1. a)
Residential schools were schools sponsored by the government to educate and convert aboriginal kids to Christianity. They were also a way to assimilate aboriginal kids into Euro-Canadian culture and society.
1. b)
Assimilation was the act of trying to make the aboriginal kids fit in a Canadian society. It was kind of a way to convert them from their own culture to a Euro-Canadian culture. It was a way for them to learn how to blend in. It was what they called taking "the Indian out of the Indian".
1. c)
One fact that I learned was that the last residential school -- Gordon Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan-- was only closed in 1996.
2. a)
Rosa was only 6 years old when she first attended Shubenacadie Residential School.
2. b)
When the Indian agent and took her from her aunts house, he brought to a big red building. Rosa said that it was hard to get used to their way of living at first, but they had to adjust.
2. c)
One thing that i learned was that the children that were sent to residential schools were stripped of there names and instead assigned a number and a letter.
3. a)
Shubenacadie Residential School was located in Nova Scotia and it was also the only residential school in Atlantic Canada. The school opened on February 5, 1930 and closed 37 years later on June 22, 1967. Most children that attended this residential school spoke about their negative and traumatic experiences.
I Lost My Talk
by Rita Joe
I lost my talk
The talk you took away.
When I was a little girl
At Shubenacadie school.
You snatched it away:
I speak like you
I think like you
I create like you
The scrambled ballad, about my world.
Two ways I talk
Both ways I say,
Your way is more powerful.
So gently I offer my hand and ask,
Let me find my talk
So I can teach you about me.
Personal Response
In Rita Joe's "I Lost My Talk," the speaker talks about how her "talk" was taken away from her. I think the speaker is trying to say that her identity was stolen from her. When the speaker writes "I speak like you, I think like you, I create like you," she is saying that she is no longer unique, that the things that made her special are gone, and now she is just like everyone else. The writer is angry and has every right to be. Everything that made her who she was, was taken away from her. She lost her language, her name, her family, and in a way -- her freedom. She -- and all the others -- were not treated fairly, they were abused and sometimes they even died from malnutrition or mistreatment. They were not always treated as equal humans and instead like savages. If I had been in Rita Joe's situation, I also would have been undoubted angry, but I also would have been bitter and homesick. When you are put in such a horrible situation that has no escape, after a while, you begin to lose hope. I would have been sad and probably would not have been able to keep trying. I have never lost anything as significant as what she lost but, because of Covid-19, I lost many things that are important to me. All of my sports teams and club seasons were post phoned or cancelled completely, and my sports are a big part of me, so without them, it is like something is missing. My family also had to cancel two trips to California this year. In the last stanza, the speaker says, "So gently I offer my hand and ask, Let me find my talk, So I can teach you about me." I think this is the writer's way of saying let's move forward in a better direction together. I think in a way she is forgiving the people who took her away and is asking them to let her find herself so she can show them who she is. She is asking them to let her get her voice back so she can show everyone who she is, where she comes from and teach them about her culture. As long as there is no hate and everyone is treated equally, residential schools are not something that we should be concerned about. We should continue to acknowledge and try to understand how hard their lives must have been. Everyone needs to know that they are not alone and that they are supported. We must stay united and face problems together. What happened to the aboriginal children was horrible and everyone must work together to make sure it never happens to them or anyone else ever again.
Residential schools were schools sponsored by the government to educate and convert aboriginal kids to Christianity. They were also a way to assimilate aboriginal kids into Euro-Canadian culture and society.
1. b)
Assimilation was the act of trying to make the aboriginal kids fit in a Canadian society. It was kind of a way to convert them from their own culture to a Euro-Canadian culture. It was a way for them to learn how to blend in. It was what they called taking "the Indian out of the Indian".
1. c)
One fact that I learned was that the last residential school -- Gordon Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan-- was only closed in 1996.
2. a)
Rosa was only 6 years old when she first attended Shubenacadie Residential School.
2. b)
When the Indian agent and took her from her aunts house, he brought to a big red building. Rosa said that it was hard to get used to their way of living at first, but they had to adjust.
2. c)
One thing that i learned was that the children that were sent to residential schools were stripped of there names and instead assigned a number and a letter.
3. a)
Shubenacadie Residential School was located in Nova Scotia and it was also the only residential school in Atlantic Canada. The school opened on February 5, 1930 and closed 37 years later on June 22, 1967. Most children that attended this residential school spoke about their negative and traumatic experiences.
I Lost My Talk
by Rita Joe
I lost my talk
The talk you took away.
When I was a little girl
At Shubenacadie school.
You snatched it away:
I speak like you
I think like you
I create like you
The scrambled ballad, about my world.
Two ways I talk
Both ways I say,
Your way is more powerful.
So gently I offer my hand and ask,
Let me find my talk
So I can teach you about me.
Personal Response
In Rita Joe's "I Lost My Talk," the speaker talks about how her "talk" was taken away from her. I think the speaker is trying to say that her identity was stolen from her. When the speaker writes "I speak like you, I think like you, I create like you," she is saying that she is no longer unique, that the things that made her special are gone, and now she is just like everyone else. The writer is angry and has every right to be. Everything that made her who she was, was taken away from her. She lost her language, her name, her family, and in a way -- her freedom. She -- and all the others -- were not treated fairly, they were abused and sometimes they even died from malnutrition or mistreatment. They were not always treated as equal humans and instead like savages. If I had been in Rita Joe's situation, I also would have been undoubted angry, but I also would have been bitter and homesick. When you are put in such a horrible situation that has no escape, after a while, you begin to lose hope. I would have been sad and probably would not have been able to keep trying. I have never lost anything as significant as what she lost but, because of Covid-19, I lost many things that are important to me. All of my sports teams and club seasons were post phoned or cancelled completely, and my sports are a big part of me, so without them, it is like something is missing. My family also had to cancel two trips to California this year. In the last stanza, the speaker says, "So gently I offer my hand and ask, Let me find my talk, So I can teach you about me." I think this is the writer's way of saying let's move forward in a better direction together. I think in a way she is forgiving the people who took her away and is asking them to let her find herself so she can show them who she is. She is asking them to let her get her voice back so she can show everyone who she is, where she comes from and teach them about her culture. As long as there is no hate and everyone is treated equally, residential schools are not something that we should be concerned about. We should continue to acknowledge and try to understand how hard their lives must have been. Everyone needs to know that they are not alone and that they are supported. We must stay united and face problems together. What happened to the aboriginal children was horrible and everyone must work together to make sure it never happens to them or anyone else ever again.
