WEB EXCLUSIVE: TIM’S BIT — Tirades on our stupidest things

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January 4, 2016

[dropcap]S[/dropcap]o, we’re a few days into 2016. Have you been keeping up with your new year’s resolutions?

You might be doing well so far, but chances are you have a feeling that this success won’t last long. Don’t worry, you’re not alone. If you belong to the approximately 50 percent of the population who make resolutions, you may have committed to losing weight, exercising more, quitting smoking, or saving more money; but out of that 50 percent, only eight percent will actually achieve their resolution.

Making a change to your habits is never easy — it involves rewiring your brain to change your behaviours. It takes time, commitment, and persistence; and you can’t just give up when things don’t change right away. Often, people become discouraged if they don’t see results right away, and this can lead to backsliding into old habits.

On New Year’s Eve, we often make declarations of things we wish would happen or things we think we should be doing; we say things that sound good to us and get us into the spirit of the season, but we aren’t making realistic goals that we can actually see ourselves achieving. New Year’s resolutions fail because they remain hopes and dreams that we have no intention of acting upon.

Deciding to do things differently in January is also not great timing to set yourself up for success. It’s still bitterly cold and wet outside, it still gets dark before dinner, and you’re recovering from the excitement and financial burden of the holidays. Going back to the routine of school or work, while also trying to change your life, only adds an unnecessary level of stress and complexity to your resolutions.

Another reason resolutions so often fail is that they tend to be huge aspirations instead of concrete, achievable goals; with multiple resolutions and unrealistic expectations, we only get stress and pressure that are extremely demotivating. When planning to change any habit, it’s important to commit to small, manageable steps that can be achieved quickly — they’ll offer you the confidence you need to continue working towards the final goal.

Further, there is nothing inherently revolutionary about January 1. It’s just another day, and there are another 364 that could serve as your day to make a change.

It’s not that resolutions can’t be motivational — a new year can bring with it the feeling of renewal, which can seem like the perfect chance to turn over a new leaf and begin fresh. But perhaps we should stick to cleaning out the closets and preparing for the year ahead rather than trying to changing our lives wholesale.

One of my favourite quotes, care of Andy Warhol, states: “They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” In other words, don’t wait for change to happen or for what you may think is the right timing — just seize the day and make it happen already.

POINT / COUNTERPOINT: Should spanking children be illegal?

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January 4, 2016

Yes, spanking should be illegal!

By Theresa-Anne Clark Harter

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]n wake of the Liberal party promising to fully uphold the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), spanking one’s child will become illegal, and rightfully so.

In a society which claims to value peace, we must recognize the ramifications of using violence to solve problems in our homes. If peaceful existence with our fellow humans is the goal, then violence, in all its forms, is something we should discourage our children from partaking in, and parents must lead by example. The idea that hitting a child to discipline them doesn’t promote using violence is naïve.

Parents most often spank when they’re angry, effectively teaching their children that hitting when you’re mad is acceptable behaviour. Contrary to the popular rhetoric among corporeal punishment supporters, ‘spanking’ is just socially acceptable ‘hitting.’ To lump spanking and hitting together makes supporters of spanking uncomfortable. Most prefer to see spanking as something other than hitting, exempt from that label.

Beyond the semantics, spanking is not effective and may have consequences exactly the opposite of what is intended. Many reputable organizations have spoken out against spanking, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, stating “corporal punishment is of limited effectiveness and has potentially deleterious side effects.” In fact, more and more modern studies show that the use of corporal punishment on children can result in the slowing of mental development, as well as creating more violent behaviour in the child.

Currently, section 43 of the Canadian criminal code states that spanking cannot manifest as a reaction to feelings of frustration, loss of temper, or abusive personality. In a perfect world, this would be a fair and just rule. However, in reality, most parents are just as unwittingly flawed as the rest of us humans, and wouldn’t hit unless provoked by very commonplace, understandable emotions like ‘frustration’ or ‘loss of temper.’

Nobody hits when they’re happy. Many households have realized this already, and spanking has become less popular. As the Truth and Reconciliation Commission states, “corporal punishment is a relic of a discredited past.”

Though many religious groups and other supporters of physical discipline believe that the government has no place telling parents how to discipline their children, the line between discipline and abuse is gray. To avoid abuse and the negative ramifications that spanking influences on children, the government is right to act.

