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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Fyi.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Thanks<br>
Carolyn <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 color="#121212" face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:#121212;font-weight:bold'>Association
stresses importance of languages</span></font></b><o:p></o:p></p>
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<td style='padding:2.25pt 2.25pt 2.25pt 2.25pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal align=right style='text-align:right'><font size=1
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 color=black face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:7.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:black'>August 02, 2006</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 color=black face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:7.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:black'>by: <a
href="http://www.indiancountry.com/author.cfm?id=331"><font color=black><span
style='color:black'>Jerry Reynolds</span></font></a> / Indian Country Today</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:
9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on"><font size=1
color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;
color:black'>WASHINGTON</span></font></st1:State></st1:place><font size=1
color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;
color:black'> - The Native code talkers of wartime and national lore took
another tour of duty July 12, serving as the centerpiece of the National Indian
Education Association's effort to win congressional backing for Native language
immersion school funding. <br>
<br>
The Navajo and Lakota veterans, all in or near their 80s, needed all the
military bearing they could muster for a day that began in the mid-morning on
Capitol Hill and ended that night with a celebratory reception at the <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">National</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Museum</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> of the American Indian. They were
still standing when NIEA President Ryan Wilson urged them to take a seat; and
still a turnout in the hundreds couldn't get enough, snapping picture after
picture as the crowd thinned. In the meantime, former Sen. Ben Nighthorse
Campbell and Three Affiliated Tribes Chairman Tex Hall hailed their
accomplishments and the long track record of volunteer military service among
Natives. <br>
<br>
Their presence pointed up the practical value of Native languages in an
English-only political climate. In World War II and conflicts since, young
soldiers from Navajo, Lakota, Comanche, Choctaw, Sac and Fox, and 13 other
tribes helped to develop and deploy American Indian language-based
communications codes for the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
military. <br>
<br>
Famously, the World War II code was never broken. Code-breakers could never
decipher its patterns because its ancestral source languages were unfamiliar
outside Native communities. One of the Navajo code talkers, Peter MacDonald,
said to general concurrence that young men today might not be able to do it
because those source languages are becoming unfamiliar inside Native
communities. <br>
<br>
On Capitol Hill, <st1:City w:st="on">Wilson</st1:City> delivered the take-home
message for congressional members: ''Not only do we cherish these languages,
but we're asking <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region>
to cherish them as well.'' <br>
<br>
He said that tribes are in the last minute of the last hour in which their
languages can be preserved. ''This is the best species you could save, these
languages - it really isn't something that we can go on anymore without
advancing. We are the ones who have not been advancing this.'' <br>
<br>
Lionel Bordeaux, longtime president of Sinte Gleska University at Rosebud in
South Dakota, could not be in Washington July 12 but sent a similar message
that NIEA included among its advocacy materials: ''Our young people want to
learn the language. Without the support of Congress, retaining our tribal
language will be next to impossible.'' <br>
<br>
NIEA is citing national studies on language learning and data from language
immersion schooling as evidence that increased language learning increases
academic achievement in students. In addition, NIEA maintains that for many
Native students, learning their Native language through culturally guided
pedagogy is the point of interest that makes other studies relevant and so
moves them along toward higher overall academic achievement. <br>
<br>
A cluster of bills that had come before Congress sought to recognize Native
code talkers, create American Indian language grant programs within the
Department of Education, establish American Indian language demonstration
programs within the early school grades, and set forth alternative standards of
teacher qualification and student assessment to those found in the No Child
Left Behind Act that dominates the national educational landscape. <br>
<br>
But the week of July 17, the leading bill in the Senate, S. 2674, was withheld
from a markup hearing by its lead sponsor, Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii. <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Wilson</st1:place></st1:City> said that if it
had gone to the full Senate, the bill would have been subjected to a hold by
Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., objecting to its Native Hawaiian provisions. Kyl was a
leading opponent of Akaka's bill to authorize a process for the appointment of
a Native Hawaiian governing entity that would have been eligible for federal
recognition. <br>
<br>
With no bill active in the Senate, a reform law along the lines laid out by
NIEA will have to wait until the 110th Congress. <st1:City w:st="on">Wilson</st1:City>
said that on Aug. 31 in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Albuquerque</st1:City>,
<st1:State w:st="on">N.M.</st1:State></st1:place>, the Education and Workforce
Committee in the House of Representatives will hold a field hearing on a Native
languages bill introduced in the House by Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., and
co-sponsored by Rep. Rick Renzi, R-Ariz. The hearing will demonstrate
Republican support for the issue and help build its prospects for the next
Congress, <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Wilson</st1:place></st1:City>
said.</span></font><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:PersonName w:st="on"><strong><b><font size=3
color=maroon face="Arial Narrow"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:
"Arial Narrow";color:maroon'>Carolyn Hepburn</span></font></b></strong></st1:PersonName><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Director, Native Education and Training</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on"><font size=2
face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Sault</span></font></st1:PlaceName><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">College</st1:PlaceType></span></font></st1:place><font size=2
face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'> of Applied
Arts and Technology</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>443 Northern Avenue</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Sault Ste. <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Marie</st1:City>,
<st1:State w:st="on">ON</st1:State> <st1:PostalCode w:st="on">P6A 5L3</st1:PostalCode></st1:place></span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Phone: (705) 759-2554 ext. 2499</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Fax: (705) 759-0175</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Web: </span></font><a
href="http://www.saultcollege.ca/NativeEducation"><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>www.saultcollege.ca/NativeEducation</span></font></a><font
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