Some days are diamond

We are still being challenged my our weather. Very cold and very windy. The air is so dry here. I have two humidifers going in the house at all times. I keep a pan bubbling on the stove too. I can keep crackers out on the counter for days that get dusty before they get soggy. It is hard for a girl from Nova Scotia to get over something like that. Soggy crackers are a way of life down East.

Today I had a formal practise for the Christmas concert. I asked the parents and friends of my students to come up to our classroom to listen and several did show up. I am being challenged by my tape recorder, getting our song to play when I need it. To-night I am going to try to make a copy of the tape with just our song. Now that ought to be fun. I should be rather cross with myself after several attempts.

The students did fairly well. Lots of giggles from the younger boys. Often the boldest children become shy when others are in the classroom. We did have lots of laughs but most of the time they sailed right thru their performance. I had them do it several times which meant I had to keep rewinding the tape... that was worth several laulghs.

The parents were so proud of their children. I could tell they loved seeing them. The girls had spent 15 minutes in the washroom making themselves tidy. The parents were impressed with the learning of American sign language. Trudy's Mum was over the moon and told her daughter that she could never do that. What a wonderful thing for a child to hear. Charlie Kadjulik actually had new clean clothes on. Both his parents came and were so proud. The classsroom is a much more intimate place for the parents to see and hear their children perform. I am going to find a reason to get them back in Feb to see their little darlings. We took lots of photos and I am hoping over the holidays I can beg Aran, Sara or Leslie to show me how to put some on the blog.

Since I had so many parents I gave a little speech about Inuit parents, speaking to their Inuit Education Commissioner about cutbacks in Inuit education. I had a member of the local Education committee here so I was shameless in begging for more resources for the children of Salluit. Have audience... give speech. I learned that at a very early age. So many decisons about Inuit education are made in Montreal and Quebec City by people who fly into the north, but do not live here. Many have not taught in the North either. The are well meaning people but are not well informed. My principal laughed when she heard me start. She has heard my little speech before when I wanted dictionaries.

The date of our Christmas concert is Tuesday, Dec. 13th. I hope all goes well.