Rosalia Nikolaevna's experience and passion for her vocation earned her the name of an honored teacher and respected mentor. The Republic awarded her the title of "Honored Worker of Education of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)" and her native Ust-Yansky district with the badge "Teacher-mentor".

She honors her roots and is now passionate about fostering Yukaghir self-awareness among children through teaching their native language. Rosalia Gorokhova's initiative is reflected in the projects and courses she has implemented and participated in: the training courses "School of northern indigenous people's life", "The philosophy of Olonkho – the philosophy of life", "In the world of Olonkho", the parent academy "In the footsteps of folk Pedagogy", the author of a methodological guide on teaching native language to school students, publications on the topic of the activity.

In an interview, Rosalia Nikolaevna shared with us her vision of how to develop cultural self-awareness in children, her experience of teaching her native language, her personal story of how she came to study her Yukaghir roots, traditional clothes on her, the importance of having an inner core based on human ancestors, belonging to her people and current projects.

Some excerpts from the interview:

"I was looking for my way and found what I want to dedicate myself to – the Yukaghir people. The Yukaghir language is closer to me, I want to speak this language and sing. There is a desire to instill the same feeling in children."

"I remember my grandmother asking for fire in her native Yukaghir before regale it. She also blessed me in her native language, even when she was treating me, she spoke the right words. So when I sing in Yukaghir, I feel at home."

"Working on these projects is so inspiring that I worked on them even at night. And for tomorrow, I'm cheerful and I don't feel tired at all."

"The social educator understands well which nation the child represents."

"Now I'm more focused on studying the tundra Yukaghir language. And I'm still teaching my students tundra Yukaghir, both languages (tundra and forest Yukaghir languages) are noticeably different. Therefore, we have collected proverbs in tundra Yukaghir and soon the result of our work will be published as a book."

"As a teacher, I consider it my great achievement when children greet me or speak to me in Yukaghir."

"It doesn't matter that you are from a small nation or a large one, everyone should know their origin and ancestors. Only then will he be a full-fledged person, strong in spirit, resistant to external changes, because he knows who he is."

"I would also like to point out how amazing and wise Yukaghir proverbs and sayings are. In my opinion, Nikolai Kurilov's book "They used to say that: proverbs, riddles, figurative expressions, comparisons" should become a textbook for all residents of Yakutia."

"The connection with the mother should never be severed. Mother, language, Homeland — they all have the same basis, these ideas should not be lost."

"Man is a reflection of nature. Many Yukaghir proverbs are closely related to nature and its phenomena."

"I would like to see many courses, projects and initiatives for the development of the languages and culture of the indigenous peoples of the North, designed for parents, in general, for adults, society. It would be great to see the implementation of various projects on this topic."

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