From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Thu Jun 1 04:10:39 2006 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Wed, 31 May 2006 21:10:39 -0700 Subject: Language Bill Message-ID: Drop language bill http://www.muskogeephoenix.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060531/ OPINION/60530004/1014 We should have pride in our country and in the things that make us Americans, including our common language. But America has never been a country in which only English has been spoken, so it’s with regret that the Senate passed a bill earlier this month proclaiming English the national language. The Senate measure, which was approved 63 to 34, wants to “preserve and enhance” the role of English by restricting federal communications or services to English without altering current laws that require some documents and services in other languages. We don’t need a language law, though, for a few good reasons. For one, English is the predominant language in the United States, and nothing in more than 200 years of nationhood has threatened its unofficial status. Up until the 1980s, few even thought about the need for a national language declaration. The proposal, if it becomes law, also is an affront to this country’s diversity. Many Native Americans still speak their native languages. They are proud of their languages, as they should be, and it doesn’t make someone less of an American if they do not speak English. But the simple fact of the matter is that most people naturally will assimilate and lose their native language, and if not them, their children. Again, that’s something that has been happening throughout our history and is happening right now at a rate greater than ever. But English-only supporters raise unfounded fears that somehow things are different today and English will be squeezed out of existence. It won’t, even given the diverse world we live in. Just because the merchandise signs at Lowe’s are in English and Spanish and product assembly instructions are printed in four or five languages, it does not mean suddenly the Senate will become bilingual. And lastly, opponents to the national language bill are correct — if made law, the Senate’s bill could eventually negate executive orders, regulations, civil service guidances and other multilingual ordinances not officially sanctioned by acts of Congress. We are and have been a big country, big enough to accommodate many people with many ideas and languages. Their presence doesn’t affect the status of English — it never has — but the Senate’s national language bill does make us look small-minded. Originally published May 31, 2006 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Thu Jun 1 16:46:10 2006 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2006 09:46:10 -0700 Subject: Preserving a language (fwd) Message-ID: 05/31/2006 Preserving a language Luke Brocki , Peak Reporter http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1998&dept_id=221583&newsid=16719164&PAG=461&rfi=9 [photo inset - TEACHING TRADITION: Betty Wilson, first nations coordinator for School District 47, has been instrumental in the continuing development of the Klah ah men Language Program. Working with elders, linguists, teachers and the Tla'Amin (Sliammon) cultural department, Wilson infuses lesson plans with traditional knowledge while translating the spoken tongue into written word.] Tla'Amin elders participate in teaching Klah ah men language to students in School District 47 Linguists describe the process of translation as decoding the meaning of a source text and recoding that meaning into the target language. The goal of translation is to ensure both the source and target texts communicate the same message. But what happens when there is no source text? Until recently, the Tla'Amin (Sliammon) language was a purely oral language, passed from generation to generation through stories and song. In recent years, local first nation educators developed a written form of the tongue, racing against time to record the language with the help of the only resource they can access: aging elders. "In Tla'Amin language you associate culture with the teachings," said Betty Wilson, first nations coordinator for School District 47. "Every time you lose a language, you lose a cultural being and it makes the whole world a little poorer. That's why we teach languages." When School District 47 approved implementation of the Tla'Amin language curriculum into the public school system 15 years ago, the notation involved English phonics, blending letters to make certain sounds, but being unable to represent others sounds not found in English pronunciation. Ten years ago, the Tla'Amin language program adopted the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), a system of phonetic notation created by British language teachers in the 1880s intended as a standard for representation of all spoken languages. "Linguists gave us a crash immersion course in language writing," said Wilson. In principle, IPA provides a separate symbol for each sound, avoiding letter combinations, or digraphs, such as sh and th in English orthography and ambiguity such as the different pronunciations of c in English. "We teach students the grammatical writing so that eventually, if they come across words they haven't been taught, they can start recording them themselves." Several years ago, Wilson started negotiating with BC's