Naming the West : Stories Siksika Crowfoot School School

Siksika Elder Story 3:
Crowfoot School

How would the teachers know when you spoke Blackfoot?

They walked amongst us, and they always had a little book, ready to put your name down there. And that’s how we were caught.

And the second year of my schooling, because I didn’t understand English, they used to bring in the senior girls and make them sit beside you. Then they started to teach us ABCs, we still got to learn that a long time ago. But then the teacher would talk, and we would have to look at the senior girls so they could tell us in Blackfoot. That’s the only time we were allowed to speak in Blackfoot, when the seniors told us what the teacher was saying. He said to pick up your pencil, to follow his writing. That’s how the teachers knew.