Kindergarten Mi'kmaw immersion program aims to keep the language strong in Listuguj, Que.

On a warm, clear day in February, Brenda Germain picks up a large hand drill and asks her students to gather around.

Drill in hand, she shows the children how to cut through the thick ice covering Chaleur Bay, on Quebec's Gaspé coast.

"Base concumi — the ice is this thick," her colleague and aunt, Joyce Germain, tells the students as they kneel over the  hole, hoping to catch some smelt, or kaqpesaw.

The class outing is being held entirely in Mi'kmaw — a language that Brenda Germain says she "didn't speak a word" of, just a decade earlier.

"I spent 35 years of my life thinking, 'ah man, I missed the boat,'" she said. 

But her life — and her teaching career — took a sharp turn in 2018, when she switched roles in the classroom. Brenda Germain enrolled as a student in the Mi'kmaw adult immersion program, offered by the Elawsimgewei Gina'muo'guom Adult Education Centre in Listuguj, Que.

In addition to the classes, "just from coming out on the land with [Miss] Joyce every day has taught me" the language, she said.

"It's super important to tell people: no matter what age you are, you can start somewhere."

She is now not only fluent in Mi'kmaw but also at the forefront of language revitalization in Listuguj. Brenda Germain was instrumental in building the Forest Kindergarten program, which takes the classroom outside, centred around Mi'kmaw immersion.

She first pitched the idea to the school's principal after seeing a short clip about outdoor learning in Germany and the Netherlands. The answer came the very next day: yes.

A base camp was built in the forest near the community. After their outings, the kindergarten students gather there at the end of the day, to reflect on what they've learned.

"It's embedded in who we are and you can't separate the two — outdoors and Mi'kmaw way," Brenda Germain said.

Miss Joyce, in addition to being Brenda's aunt, has also been a Mi'kmaw teacher for 23 years. She was involved with the development of Mi'kmaw learning at Alaqsitew Gitpu School from Day 1.

"My passion was to teach the language and it's always been a part of me — and it's part of our community," she said.