Teacher and song writer Stephen Frampton is set to release an album on Nov. 29 filled with songs about learning Inuktitut. (Photo courtesy of Stephen Frampton)
Inuktitut teacher blends music, language learning on 1st album
Aakuluk Music to release Stephen Frampton’s ‘Qanuq?’ on Nov. 29
Updated Nov. 29 at 2:45 p.m. ET
An Igloolik teacher is mixing music with language learning on a new album that asks, “What?”
Qanuq? is inspired by seven years of learning Inuktitut while living in the community of 2,000 people, says its creator Stephen Frampton.
“The album is called Qanuq? because it’s what you say when you don’t understand and you need someone to repeat something for you, which has been part of my whole process of learning Inuktitut,” he said.
“Writing songs in Inuktitut was a way of learning and keeping myself motivated and enjoying the process.”
The album features seven songs.
While playful and satirical, the tracks were recorded with the intention of introducing Inuktitut to a wide audience, said Frampton.
“I tried to make the songs accessible and enjoyable to as many people as possible by including different dialects of Inuktitut,” he said.
His song Niuvviuriaq is a compilation of Inuktitut phrases sung in different dialects, such as “Suvit,” which is used commonly in Iqaluit to mean “How’re you doing?” or “What’s going on?”
“Whereas in Igloolik, we might say ‘Qanuippit,’ which means the same thing. In other parts of Nunavut, you might say ‘Hutu’ or ‘Qanurl,’” he said.
Frampton has taught English in Mexico, Myanmar and Morocco. Now he teaches free beginner’s Inuktitut classes in Igloolik for teachers, nurses and police officers in the community.
He is also a beginner’s Inuktitut tutor for Allurvik Inc., an Iqaluit-based online education consulting business founded by education consultant and fellow Inuktitut teacher Miali Coley-Sudlovenick.
Under the guidance of Louise Uyarak, who was a teacher in Igloolik, as well as numerous elders, Frampton said it took three years to become a proficient speaker and teacher of the language by studying for hours every day.
“I feel quite strongly that most people can learn the language, at least the basics,” Frampton said, admitting he is not a native speaker or expert.
“Inuktitut is not as difficult as it is different.”
In September, Frampton also published an interactive Inuktitut workbook with Arvaaq Press Inc.
Available to download for free on the Nunavut Bilingual Education Society website, the workbook, titled Inuktitut Alianaittuq! Inuktitut is Awesome!, includes a beginner’s cheat sheet, printable flash cards with English translations on the back, and two lists of common words, phrases, verbs and nouns.
While written mostly in Igloolik dialect, the foreword of the workbook says learners and teachers can adapt the text to match any dialect.
Qanuq? features instrumentals by Andrew Morrison, Jerry Cans frontman and co-founder of Aakuluk Music; and drummer Jaqqa Petersen.
Terry Uyarak, a self-taught singer and musician from Igloolik, was introduced to Frampton through his mother Louise and contributed vocals to the album.
It’s set to be released Nov. 29 by Nunavut record label Aakuluk Music and will available on most music streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music.
Note: This story was updated to correct the name of the firm that published Stephen Frampton’s workbook.
Congrats Teach, nice to see your picture.
‘Suvit’ is not commonly used in Iqaluit to ask ‘How are you doing?’. We use ‘qanuipii’ or ‘qanuitukuluvii’ just like all other south Baffin communities.
Other than that, good work on the album.
Congrats Stephen on your new album- a great teacher to many community members in Igloolik!
It’s great what this teacher is doing and I don’t want to take anything away from it but it’s a travesty that our government in today’s day and age does not still have a Inuktitut curriculum!
How can you seriously have a class to teach Inuktitut and not have a curriculum to use at the department of education and in our schools in Nunavut?
Imagine English or French being taught in your schools without a proper curriculum, how is this still possible today and why is it still happening that there is no Inuktitut curriculum today?
Our MLAs have been failing us for far too long with the lack of effort and for not making this happen.
Do we need NTI or someone, UN to get involved? Every school in Nunavut teaching Inuktitut does not have a curriculum today follow, very little resources and teaching materials to use for Inuktitut, it’s up to individual teachers to come up with something to use and teach, here it’s music, other communities it’s photo copied colouring books. It’s ridiculous.
Many Inuktitut instructors in Nunavut aren’t qualified teachers and probably wouldn’t fare any better with a curriculum they haven’t learned to use.
Curriculum is important, but focusing on that now is like buying tools before hiring the builders.
We’ve already hired the builders with no tools to use. Been that way a long time.
Its worse then that, we have hired the Builders, not given them any tools, but on top of that we also just got people off the street that the only training they have in building is that they live in a house.
Most of the Inuktitut teachers have left teaching over the years, they stay for a few years as teachers, they all get burnt out, the Inuktitut teachers work extra hours each day to prepare for the next day, as there is very little teaching resources/materials to use they have to build and make that while other classes enjoy having a curriculum to use and test books and so on.
Personally I know some family members and friends who did the teacher program at the college and became teachers, they all say the same thing, no support at all for Inuktitut teachers, no teaching materials to use, you decide on your own what to teach, how to teach it, building from scratch what you will use to teach with. Spend all day at the school teaching and most of the evenings preparing your teaching materials for the next day, get home around 8-9pm start again the next day, you can’t keep that up. You get burnt out and find a cushy GN office job that pays more with less hours to work, that’s how it’s been. Now very few want to do that job, can you blame them? The system needs fixing and Inuktitut needs to be on the same level as other subjects being taught, having the teaching resources/materials and most of a curriculum to use.
It’s no wonder NTI is suing the GN over the education act, enough is enough with our own government working against us.
Things really need to change with our GN, it does not represent Nunavut very well and our leadership keeps it status quo and talk like the GN is doing great when reality says the complete opposite.
No, it’s more like hiring the builders (who may or may not have their own tools) before you have a set of blueprints (the curriculum)
We were taught Inuktitut in grade school by locals who did not have any prior teacher training and who were the parents of some of our classmates. They did teach us to read and write syllabics and their teachings were sufficient enough that to today, we still can read and write syllabics if we want to. In high school we were also taught qaniujarpain and qaliujarpain, which were good too. Kudos to Stephen and all those before him, too many to name all those that taught us Inuktitut.
I dont think it is like it was before. There are currently students in Grade 6 that dont know syllabics, and cant read or write in Inuktitut. The teachers from past years that are still working are either old and tiered/sick all the time, or lost all motivation.
The system is Broken.
Can you explain what are qaniujarpain and qaliujarpain? I cannot find information on these words online. Thank you.
Qaniujaaqpait is the syllabic orthography and qaliujaaqpait is the roman orthography
good afternoon!
can you contacted me ASAP igloolik office?