Technology, Culture and the Oral Tradition

In the words of Ruth Holmes Whitehead, "Long before their world began to be described in writing, and their history set down in books, the People described it, remembered it, and by word of mouth passed it on to the generations which were to come after them". The oral tradition is an important part of our culture. This is something that I hold dear to my heart; my grandmother among other elders, who have since passed on, were amazing storytellers. I have endeavored to carry on this tradition as best as I can. If asked, I will and I have gone into a class of native and non-native children. This is important to me because it raises cultural awareness by educating others about aspects of my own culture so that I can bridge the gap, and the children can come to understand each other's uniqueness and also commonalities in the way they view the world.
In the Mi'kmaq belief, children were told a story as an example of moral behaviour, they were left to figure it out for themselves; this forced them to think, and make a decision on their own, this would expand their minds without formal education. Exploring each others cultures through the use of legends also enabled non-native children to share aspects of their own culture and to share their own stories.
I have actually been thinking about a way to bring these beautiful stories into the classroom setting through the use of technology. I have some legends in mind that I would love to introduce, if only I had a Macintosh computer to work with; these computers are equipped with some great features that would be awesome for a project like this.Take a moment and check out www.firstnationshelpdesk.com and check out the website for Eel Ground. They have animated legends using various mediums and they have done a play that has recieved national recognition. The play is about fetal alcohol syndrome and the name of the play is "The People vs Mary Moses". Technology would be a very powerful and positive tool.