With the increase in credible evidence towards the detrimental effects of spanking, it is a government’s duty to rectify the situation. With education and promotion, alternative methods of discipline that do no harm to the child, could become more widely practiced. When it comes to children’s safety and development, government intervention is undoubtedly warranted. Spanking should be illegal. There is no time or place to hit a child.

No, it shouldn’t be!

By Yemi Ajayi

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]ccording to recommendations made by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the federal Liberals have agreed to “repeal Section 43 of the Criminal Code that permits parents and teachers to use reasonable force to correct the behaviour of youngsters in their care.” While any attempt to reduce violence is commendable, this particular issue is not black and white.

Corporal punishment is a polarizing subject. On one hand, there are people who cannot imagine a world where spanking children is okay, and on the other, there are those who understand the benefits. I fall into the latter category. We have to understand that there is no mathematical equation for raising children successfully; human beings are too diverse for that.

If you take into account the cultural diversity within Canada alone, it is somewhat arrogant to assume that all children will respond to the same disciplinary tactics in the same way.

I was raised in a country where corporal punishment was praised. Although my parents used it sparingly and with tact, I did experience corporal punishment in school as the default strategy for discipline. Therefore, I instinctively understood the difference between being disciplined and being abused.

There is a fine line between the two. In my household, I was always aware of why I was being spanked. My parents made it clear that corporal punishment was reserved for extreme misconduct. I believe that the current spanking laws accommodate those grey areas between discipline and abuse. For example, present spanking laws prohibit straps, paddles, and other implements, blows to the head, and any corporal punishment of children under the age of two. Parents that disregard these limits should be held accountable for their actions.

Discipline should be subjective because different children have different personalities. They will respond differently to the same things. There are children that do not need to be spanked in order to understand that an action is wrong, and there are also children that do need to be spanked in order to understand the message.

It may be seen as politically incorrect to claim that spanking is good for certain children, but I think it’s true. Applying the same disciplinary tactics to all children across the board is misguided, and it should be up to the parent to know what works for their child and what doesn’t The government should only interfere if the well being of a child is threatened.

Abuse and violence are very important issues. However, associating all forms of corporal punishment with abuse and violence is an overreaction. If the goal of discipline is to mould children into well adjusted human beings, why restrict the methods by which parents can achieve it?

The One Who Stops: an interview with SFU’s nicest bus driver

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January 4, 2016

[dropcap]S[/dropcap]FU students who take the 135 bus up to campus every morning see a lot of different bus drivers — some nice, some not so nice. Most of them tend not to make much of an impact. But Bill Laird is an exception: known for his friendly demeanor and insistence on wishing every single passenger a nice day, he’s become an honorary member of the SFU community.

Oh. And did I forget to mention that he totally looks like Walter White from Breaking Bad?

A post featuring a photo of Bill, along with the words “I am the one who stops,” exploded with popularity on the SFU Confessions page this past October, garnering over 600 Facebook likes. Then Reddit got a hold of the image, resulting in over 4,000 upvotes, 500 comments, and a brief stint on the site’s front page. “Someone has the easiest Halloween costume in the world,” one commenter quipped. “Dude, you have to post a pic of your bus driver for comparison,” joked another.

Bill’s photo has since been the subject of many Photoshop gags, including several replacing his face for Bryan Cranston’s. Sometimes, it’s hard to tell whether the images are Photoshopped at all.

By now, most SFU students have heard of Bill — they know him as Heisenbus, Braking Bad, the one who works for Bus Fring. But he’s also known, and beloved, for a lot more than his celebrity doppelganger. The Peak sat down with SFU’s nicest bus driver to ask him about his love for the series, his sudden Internet fame, and what inspires him to be so friendly to his passengers.

“You know, I try and treat people the way I would like them to treat me. It’s simple.” – Bill the bus driver

The Peak: So, to begin: have you ever seen Breaking Bad?

Bill: You bet. I love it. I’ve been watching it for a long time.

P: Who was the first to point out the resemblance between you and Walter White?

B: That would have been . . . damn, I don’t remember the gentleman’s name. But he came on the bus and asked if he could take my picture, and he said “you look like the guy from Breaking Bad,” and I went “oh, okay!” And my son made a comment about it, and he showed me something on the Internet — and the first gentleman, he had put it on, what the heck is it, I think he put something on SFU. . .

P: SFU Confessions.

B: Yeah! Yeah, so he put the picture on there. And actually, I ran into him just a while ago, and we sort of just looked at each other and we just smirked about it, right? Because nobody thought it would be so popular.

