Students Sing Along in Inuktitut with Becky Han in Connected North Storytelling Sessions
Connected North Impact Series blog prepared by Jennifer Corriero
Inuk singer-songwriter Becky Han who grew up in Arctic Bay, Nunavut believes that music is a creative and educational outlet. During her Connected North sessions with students, she sings Qaariaq in Inuktitut and reads from her children’s book The Bee with an approach that invites participation and excitement among children.
These experiences have helped to ignite further excitement in reading her book. These relationships and shared learning moments are a catalyst for students to consider their potential as authors, songwriters and storytellers. We are thankful for the opportunity to facilitate these interactions and provide copies of the book for classrooms when needed.
“My students’ favourite session was with Becky Han. The students enjoyed speaking and singing in Inuktitut with her. After the session, many of them were very excited to read her book “The Bee” over and over in both English and Inuktitut. It was amazing to see how the session inspired a love of reading for many students!” Connected North Teacher Survey
Memorable moments for Becky unfold when students work on creating their own works. She shares, “a grade 5–6 class painted, drew and wrote their own community into the Bee book. Another example is when we created a song together from scratch in Inuktitut on my guitar…they recorded the audio clip and it was shared with the local radio station.”
It is significant for teachers and students to have access to published authors as virtual guests in the classroom.
“Connected North has enabled my class to connect with Indigenous authors. Hearing and speaking to published authors has been a rewarding experience. I particularly enjoyed Becky Han and her willingness to shares her story and her music — she was lovely.” Teacher
The learning happens not only for the students and teachers, but also for the Content Providers who are delivering Connected North sessions. The two-way exchange allows for reciprocity and shared growth.
“After the first couple of sessions I did, I was so excited, I realized just how much we could do and interact with each other…the endless opportunities that there are in terms of learning and teaching virtually and being able to connect with these kids, provinces away and still being able to learn together, laugh together and just hang out.” Becky Han
