The Plan

I don't want to begin my vow without putting some preparation into the way the hours will be spent. I want to go ahead and complete my vow with the least that I could do, that's not a vow that's community service.

First step, who is in my Language Circle. The speakers I know, starting with family and then friends and associates. Fortunately, with Cree as my mother tongue, it one of a handful of languages where there are still many speakers. Although like all Indigenous languages it remains under continuous and relentless attack.

Starting with my Mother and spreading out from her, I have a very good Language Circle of aunts, uncles, cousins and then friends and associates. It would be excellent if I lived up north amongst that circle of speakers, but I am in the South where the language is Ojibway and the dialect is Pottawottami.
I also have a textbook but the dialect is the James Bay Cree and our dialect is Swampy. I want to utilize as many options as possible, but am careful to stay within the lines.

Digital resources both online and broadcast are also present. I am aware of two radio stations that broadcast in Cree and there are programs, I assume in Cree on APTN. There are CBC and National Film Board archives.

I don't want to get too hung up on the dialect during these upcoming 30 days. I am going to focus on vocabulary. My measuring stick is going to be the same one I use with my grand kids; how big and complex is their vocabulary. When the 5 year old came up to me the other day and used "incidently" in conversation. That's a high bar to set. Come to think of it.