Host OtsistohkwÍ:yo or Melissa Elliott is Kanyen’kehá:ka (Mohawk) from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. She is a mother, auntie, teacher and second language Kanyen’keha/mohawk speaker, storyteller and artist. She is currently working in efforts to decolonize education and language revitalization - working in her 7th year as the Ken Nikanenhá:sas (Little Seeds) Kindergarten Teacher and Kanen’shón:’a (Many types of seeds) Early Years Faculty Co-Chair at Skaronhyase’kó:wa Everlasting Tree School. Otsistohkwiyo is a trained Waldorf Early years teacher and New Adult Educator (NAE) with over 8 years of experience teaching young children and families through traditional Haudenosaunee and Waldorf pedagogical approaches. In her spare time, Otsisohkwi:yo offers training and mentoring on storytelling and utilizing the Waldorf pedagogy to create new forms of holistic, earth based, traditional Onkwehonwe (Indigenous) education. She sits on the Onkwawenna Kentyohkwa Board of Directors and on the Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America (WECAN) Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access (IDEA) Committee. She is passionate about Kanyen’kéha (Mohawk language), grassroots community building, traditional storytelling, puppetry, parenting, holistic healing, and land-based practices. For more information you can contact Otsistohkwí:yo at otsistohkwiyo@gmail.com

Tehota'kerá:ton, Dr. Jeremy D. Green, is Kanien'kehá:ka (Mohawk), wolf clan and from the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory. As both a scholar and Ontario Certified Teacher (OCT) of Indigenous language learning and acquisition in adult and youth learners over the past 25 years, Dr. Green’s transformative research and teaching is at the forefront of efforts to ensure that Canadian Indigenous languages and traditional cultures not only survive but thrive.

Tehota'kerá:tons completed research to date has focused on diverse localized language acquisition and status planning for indigenous language proficiency development for Rotinonhsión:ni (Six Nations) and other indigenous nations and communities. Tehota'kerá:ton also provides training and information to support these localized indigenous language acquisition planning efforts to create new speakers of indigenous languages focusing primarily on strategic planning for teaching, learning, assessment, evaluation, language use and conversational and ceremonial language and dynamic cultural practices.