The education process at Eliza Archie Memorial School (EAMS) is more than reading, writing, and arithmetic.
It also involves language studies, especially Shuswap, and if you want to learn Shuswap, you cannot get better teachers than Antoinette and Elsie Archie.
They have been teaching EAMS students how to read, write and speak their native language, known as Secwe-pemctsin, for more years than they care to remember.
It started many years ago when the Canim Lake Band girls, Toni and Elsie, began their studies in language.
It wasn't simply a matter of going to school every morning. They went to residential schools in William's Lake and Kamloops.
They were taken to a residence at the school and there they would stay until a break like Christmas or summer. They didn't see parents or other family for several months at a time.
Their passion for learning spilled over into an interest in teaching, and from a small start, things developed into a career that has lasted well past a time when most people would have contemplated retirement.
When teaching moved to a steady activity, they pursued a teaching degree involving a seven-year program, and they have never looked back.
For Elsie, it started with 15- to 20-minute language sessions. It was more like helping children learn than being a regular teacher, she says.
Elsie taught kindergarten to Grade 3
at Canoe Creek, William's Lake, and EAMS; Grades 8-9 in 100 Mile, and Grades 10-12 in Peter Skene Ogden Secondary School (PSO).
Now, Elsie teaches full time at PSO from September to January.
"Each year when another school year starts in September, I ask myself what I am doing here. I should be retiring instead of beginning another session."
The next thing she knows it's January and her session is complete. So from February through June, she devotes her time as a substitute teacher at EAMS.
Elsie says she used to do both art and language, but now she concentrates on just language.
Elsie says she loves her work and will do whatever it takes to help children learn.
"Language is for everyone — native or white."
For Antoinette, or Toni as she's known at EAMS, the path is similar but not the same.
Before the current EAMS building was erected, she taught Canim Lake Band children in an alternate building and she was the community health representative. There, and in the new EAMS building, she had no kindergarten classes, only Grades 1-12.
It was only in the recent years that the lineup has changed; now, the enrolment spans kindergarten to Grade 7 only.
With the reduced enrolment, there is a reduction in the hours needed to help the young children learn their language. Currently, Toni teaches Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday afternoons.
Toni says she is quite pleased with her work schedule. She can provide the tutoring the children need in that time frame and she is very happy to have a little time for herself.
However, she and Elsie are currently spending a little of their spare time planning an upcoming Youth Camp Incentive. It's another project to help keep the students active and keep their creative juices flowing.
What lies ahead for these two pedagogical pioneers? If you ask them, they'll tell you that they simply don't know.
They are facing a conundrum. On one hand, they would really like to retire and enjoy their golden years, but on the other, there seems to be no one to step up to the plate to replace them.
Says Toni: "We have tried to retire before but we have to hang on until someone comes along to pass on the Shuswap language skills."