P: Do people point it out more often, now?

B: Yes, definitely. It’s great, I absolutely love it.

P: You’ve become something of a minor campus celebrity, in part because of that post. Do you find that a lot of students recognise you not as Walter White but as Bill the bus driver?

B: Yep. I have no problem with telling people who I am — you know, I’ve been doing this a long time. Some guys, they sort of keep stuff inside, and they try to stay a little bit distant, but I’ve never had an issue with that. That’s just not who I am. [laughs]

P: You say you’ve been doing this a long time. When did you start working as a bus driver?

B: Oh God, I’ve got 25 years in now. So it would have been, I guess, September 1990.

P: And how long have you been doing the 135 route?

B: Oh, I don’t know. How long has the university been around? [laughs] Yeah, basically on and off for about 25 years. And I absolutely love it. It’s a lot of fun — you know, it’s students, faculty, and businesspeople, and I’ve never, ever had an issue with anybody. I’ve done other routes with the company where I’ve had nothing but problems, but nothing with the 135.

P: What would you say is your favourite thing about that route?

B: SFU. Definitely SFU. The least favourite is driving through the rest of it, the downtown part of it. [laughs]

P: It’s funny, because you seem like the polar opposite of Walter White — you’re always so friendly and accommodating to everyone on the bus. What compels you to give that extra effort when most bus drivers don’t?

B: Well, that’s just me. I can’t really think of anything else. You know, I try and treat people the way I would like them to treat me. It’s simple — I wish I had something more exciting to tell you, but it is what it is, right?

P: What’s something that most SFU students probably wouldn’t guess about you?

B: Well, I’ve got a family. You know, I’ve got numerous hobbies. I ride motorcycles, I get my tail kicked on Xbox on a regular basis — probably by some 12-year-old in another country who thankfully can’t see who he’s playing against. But you know, I’m a family guy. My wife and I have been married 40 years. I’ve got two wonderful kids, and they’re all grown up and have their own families. Life’s moving along nicely.

P: Is there anything you want to share with the SFU community?

B: I just want to say thank you very much. I really appreciate the way everybody has treated me, and I’ve had a lot of fun with this. You know, I go online and look at the comments and stuff, and I absolutely love the Photoshop stuff that’s been done. My favourite one is the one with me and Walt sitting there having a beer. And apparently somebody the other day put [Vladimir Putin’s] face onto my body, and I’m looking at it and I’m going, ‘that was well done!’

Stuff like that I absolutely love. And I’m just very happy that there’s a lot of good people who are having a lot of fun with it.

25toLife campaign raises $30,000 for cancer research

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January 4, 2016

WEB-25toLife-University Communications — This past semester’s contribution brings the total for all of Professor Masri’s past classes to above $80,000. - Photo courtesy of University Communications

Some students go the extra mile with their homework, but the students in one Beedie School of Business class set out to raise a grand total of $30,000 dollars for a class project — and they weren’t going to be denied. They succeeded in surpassing their goal by just $34.

The money they were raising was for the 25toLife Campaign, which is a joint project between the BUS 361: Project Management class and the Canadian Cancer Society to raise funds for cancer survivors.

Beedie Lecturer Kamal Masri has led this initiative for three semesters. This past semester, his class set a fundraising goal of 30-thousand that they managed to surpass through a number of fundraising events organized and led by students. It all began when Masri decided that students seemed bored with the class and allowed them to plan an event that served the community.

“The Canadian Cancer Society came and spoke with students, and said that their project is about helping those with cancer to live life to the fullest, so we came up with the name 25tolife to help raise $25 thousand to life,” he said.

Still, he was astonished to see the selfless effort from his students. The class only hit their aforementioned goal as students contributed money from their own pockets at the deadline to help them surpass their goal.

With their deadline looming and the group $500 short, class accountant Rhythm Tang turned to the students to donate the rest themselves in order to succeed.

“I mentioned to the class that if each person pitched in $10, we would be able to reach our goal. There were students one after the other coming up to the front of the room with bills and counting down the amount until we reached our goal,” said Tang, who is also one of the students of the class.

During the final push from his students, Masri filmed the donations on his phone to keep a record of it for himself.

“I’ve never seen students respond to another student like I saw that day. It was amazing and showed that they were working together rather than working for a grade,” he said.

Since beginning in 2013, Masri and his classes have raised over $80,000 for the Canadian Cancer Society each fall.

