A8 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, September 17, 1997

School Shorts

Preparing for the worst

SCHOOL ENROLLMENT numbers which feli be-
cause of the Skeena Cellulose shutdown could fall even
further. Jf the mill faces an indefinite shutdown more
sludents will leave classrooms.

School district officials are preparing a worst case
scenario, justin case.

Board chair George Neumann says if there’s a big ex-
odus from Terrace and the Hazeltons, that would mean
the loss of cight to nine teaching positions. ,

“Where lhe lossés Would be, that’s not determined
yet,”’ he said. ‘It will be a dark day, should thal hap-
pen.”’

Academic audit here

THE TERRACE-KITIMAT school district is one of
seven in the province selected to take part in a review
by the Auditor-General’s office.

The review is of accountability in the K-12 system.
School board chair George Neumann says the goveri-
ment ordered the review to make sure it’s getting its
moncy’s worth.

“The government feels they have been criticized for
the amount of money given to the education system,’’
explained Neumann. The criticism comes from people
wondering if students are actually graduating with an
education.

In order to judge how well the system is working, a
special team will be coming to the Coast Mountain
school district this fall. The team will tock at the
measuring sticks the school district uses.

Neumann says this scholastic audit won’t mean any
extra tests for students, It’s simply the validity of the
current tests which are being evaluated.

He thinks our district was chosen because it’s geog-
raphically very large, and has the biggest native popu-
lation. The results of the audit will be made public.

EDUCATION

Books with local flavour unveiled

THE INTRODUCTION of an array
of books written and illustrated by
local people is bringing education
closer to home,

The First Nations Education
Centre, now in its second year, is
launching 11 publications.

The books will be
tonight in a celebration including
dancers, authors and artists at the

~ First Nations’ Edtication: Centre in”

Clarence Michiel school at 7 p.m.
The Education Centre is publish-

ing the books as ‘a result of requests

from teachers for more information

released ©

on local legends and culture,

Four books at the primary level
feature Txamsem, a spirit being
from ‘Tsimshian stories. Txamsem
is known as a trickster who
travelled around the world and

throughout the cosmos, finishing:

the job of creation,

The: books tell stories about
Txamsem’s . greed, | dishonesty,
foolishness and vanity. They’re-il-
lustrated by Joanne Thomson,

Drake Morven, Melodic Johnson

and Stan Bevan.
The books were then re-written

for a grades 4-10 level. They come
with a teacher’s guide and cultural
information about oral traditions.

The Education Centre has also re-
written a story called The Salmon,
taken from a book. published by the
school district in: 1988, as part of
the K’San project, It’s illustrated by
Ben Gerrow,

And for younger children Joanne

~ Thomson” has “illustrated ~ the “al«

phabet with nalive designs —
available in a- book, cards and
poster. | -

There’s also a Sm'algayx al-
phabet book, cards and poster.
They show the 47 characters in the
Tsimshian language. Joanne Thom-
son drew pictures to accompany the

letters while Bossy Bolton and

Brenda Wesley Bryant were the
editors.

Plus there's also a Christmas ac-
tivities kit for teachers or parents

‘with a native’ culture emphasis,

Crafts include cedar bark oma-
menis and a gingerbread long-
house.

Barbara Toye Melsh

THE FIRST NATIONS Education
Centre has plans for even more books
and resource kits for teachers next
year, ,

Barbara Toye- Welsh, district princi-
pal for the centre, says there are four
main projects the Centre hopes to
complete this year.

The first is an archaeological pro-
jecl, being done in conjunction with
Roque Berthiaume of the University
of Northern B.C. and Dave Walker, a
retired Caledonia teacher.

They're researching petroglyphs and
other historical finds in Kitselas.

Children will be able to read histori-
cal diary extracls from: people in the
area, meet with elders and ar-

chacologists, and do interpretive
walks, ~

“We want to make learning excit-
ing,’’ says Toye- Welsh.

A second project for the centre is
working with elders and local histori-
ans to record oral historics and stories.

Another project comes as a result of
a great demand from teachers for help
with creating masks.

Teachers wanted more information

on appropriate colours and designs,

said Toye-Welsh.
Artists Virginia) Morgan, Vince
Stephens and = Joanne. Thomson,

among others, are designing a kit
which includes masks, clothes, ratlles
and more. Students will be able to use

Archaeology project among ideas

resources in the kit to put on dramas
with a native theme.

‘And finally Toye-Welsh hopes to
gather more. information. on plants
First Nations people used for medi-
cinal purposes.

Elders will give advice on how the
plants were used. Students then learn
to recognize the plants, and fear
some modern-day medical equiva-
lents.

For example, horsetail can be ap.
plied to staunch a bleeding wound, or
drunk as a tea to help ease internal
bleeding, explains Toye-Weish.

She hopes to have this and the other
three -projects. completed by the

Spring.

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