Donna May Roberts’ Tsimshian name is Shu Guyna, which means New Path and is Gganhaada of the Gilu’tsaaw Tribe, House of Niskimas. She was raised by her grandmother, Martha Fawcett Sumner, who was one of the original Tsimshian Pioneers that moved from Old Metlakatla, British Columbia, to New Metlakatla, Alaska, in 1887. Mrs. Sumner was 6 years old at the time and retained her original language for her entire life. Teaching was introduced to Donna May at the age of 13, when an Elder told her she should teach the piano. That became her fall-back occupation throughout her life and fit well with teaching the Shm’algyack language since 1992. She developed a teaching philosophy which recognized that stress could play a major factor in learning and sought to find a method that would cut down the amount of anxiety that naturally occurs in a learning situation, not only for Shm’algyack (the language of the Tsimshian), but for music as well. To that end she has tried many techniques and settled on a method called Total Physical Response (TPR). It uses an approach that mirrors the way children learn their first language. That simple philosophy made sense because all learners acquire their original language the same way. As a supplemental teaching method, she also uses the Acquired Second Language Acquisition (ASLA) method which primarily uses pictures. Currently she is involved with developing curriculum with the Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling (TPRS) method.