This Mohawk woman is translating nursery rhymes to share her language with kids — and caregivers, too

Like other Indigenous people in the early stages of reclaiming traditions, Kristi Talbot, a Mohawk woman with ties to the Six Nations community in Ontario, is prioritizing language revitalization. 

"I've been taught by elders that passing on the language strengthens [our] values, as our traditions are woven into every word," said Talbot, 32.

"As my mother broke generational curses herself, I hope to continue on that trend and do the same."

Talbot, who is a new mother, is translating nursery rhymes into Kanien'keha (Mohawk) to share with her daughter and other families. It's part of the process of bringing inherited blood memory of culture and language back to the surface. 

"As a mother you want to pass on the good that you were gifted," she said. 

Talbot's language journey began long before her daughter was born. At age 23, she graduated from early childhood education and began working for Aboriginal Head Start, a program based in Fort Erie, Ont., designed to teach culture and language to children in a parent-and-student environment. 

She learned pieces of Kanien'keha while working in the program, like colours, animals and numbers. Later, she saw the difference in young students' lives as they learned the language and fell in love with it.

She then completed a two-year Mohawk language program with Onkwawenna Kentyohkwa, an organization based on Six Nations, and began creating curriculum for organizations like Fort Erie Aboriginal Head Start, Niwasa Head Start, Upper Canada District School Board and the Akwesasne Board of Education. 

Then, when she became pregnant last year, she started to translate nursery rhymes. 

"I thought 'I still want to teach the language,' so I reached out to see if there was any interest [from other new parents to learn]," she said. 

There were over 100 responses to her inquiry first placed on social media channels in November, 2021. She garnered 67 students in the end for virtual classes, with a wide range of backgrounds including mothers, grandmothers, fathers, educators and caretakers. 

"It was a lot of work, but it was worth it," she said. "In my own path I never saw how healing [the language] was for me and how much pride I had in learning my language and I'd like to share that." 

Like many within the Six Nations community, Talbot did not grow up enveloped in the language.

"That's a few generations of not having culture involved in our family," she said. "To bring that back to my family, as they are passionate about it and I can support them in that now too — [that's] a part of sharing the story that it's never too late to bring that back," she said, adding that her mother and sister have been very supportive.