The class was divided into several groups to arrange their projects to work towards their goal. One of the bigger successes was the “Are You Tougher Than Cancer” obstacle course, which was sponsored by the Steve Nash Fitness Club. Thanks to a large turnout from the community, that event alone was able to raise one third of their goal.

Other events include an Amazing Race scavenger hunt, a Fun Run around Burnaby Lake, and a sold-out pub night in Langley.

The group was able to reach their goal in part, thanks to the support offered through the community, with a lot of participation and organizations such as Jeux du Commerce West and Enactus SFU.

Tang encourages more students to take part in this class, but warns that they should know what they are getting into.

“You should have a passion for working with others and leading events and being encouraged by seeing results,” she said. “Kamal challenges us and tells us we should never give up because there’s always hope in the end.”

Hermione Granger was never originally black, but who cares?

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January 4, 2016

[dropcap]H[/dropcap]arry Potter was the first full-length novel I’d ever read. As my school’s library only had one very popular copy of The Philosopher’s Stone, upon a friend’s request, I convinced my parents to order me the book from a Scholastic book form, and ever since cracking open the fresh-scented, glossy paperback that one afternoon in second grade, my imagination was captivated.

I fell in love. The plots and settings were rich, the characters so believable I felt as though I knew them personally. I did know them personally. In too many respects, their trials and tribulations felt as if they were my own.

And yes, in my imagination all these characters, unless otherwise written, had white skin. I don’t feel racist admitting this. After all, growing up in a predominantly white environment, it’s only natural for me to envision fictional characters with my own ethnicity. I’ll also admit that, yes, I was rather taken aback to learn that the ever-clever Hermione Granger — a main character I’d grown so close to as a young reader — was recently cast in J.K. Rowling’s stageplay sequel Harry Potter and the Cursed Child as a black woman.

While I’m ultimately satisfied with this decision, inevitably there have been those devoted fans who are not.

Here’s the reality: until now, Hermione has always been stuck in a sort of invisible racial limbo; her ‘whiteness’ has never been confirmed in the series but has become ‘truth’ due to the way we (including Hollywood) mentally express our characters through our defaulted Caucasian imagery.

Yes, Hermione is now officially black, and it’s now implied that she has always been.

That being said, let’s face it, Rowling herself was obviously mired by these defaults as she wrote the series. She never delivered Hermione as a black character — a notion emphasized by her enthusiastic Twitter endorsement stating that she “loves” her character as black and that “white skin was never specified.”

Such a tweet conveying racial open-endedness clearly indicates that Rowling is just as accepting of this new idea as many of us are — otherwise we may have seen a post stating, “Yep, she was black all along!” Hermione is another piece in Rowling’s retroactively-tweaked canon. After the entire series was published, the author revealed that Hogwarts student Anthony Goldstein is Jewish, that Dumbledore is gay, and a variety of other unwritten characteristics to her wizarding world.

Rowling is retrospectively changing the initially straight, white world conveyed in her printed story. These aspects were never explicitly expressed on paper, but Rowling is seizing the day and moulding the canon to fit our shifting cultural ideals of diversity in today’s fiction. And there’s nothing wrong with this. The lack of diversity in the Harry Potter series has been longstanding, and perhaps Rowling feels a tad guilty over her monoracial characters.

To be clear, every reader envisions a slightly different Hermione, and it’s only natural to be surprised at a casting decision that doesn’t match with our personal image of that character.

Though I will say that because a black Hermione has now been approved and endorsed by Rowling herself to be in a play actually written by the author, she is now officially solidified in the Harry Potter canon as being of colour. Yes, Hermione is now officially black, and it’s now implied that she has always been. This may not have originally been the case in Rowling’s world — but now it is.

A fascinating and rare surprise to ever hit a canon. Let’s celebrate the now sealed and stamped black Hermione Granger.

And while too many fans will infiltrate public forums with shallow retorts along the lines of “she’s just not my Hermione,” or “she’s a product of forced diversity,” at least you can just shrug off these absurdities while you pat yourself on the back for perceiving this with such an openness. As the popular saying goes, “haters gonna hate,” right?

Satellite Signals

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January 4, 2016

Harbour Centre vancouver

On January 12,beer enthusiasts can attend a workshop to learn more about SFU’s Craft Beer and Brewing Essentials Certificate at the Harbour Centre.

Prospective students will learn about classes they will take, ranging from “Introduction to Brewing” to “Quality Assessment of Beer” which will allow them to thrive in Vancouver’s beer market.

