. When I started to think about what
I was trying to do, it didn’t really make sense. I asked our instructor to clarify it. When
he told me, I got the idea, and I started to really think about it.
We were told to be prepared for each interview and we were grouped in pairs. My
partner was Susan Enuaraq. We did the life story of Hervé Paniaq of Iglulik. We
prepared questions we wanted to ask the elders. When we asked them, they answered
all the ones they knew, and if they couldn’t answer they didn’t. We would try to find out
more about their answers to understand what they meant. For example, we asked about
the meaning of traditional words such as:
– kimmuattuq “coming from the north”
– kangivaqtuq “coming from the south”
These two words were used for people coming back to camp or visiting by dogteam.
When I asked the elders questions, they reacted normally like an elder would. If
they didn’t know the answers to our questions they wouldn’t really say anything
because they were taught not to repeat things that they had not experienced. It seems to
me they understood my questions. I understood their answers and they were good.
Sometimes I asked the same question to each of the elders, and they answered
differently, maybe because they were from different places. For example, I asked the first
two elders, Elisapee and Hervé, about how they dealt with parents who took their
child’s side if s/he had a fight with a friend. They said they were told not to take the
child seriously and were told not to say anything about it when the child was around,
because the child might start to do things to get himself in trouble and then say that it
wasn’t his or her fault. The other two elders, Saullu and Pauloosie, said there are always
different types of parents who have different types of reactions to what happens to their
138 Introduction to the Oral Traditions