Past and current projects have been drawing on my linguistics training and highly flexible style in a variety of settings, both academic and in community.
First Nations Languages
My work with and for First Nations communities on language documentation, reclamation, as well as language resource development is on the one hand informed by my training in linguistic fieldwork at the University of British Columbia. On the other hand, it is informed by working with individuals, whose generosity in sharing their knowledge has been teaching me much of what I am able to use in my work today. Working with community members, language teachers, and Elders, is my ‘happy place’.
I have been working with the Stó:lō Shxwelí Halq’eméylem Language program at Stó:lō Nation since 2017, doing transcription, analysis, developing language teaching materials & curriculum, as well as training community members in ‘user-friendly linguistics’. I recently co-developed a website for the program, making legacy, teaching, and dictionary materials accessible and useful to community members in an engaging way, all while ensuring community data sovereignty and ownership.
I also currently support several other Indigenous communities and First Nations schools with language reclamation, curriculum development, and language teaching. Please feel free to contact me if you would like to get references from individual communities I am working with, or for language website and database development for your community.
From 2019-2021, I worked for First Nations Education Steering Committee (FNESC) as a language coach, supporting First Nations Language teachers in their classrooms. Support ranged from increasing the teachers’ own oral proficiency to helping them increase their students’ language use in the classroom, to lesson and language planning. If your Indigenous language program at school would like support, please get in touch.
Data Visualization
I have been an affiliated member of the iLab team at the University of Calgary, working on a data visualization project for Canadian Open Energy Data. For this work, I have used my linguistics expertise to advise on textual data. I have also been involved in an interview project that aimed to get an understanding of the public’s information needs with respect to Open Energy Data.
Dyslexia
Living with three dyslexics (two of my three children and their dad) piqued my interest about dyslexia research. I completed the intensive coursework for Orton-Gillingham tutors (via the Dyslexia Training Institute- DTI) while looking at dyslexia through a linguist’s lens. I have been invited by DTI to present webinars at their yearly online conference in 2019 and 2022, introducing basic linguistics terminology and principles to teachers. I also took an intensive seminar with Pete Bowers at Wordworks Kingston, to gain a deeper understanding of Structured Word Inquiry, a methodology that teaches spelling based on linguistics principles.