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| Anishinaabe Phrases| Anishinaabe Sounds | Jokes | Stories | Just Because | Top |
For Those Who Take Life Too Seriously
Save the whales. Collect the whole set.
On the other hand, you have different fingers.
I wonder how much deeper the ocean would be without sponges.
Honk if you love peace and quiet.
Remember half the people you know are below average.
Despite the cost of living, have you noticed how popular it is?
Nothing is foolproof to a talented fool.
He who laughs last thinks slowest.
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.
Quantum mechanics: The dreams stuff is made of.
If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.
The sooner you fall behind the more time you'll have to catch up.
Get a new car for your spouse - it'll be a great trade!
How many of you believe in telekinesis? Raise my hand...
If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving isn't for you.
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General Arts and Science (GAS) comes to SGEI
Over the past decade, we have delivered programs which build specific skill sets and knowledge for predetermined Aboriginal groups. For example, Teacher Assistants enter the Aboriginal Teacher Education Program and become teachers; community people dealing with social issues can study and earn certificates, diplomas and degrees in social work and homemakers can train and become certified as Personal Support Workers.
We recognize there are many other Aboriginal people who do not have their high school diploma, don’t know what they want to become when “they grow up” and are seeking a place to work through their academic and personal issues. Our partner, Canadore College, has also recognized this need. Together, we are enhancing the General Arts and Science certificate. It is designed to help students explore career options, strengthen academic, interpersonal and learning skills and transition to a diploma program of the student’s choice. SGEI has recognized the need for our students to build their own cultural awareness based in Anishinaabe teachings and this has made a difference.
Watch for the new GAS program coming to SGEI. It will be based on Anishinaabe Mino Bimaadiziwin teachings so that the academic work can grow with purpose. Canadore and SGEI are working on this exciting certificate program. If you want to get back to school, and don’t really know what you want to focus on, this may be it. We will help you identify your strengths and weaknesses, use your strengths to overcome, compensate or fill your gaps, and use Anishinaabe teachings to help build your foundation.
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Master of Social Work
BSW and HBSW holders, Are You Ready for MORE? Master of Social Work comes to SGEI 2010!
If you have a Honours/Bachelor of Social Work, read this. We are in negotiations with Wilfred Laurier University to deliver their Master of Social Work: Aboriginal Field of Study in Fort Frances, late summer of 2010. Applicants must have at least a B average, have experience in human services and complete a personal statement indicating why this program is a personal match. The cultural component is strong, including fasts, sweats and spiritual development. This program is unique in Canada and we are fortunate to be able to bring it to the area. It is rooted within the Aboriginal worldview and is designed to develop practitioner skill sets so they may empower the Aboriginal populations they work with. It is also accredited by the Canadian School of Social work.
Delivery depends on a strong cohort of students ready to study this summer. We need a minimum of 15 approved students to deliver the program. Call us for a SGEI application form so you can begin the process to apply to this exciting program. The program will begin with Culture Camp during the summer. Remaining courses will be offered in one week blocks of time. Each semester will include 2 blocks. There are 4 semesters in total. Students will complete research and a thesis for their Master of Social Work. This program also has a practicum which may be your current place of work with adaptations. If you are interested, complete and submit an SGEI application form. Let’s keep moving!
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New Program offered:
Police Foundations
At Seven Generations Education Institute, you will have the opportunity to explore an exciting profession in the law enforcement field from both inside and outside the classroom. In the Police Foundations program you will routinely be involved in extracurricular projects with local and regional police agencies, giving you the opportunity to develop your experience in community volunteerism. Canadore College and Seven Generations Education Institute will work in partnership with municipal, regional, provincial and treaty 3 police services.
A combination of academic and skills training courses provide a solid basis of knowledge in most areas of human services and, particularly, in the working environment of law enforcement.
Program faculty have ample experience in the criminal justice field, primarily in policing, and are committed to the success of Police Foundation students. The limited classroom size allows for faculty to get to know you and ensure that you achieve your academic goals. Police Foundations
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PLATO Returns
This is an exciting time for Seven Generations because of the acquisition of ESPORT and PLATO web learning networks. PLATO Essential Skills Online is an e-learning program designed to help learners develop the Essential Skills they require for the jobs they are seeking.
ESO acknowledges prior learning and skills and offers instruction and practice focussed on new skill development. Perspective students wanting to enroll in one of our programs, and who may lack some of the skills for admittance, will now have the opportunity to upgrade in a timely manner to qualify for acceptance in our courses. That’s amazing!
