ABSTRACT
This article describes a place-based language-learning outdoor course aimed to return a critically endangered Indigenous language to the land of its origin in partnership with extended family and Hooksum Outdoor School. In order to reconnect younger Indigenous learners to Hesquiaht land, to language, stories, kinship and to the responsibilities that come with being a Hesquiaht person, this project combined place-based education approaches with research-supported language immersion techniques. I conclude that programs developed and delivered around place-based Indigenous knowledge and spirituality can contribute to re-strengthening principles of ancestral continuity and renewal. The study expanded my ability to create and deliver Hesquiaht-centered language immersion lessons that align with Indigenous ancestral ways in various environments.