universities to get Klah ah men recognized in academia and offer courses at the post-secondary level. "But we needed to have a dictionary to get it university credited," said Gail Blaney, who teaches the language at Oceanview Secondary School. Numerous elders went into a recording studio to have their conversations recorded and made available for review and study. "The CDs are that dictionary," said Blaney. "It took quite a few years. Listening to them speak, writing it down and translating things. . . It's always going to be a learning process." Since then, the language has been accepted as a second language for university entry to Simon Fraser University and the University of Victoria. Negotiations with the University of BC are ongoing. The toils of recording the complete set of words and phrases that make up the language are far from over. "Right now we're trying to collate what we have and see what's missing," said Wilson. There are elders to interview, documents to collect and amalgamate, tapes and CDs to hear and transcribe. She's battling software problems--finding a universal IPA-compatible font has been a challenge--while creating an electronic dictionary from the language CDs. In the curriculum Wilson sets for the schools, lessons are illustrated through traditional cultural knowledge, but outside influence is pushing for a modernization. "Refrigerators are new, cars are new. Young people use slang just like everyone else. All language is transition. All language is change." Interest in the language programs has been high at the elementary and middle school level, with strategies in the works to bolster senior student participation. Wayne Pielle, a Tla'Amin language teacher at Brooks Secondary School, is excited about the program's success. "People are starting to realize who their neighbours are in the community," he said. The Klah ah men Language Program is offered from kindergarten to grade 12 at James Thomson Elementary School, Oceanview and Brooks, respectively. It is open to all interested students, regardless of ancestry. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Jun 2 14:49:31 2006 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 07:49:31 -0700 Subject: The Aboriginal Languages Initiative (ALI) 2006-2007 (fwd) Message-ID: The Aboriginal Languages Initiative (ALI) 2006-2007 http://www.fphlcc.com/Language.aspx A federal program funded by the Department of Canadian Heritage (DoCH). The ALI provides funding support for community and regionally-based projects directed at maintaining, revitalizing and promoting First Nations languages. ALI funds are distributed to provincial and territorial delivery organizations. FPHLCC is the regional delivery agent for the BC ALI’s program and allocates approximately $200,000 annually. The ALI program has been extended for another year. For assistance, please contact Deanna by email at deanna at fphlcc.ca. For 2006-2007 application forms, click here. Deadline: June 30, 2006 (4:30 pm). No faxes please. From Carolyn.Hepburn at SAULTCOLLEGE.CA Fri Jun 2 14:51:44 2006 From: Carolyn.Hepburn at SAULTCOLLEGE.CA (Carolyn Hepburn) Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 10:51:44 -0400 Subject: FW: NIEA IMPORTANT Broadcast #06-029 Message-ID: National Indian Education Association 110 Maryland Avenue, N.E. Suite 104 Washington, D.C. 20002 P: (202) 544-7290 / F: (202) 544-7293 June 2, 2006 Broadcast #06-029 National Indian Education Association Urges Congress to Pass Native American Language Immersion Legislation WASHINGTON - June 2, 2006 President Wilson Issues Unprecedented Call To Action For Indian Country To Defend Our Sacred Native Languages On the heels of his moving testimony to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs concerning the rapid decline of Native languages, President Wilson calls for all of Indian Country to rally around pending legislation that would support Federal funding for Native American Immersion Programs. Wilson stated that the pending bills represent our best and possibly our last hope in revitalizing our Native languages. He also added, "The fierce urgency of now cannot be overstated. We have denied and been denied, through apathy and indifference, the sacred birthright of generation after generation of Indian children. This must end. We owe our children an opportunity to express themselves in the languages used here since the beginning of time. A thousand generations have carried on these languages before us, and now it comes down to this defining place in history where we will decide if our languages and cultures are to be relegated to the cluttered dust bin of history; or if history will record that when Indian Country was faced with this decisive moment, it chose to act, it chose to stand up, it chose to carry on, and it chose to honor its sacred legacy that so many lived and died for. Our generation truly has a date with destiny and on July 12th we will take together, with one motion, a significant step toward destiny. We will speak together with one voice, saying that Native languages have a place in Indian Education and Indian Education is incomplete without inclusion of our languages." Under the leadership of Joe Garcia, President of the National Congress of American Indians, Native language revitalization has become NCAI'S number one education priority. Other national Tribal leaders have weighed in as well. Tex Hall, the co-chair of