There is no longer the wait and delay, so if you do not have a GED or High School Diploma and if one of our courses seems appealing, come in and see us for an interview. We have staff willing to help you identify a career path and provide you with an essential skills inventory and a means of helping in your pursuit of further education.
For those who are enrolled in our programs, PLATO will assist in helping reinforce and improve skills as needed. PLATO assessments include the following: Math, Reading, Writing, Language, Science and Employability Skills.
We at Seven Generations continue to make every effort at improving the delivery of our programs.
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The Committee of
Moccasin Game Workshop
Ojibways of Onegaming First Nation, in Partnership with Seven Generations Education Institute
"Giga Makizinidaadimin" Moccasin Game Workshop
March 13 & 14, 2010
Time: 12:01 p.m.
Location: Onegaming Gymnasium
Everyone Welcome
Not a shred of evidence exists in favor of the idea that life is serious. -Brendan Gill-
| Anishinaabe Phrases| Anishinaabe Sounds | Jokes | Stories | Just Because | Top |
Students Find 7 Generations Secondary School
Convenient and Rewarding
Isn’t it nice to know that someone appreciates you? Recently I interviewed Dakota and Michael, two of this year’s most productive students at the Migisi Sahgaigan Site (Secondary). Both agreed that they are thankful for the convenience of having a “high school” in their back yard.
Michael is a 21 year old student from Migisi Sahgaigan. He is a talented (and prolific) writer and artist. So far, in his two years with us Michael has earned six of the 11 credits he needs to graduate with his OSSD. During his interview he stressed the fact that he enjoys the independence and freedom offered by Seven Generations. (He also made a comment about how great the teachers are, but we don’t want to brag TOO much!) Michael admits that the most challenging aspect of his academic career with Seven Generations is working up the motivation to get here every day. The gift card he won for handing in the most lessons in October, he said, was good motivation! Mike isn’t sure what he wants to be or do in the future, but he’s exploring his options while completing the newly re-vamped Designing Your Future course (GWL30). When asked what his post-graduation goals were, Mike hemmed and hawed, then jokingly said “I don’t know…become Prime Minister?” Wouldn’t that be AWSOME?
Dakota is a shining star this year. He has already completed Grade 11 mathematics (MEL 3E) and Aboriginal Beliefs, Values and Aspirations (NBV3E), and is halfway through the Ontario Literacy Course (OLC30). He needs seven more credits to graduate with his OSSD. He echoed Mike’s comments when it came to explaining the most challenging aspect of graduating from Seven Generations Education Institute, namely that motivation was difficult to maintain. However, he enjoys the fact that he can work at his own pace. Dakota has an amazing career ahead of him: he entered and won first place in a talent contest for Aboriginal youth in the district. Dakota’s talent in the rap genre has earned him acclaim and respect from his peers as well as from the Arts Community in Northwestern Ontario. By graduating with his OSSD from Seven Generations, he hopes to become a role model and inspiration for youth in his community.
Interviewing these students has reminded me that the regular duties of a teacher (instructing, evaluating and reporting) are NOT all that teaching is about. Our job, as teachers, is to help our students reach a point where they are intrinsically motivated to do well. It seems that this is more of a challenge today than it ever was, and the teachers of Seven Generations Education Institute Secondary Schools are rising to that challenge daily. Dakota and Michael are well on their way to success as students, and they are showing me the path to success as a teacher. A perfect circle with four equally important sections: learning, teaching, co-operating and motivating. How fitting…
Julija Graham, Secondary Teacher, Migisi Sahgaigan Site
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Saving Our Planet, One Step at a Time
A new tip appeared daily on our Earth Hour page during the lead up to Earth Hour we've archived them below.
Note: Electricity cost figures are based on a cost of 10 cents per kilowatt hour. That includes the distribution, debt and other charges and averages out the approved electricity charges of 5 cents (below the monthly consumption threshold) and 5.9 cents (above threshold) per kilowatt hour charged by Toronto Hydro.
1. Boiling water for tea in a pot on your gas stove uses one-third the energy of a plug-in kettle, according to Godo Stoyke's The Carbon Buster’s Home Energy Handbook.
2. Buying a new computer? Choose a laptop - it uses about six times less electricity than a desktop, according to The Carbon Buster’s Home Energy Handbook.
3. Screen savers don’t save electricity. Instead, set your computer to go into sleep mode when you aren’t actively using it. That can cut your power consumption by five times, cutting your electricity bills by more than 500 kilowatt hours per year, according to The Carbon Buster’s Home Energy Handbook.
