Inuit students parody pop song to expand their language
Inuktitut teacher says making videos pushes students to speak language
The song and dance craze that exploded in 2012 now has a version unique to the North.
The latest parody of the hit Korean pop song Gangnam Style is by a group of students singing in Inuktitut.
Students at Nunavut Sivuniksavut, an Ottawa college program for Inuit youth, wrote the lyrics and posted their video, Uvva NS Style, to YouTube.
Advanced Inuktitut teacher Martha Kyak came up with the idea to parody the popular song.
Kyak regularly uses videos and music in her classes but she says this one has been the biggest hit.
"I use videos because it forces them to speak Inuktitut, and they can also see themselves speaking Inuktitut and hear themselves speaking the language," Kyak said.
After the class brainstormed ideas and lyrics, Kyak handed the script off to second year student Kelly Fraser.
Fraser sang the song about life at Nunavut Sivuniksavut school.
"I always tell my friends, I always tell everyone, ‘you should go to this school I go to. It's amazing. I learn so many things there, I feel more Inuk when I went there.’"
Fraser thinks more of her friends will register for the program after seeing the video.
The original Gangnam Style video by Psy has more than one billion hits on YouTube.
The students’ parody has nearly 3,000 hits in just 10 days.