Surrey

Those interested in becoming an employment counsellor or career consultant should check out the information session for SFU’s Career Development Practitioner Certificate. Hosted at SFU Surrey from 5:30–6:30 p.m., this free session will provide information on the program as well as a chance to meet others interested in the field.

Space is limited, and those interested can sign up via the SFU website.

Segal School of Business

The Beedie School of Business will host an alumni reunion at the Segal School of Business on January 13, featuring an interview with alumnus Bailey Klinger. Klinger is the co-inventor of Entrepreneurial Finance Lab (EFL) technology, a service offering psychometric credit scoring for small businesses.

The interview will be followed by a reception for alumni to connect and network. The $10 registration fee includes one drink ticket and appetizer.

Canada by car

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January 4, 2016

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]fter driving 2,224 km across 10 provinces, taking 4 ferries, hitting one mink, and spending six weeks with my significant other, I can honestly say that driving across Canada is one of the best things I’ve ever done.

It was 2011, and I was working a co-op job in the Canada Revenue Agency call centre. Most of my time was spent answering boring tax questions or calming people down after they just received an intimidating letter from the CRA, but sometimes, when speaking to someone from the opposite end of the country, I would imagine what it was like where they lived. And this inspired to drive there and find out.

A trip like this is an opportunity that doesn’t come around often — so make sure you embrace it when it does. A semester off during university may be the only time that you can take such an extended leave and not worry about letting your commitments fall to the wayside. If you can, I suggest you take this road trip of a lifetime before you become encumbered with obligations and it becomes something that you always wish did.

My boyfriend and I set off on July 20 in our tiny Chevy Aveo and didn’t have to be home until Labour Day. That boyfriend is now my fiancé, and I have to say that this type of trip is also a great test of any relationship’s strength. Spending that amount of time with anyone is likely to make things a bit tense, but with little else except the road ahead, the only thing to do is be quiet and get over it unless you want to make your own way home.

Cash saving tip number one: get in touch with every friend and relative you have across this grand country and tell them you’ll be stopping by. Our first stop was my grandpa’s house in Kelowna — we took it easy on the first day and only drove a few hours. If you’re not used to long hours in the car, it’s probably a good idea not to overdo it on the first day.

From there, we made our way to Calgary, via a stop for the night at Banff National Park and the beautiful Lake Louise. That brings me to cash saving tip number two: get used to roughing it. That was our first camping stop, and although we only did about 50 percent camping (after a few days you just crave a real bed and a good shower), but we did manage to camp in every province.

What we thought was a deserted side road in the middle of the night turned out to be somebody’s driveway in the morning.

Roughing it also includes eating sub-par food. We equipped ourselves with a hand-me-down cooler and kept it stocked with cold drinks (this reduces unnecessary stops for overpriced gas station beverages) and a variety of groceries such as cold cuts for sandwiches and milk for cereal (not every cheap hotel comes with continental breakfast). With a couple of plastic bowls, plates, and cutlery, it’s surprising how many makeshift meals you can prepare. When camping, we would stop at a grocery store and buy some snacks, meat, and vegetables, throw our cheap grill on the fire, and voilà, dinner was served. Food is probably the most expensive component of any travel experience, and we were on a budget.

Of course, the other thing that adds up is the gas — cash saving tip number three: if you are planning to drive over 20,000 km, take a small car (even if people in Labrador stare at you like you’re from another planet).

In Calgary we had the fortune of staying with more family, and the only other places where we knew anyone were Cornwall, Montreal, Quebec City, and a tiny island in Nova Scotia. We continued on through Drumheller, Saskatoon, and Regina, and camped in the beautiful Buffalo Pound Provincial Park in Saskatchewan where we had the fortune of witnessing a spectacular lightning display that night. Saskatchewan is referred to as “land of living skies,” and when the sunset turns the whole sky pink, it’s magical.

Not everywhere in that province was as impressive. After a long day of driving we stopped at a roadside motel in the middle of nowhere. After checking in, we noticed countless bugs in our room — dead and alive, and could not imagine getting into the bed, never mind getting any sleep. Of course the next sign of civilization was a long way off, so we ended up deciding to park ourselves inconspicuously on a side road and sleep in the car. What we thought was a deserted side road in the middle of the night turned out to be somebody’s driveway in the morning. . . we woke up to a knock on the window, but instead of anger we were met with an invitation to come inside for coffee and breakfast. Those prairie people are just so friendly. We declined and said we had to be on our way.

