According to the UNESCO’s website pedagogy refers to the “interactions between teachers, students, and the learning environment and the learning tasks.”(6, p. 35) This broad term includes how teachers and students relate together as well as the instructional approaches implemented in the classroom.
Although pedagogy is a term drawn from Western ways of teaching and learning, it has useful application where Indigenous languages are taught as second languages in school settings. It provides for Indigenous language teachers the understanding that teaching an Indigenous language in schools, as a second language requires new ways of thinking about language use in communities and engaging with the tools for teaching.
Therefore, pedagogical decisions require more than just selecting a method. Teaching an Indigenous language as a second language must be considered holistically. This means taking into consideration the unique needs of the students, the aspirations and history of the community with respect to Indigenous language learning, the availability of resources, and the teacher’s repertoire of instructional approaches.
