Monday, March 14, 2011

Boarding school video available: SHI-SHI-ETKO

Several times on American Indians in Children's Literature, I've written about Nicola Campbell's outstanding picture book about a little girl going to boarding school, Shi-shi-etko.  An award-winning book, Shi-shi-etko was made into an award-winning short film that is available from Moving Images Distribution for $40.

As you'll see, there are English subtitles in the film. Throughout the film, the language you hear is Halq'emalem, which is the language of the Sto:lo people of the Sto:lo Nation in British Columbia.  Across the US and Canada, Native Nations are using films like Shi-shi-etko, and newer technologies (the Internet and Apple products) to teach their languages. Through First Voices, there is an iPod and iPad app for Halq'emalem, available at no charge through iTunes.  Preview the Halq'emalem app here

Here's the trailer:






I highly recommend that you order a copy of Campbell's Shi-shi-etko today, and order the video, too.


CM Magazine review of Shi-shi-etko

2 comments:

Jean Mendoza said...

It's so good to know that there's a video of this book!!

Anonymous said...

I appreciate that they've used the language in the video and I understand why they've done that. I just wish there was an option to dub it because my some of my students are really poor readers and wouldn't be able to read the sub-titles quick enough to understand what's happening. My students are all First Nations and we are learning about Residential Schools. I think we will just stick with the book.