Ojibwe language books headed to classrooms

Variety of Ojibwe-translated children’s books are headed to immersion classrooms

“Amikogaabawiikwe” (“Beaver Bev”) is one of the 16 children’s book titles recently translated into the Ojibwe language. The books will be introduced into kindergarten and first-grade Ojibwe-immersion classrooms this fall.

Midwest Indigenous Immersion Network, or MIIN, worked with Minneapolis publishing company, Lerner Publishing Group, to make it happen.

“Immersion has a lot of different meanings to a lot of different folks. When we talk about it at MIIN, immersion means instruction from a monolingual perspective,” said MIIN executive director Gimiwan Dustin Burnette.

MIIN is a Minnesota-based organization dedicated to the revitalization of Indigenous languages, including Ojibwe. The organization partners with several elementary schools in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Canada where students are taught entirely in the Ojibwe language.

However, Burnette says the schools’ teachers felt that they were missing a vital aspect of learning in their classrooms.

“We’ve struggled finding books which are published (in) monolingual-Ojibwe with our spelling system that are meant to be used in an elementary classroom.” 

Burnette is also a former kindergarten teacher, who taught at an Ojibwe immersion school for several years. He remembers the lack of reading materials to pair alongside lessons and classroom experiences.

“The best option we had was to tape over the existing books with translations we print and cut out and tape onto the book,” Burnette said. “It’s a lot nicer to hold a book in your hands that was written, printed and meant to be in Ojibwe.”

The translated books cover topics ranging from community helpers, such as firefighters and doctors, to stories with a common theme like the fall season. He says when students at the schools return in the fall, they often learn about Ojibwe culture and the relationship to the season — such as the wild rice harvest that occurs each year in September.

Students also learn about nature and animal behavior during the fall season. Stories such as “Amikogaabawiikwe,” which depicts a beaver preparing for winter, are understandable for young minds to connect to cultural aspects of life.

The first set of books are just the start for Ojibwe-translated reading material for young learners. MIIN is already in talks with Lerner Publishing Group about translating another set.

“The more we can produce, the better opportunity we’re given to our students in the classrooms,” said Burnette.

The first set is available on Lerner Publishing Group’s website for individual purchase.