4. Two large power plants have to run constantly to supply enough electricity to run North American television sets WHILE THEY ARE TURNED OFF. They’’re called power vampires, as they suck energy to stay in a constant state of standby. Plug your television into a power bar and turn that off when you aren’t watching. That will save about 40 kilowatt hours over a year.
5. Wash your clothes in cold water. Since 80 per cent of the electricity in washing your clothes comes from heating the water, using cold rather than hot water will save you as much as 2,500 kilowatt-hours of power a year - more than twice the average household’s monthly energy bill. (Source: The Canadian Energy Efficiency Centre)
6. Think of a bath as a luxury. Instead, take a five-minute shower. If you have a low-flow showerhead, that will use less than half the water, saving around 40 litres each time.
7. Install a low-flow aerator on your showerhead. If you have an old shower, it could cut your water use for that five-minute morning shower down by two-thirds - from 150 litres to 50. The city of Toronto sells them as part of their $13 indoor water efficiency retrofit kits.
8. Set the photocopier to print double-sided only. It takes ten times as much energy to make a piece of paper than it takes to copy onto it, according to Godo Stoyke's The Carbon Buster’s Home Energy Handbook.
9. Get rid of that old fridge in your basement that chills a few lonely bottles of beer. A 1975 fridge sucks up four times as much electricity as new Energy Star model, according to the Ontario Power Authority. It will even pick up your old fridge for you.
10. If you drive to work, commit to car-pooling or taking public transit one day a week. Each time you carpool, you’ll keep 2.5 kg of greenhouse gases from billowing into the atmosphere (assuming an average 16 kilometre round-trip commute). Every time you jump on a bus, you’ll avoid 4.5 kg, according to World Wildlife Fund Canada. That, over a year, will add up to 216 kilograms of emissions - the equivalent of driving from Toronto to Sault Ste. Marie in a midsized car.
11. Clean - or replace - your furnace filter. A dirty filter forces your furnace to work harder to heat your home. According to the Ontario Conservation Bureau, a clean filter can cut your energy use by five per cent.
12. Turn your thermostat down at night, when you are tucked warmly into bed. A 4-degree Celsius difference at night will cut your gas bill by 10 per cent, according to Kingston's Energy Advisory Forum
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Why, Why, Why
Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are getting weak?
Why do banks charge a fee on "insufficient funds" when they know there is not enough?
Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?
Why doesn't glue stick to the bottle?
Why do they use sterilized needles for death by lethal injection?
Why doesn't Tarzan have a beard?
Why do Kamikaze pilots wear helmets?
Whose idea was it to put an "S" in the word "lisp"?
If people evolved from apes, why are there still apes?
Why is it that no matter what color bubble bath you use the bubbles are always white?
Is there ever a day that mattresses are not on sale?
Why do people constantly return to the refrigerator with hopes that something new to eat will have materialized?
Why do people keep running over a string a dozen times with their vacuum cleaner, then reach down, pick it up, examine it, then put it down to give the vacuum one more chance?
Why is it that no plastic bag will open from the end on your first try?
How do those dead bugs get into those enclosed light fixtures?
When we are in the supermarket and someone rams our ankle with a shopping cart then apologizes for doing so, why do we say, "It's all right?" Well, it isn't all right, so why don't we say, "That hurt, you stupid idiot?"
Why is it that whenever you attempt to catch something that's falling off the table you always manage to knock something else over?
In winter why do we try to keep the house as warm as it was in summer when we complained about the heat?
How come you never hear father-in-law jokes?
The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four persons is suffering from some sort of mental illness. Think of your three best friends - if they're okay, then it's you.
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Stuff Just Because...
LIFE IN THE 1500'S
The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts about the 1500s:
Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odour. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.
Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the Bath water".
Houses had thatched roofs -- thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats, small dogs and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying. It's raining cats and dogs.
There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice 'clean' bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.
The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying, Dirt Poor. The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on the floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway. Hence the saying a thresh hold.
In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme, "Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old".
Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, bring home the bacon. They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and chew the fat.
Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.
Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the upper crust.
Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a wake.
England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be saved by the bell or was considered a dead ringer.
A man is judged not by his education, but what he does with it.
"If you think education is expensive, try ignorance" Derek Bok
What a ride "
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and proclaiming loudly,
"WOW -- What a ride!!! "
James Fineous McBride
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