Saskatchewan is referred to as “land of living skies,” and when the sunset turns the whole sky pink, it’s magical.

It was true, though, we did have to be somewhere by a certain date — Stratford. It had long been a dream of mine to visit the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, so I bought us tickets to Twelfth Night, and we were in a hurry to get there by July 30. Ontario isn’t nicknamed “longtario” for no reason, but we made it to the city of Shakespeare in time after a very scenic ferry ride across Lake Superior. On the way back across the country we stopped in Stratford again and saw Camelot and on the cliffs in St. John’s we were treated to a free outdoor production of Hamlet by Shakespeare by the Sea. One day, I’ll do a Shakespeare tour and stop at Shakespeare by the Saskatchewan as well.

We continued through Ontario and spent a few days in Niagara Falls, which is spectacular, spent some time in Montreal with family, and stayed in a friend’s cabin just outside Quebec City. The Gaspé Peninsula is another stunning sight that was worth the drive around, and that took us into the Maritimes. Confederation Bridge feels like it will never end, Anne of Green Gables’ house is just as magical as I pictured it, and New Brunswick has a beautiful coastline. In Nova Soctia, we spent a couple of nights with family in a hundred-year-old house on Long Island, only accessible by a ferry that runs once an hour. A 13 hour ferry ride got us to Newfoundland where I had trouble understanding a few people through their accents, and a ferry — a questionably seaworthy one — took us over to Labrador.

If I tell you everything about our trip, we’ll be here for a week, but one place that really stood out was Labrador. We saw the northern lights, drove on a gravel highway, got a flat tire, drove on a gravel highway with a spare tire, hit a mink, and slept in the car again. We almost slept in the car twice in a row, but Labrador City had one room left for us — at a bed and breakfast that turned out to be a spare room in someone’s house. The Atkins were a wonderful couple who took us in, fed us homemade cookies, helped get our tire fixed (there was only one of those left in the city too), and made us feel like we were right at home when we were the farthest we had been from it.

Our drive back across the country took less time and we did less sightseeing, but it was by no means boring. There is always more to see, and I hope I’ll be able to take this trip again someday. My favourite city in the country? That’s a tough one, but I will say Quebec City. It has that 400-year-old European charm, stunning architecture, and of course, le Français.

My least favourite city? That’s easy: Winnipeg.

First Nations Language Centre to begin testing on First Nations language apps

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January 1, 2016

WEB-First Nations-SFU News — The app will focus on indigenous languages spoken in BC such as Haida (pictured), - Photo courtesy of SFU News

According to the First Peoples’ Cultural Council, a Crown Corporation working to revitalize Aboriginal languages and culture in BC, there are 203 First Nations communities in BC with over 40 recognized languages. Many languages have no remaining fluent speakers and many face extinction without outside intervention. Dr. Marianne Ignace of SFU’s First Nations Language Centre (FNLC) is working on a technological solution to this problem.

The Centre is working on the Tlli7sa Storybook Mobile and Web Application concept, a series of apps looking to provide educational content for courses and general use. It uses visual, auditory, and interactive tools to teach both the languages of a community and the community’s cultural history.

Ignace hopes the apps can raise awareness for the 12 Indigenous languages of BC and the Yukon that are the focus of the apps as well as all Indigenous languages of BC and the Yukon. Her team has worked closely with many groups such as the Haida, Tlingit, and the Skwxwu7mesh (Squamish), and have also worked with the Hellenic Studies Program by utilising a language tutor platform originally intended to teach Greek.

With a $2.5 million dollar federal government grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council to develop the app, the Centre expects to start testing early pilot versions sometime during 2016. Ignace hopes to release the first group of apps to learners in 2017.

The communities, all of whom are working with the Centre through a seven-year partnership that began in 2013, will be given the option to release the apps to everyone in the world, or to directly manage content and access through a server.

With everything falling into place, Ignace hopes to have developed all the apps within the next five years. But it has been difficult at times, “because the languages are so different from one another. It really [wasn’t] feasible to work with a single content template,” she told SFU News. The contents of the apps have also taken a lot of time and effort to produce, especially with its “storybook” format of visual and auditory learning aids.

Ignace explained to SFU News that she hopes that the app, along with the Centre’s current efforts, will “provide a unique avenue to [learn their ancestral language].

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is cheesy fun

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December 21, 2015