the NCAI and NIEA Tribal Leader's Education Task Force, added, "Here's a mission we actually can accomplish. It's time for Indian Country to show the rest of the Nation just how proud we are of our culture. We can do this by getting Congress to pass a Native American Language Protection Bill." Events surrounding the Summit include an opening assembly on Capitol Hill from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. The assembly will feature Congressional guests, a special presentation for the Code Talkers, and dissemination of advocacy materials on the pending Immersion Bills. Hill visits to key Congressional Offices will take place from 12:30 to 5:00 p.m., and a staff briefing will be held on the Senate side in the afternoon. The Summit will conclude with an evening reception at the Museum of The American Indian co-hosted by the National Indian Gaming Association honoring the Code Talkers, and the Native Language Revitalization movement. The Summit is free, but registration is required. This will help us secure appropriate Hill visits for our members. We urge our elders, educators, tribal leaders, cultural practitioners, youth, veterans, and all those concerned with the future of Native Languages to attend. Updated information will be made known as details are worked out such as hotel information, speakers in attendance, and exact locations. A flier, in text format, will follow this broadcast. A formatted flier will be posted on our website for downloading, printing and dissemination. For more information, please contact NIEA at 202-544-7290 or at niea at niea.org. --------------------------------------- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Sat Jun 3 03:44:05 2006 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 20:44:05 -0700 Subject: Language Legislative Summit Message-ID: The National Indian Education Association Presents NATIVE LANGUAGE LEGISLATIVE SUMMIT JULY 12, 2006 – Wednesday – Washington D.C. Locations: Capitol Hill – 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon Capitol Hill – Senate & House Visits/Advocacy – 12:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Reception – National Museum of The American Indian – “Honoring Our Code Talkers” 6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. Other Highlights:  Guest Congressional Representatives  Navajo Code Talkers  Special Message to Congress on Native Languages  Native Language Press Conference This “Call To Action” is held in support for the following bills:  S.2674 – The Native American Language Amendment Act of 2006  S.1035 – The Code Talkers Recognition Act  H.R.4766 – The Native American Language Preservation Act of 2006  H.R.5222 – The Native American Language Amendment Act of 2006 Host hotel: Residence Inn Marriott 333 E Street, S.W. – (202) 484-8280 Cut off date: 6/23/06 Reference the National Indian Education Association when making reservations Reservation forms for the Summit are available at www.niea.org National Indian Education Association 110 Maryland Avenue, N.E. Suite 104 Washington, DC 20002 (202) 544-7290 / (202) 544-7293 fax From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Sat Jun 3 03:45:49 2006 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 20:45:49 -0700 Subject: Sacred Native Languages Message-ID: National Indian Education Association 110 Maryland Avenue, N.E. Suite 104 Washington, D.C. 20002 P: (202) 544-7290 / F: (202) 544-7293 June 2, 2006 Broadcast #06-029 National Indian Education Association Urges Congress to Pass Native American Language Immersion Legislation WASHINGTON – June 2, 2006 President Wilson Issues Unprecedented Call To Action For Indian Country To Defend Our Sacred Native Languages On the heels of his moving testimony to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs concerning the rapid decline of Native languages, President Wilson calls for all of Indian Country to rally around pending legislation that would support Federal funding for Native American Immersion Programs. Wilson stated that the pending bills represent our best and possibly our last hope in revitalizing our Native languages. He also added, “The fierce urgency of now cannot be overstated. We have denied and been denied, through apathy and indifference, the sacred birthright of generation after generation of Indian children. This must end. We owe our children an opportunity to express themselves in the languages used here since the beginning of time. A thousand generations have carried on these languages before us, and now it comes down to this defining place in history where we will decide if our languages and cultures are to be relegated to the cluttered dust bin of history; or if history will record that when Indian Country was faced with this decisive moment, it chose to act, it chose to stand up, it chose to carry on, and it chose to honor its sacred legacy that so many lived and died for. Our generation truly has a date with destiny and on July 12th we will take together, with one motion, a significant step toward destiny. We will speak together with one voice, saying that Native languages have a place in Indian Education and Indian Education is incomplete without inclusion of our languages.” Under the leadership of Joe Garcia, President of the National Congress of American Indians, Native language revitalization has become NCAI’S number one education priority. Other national Tribal leaders have weighed in as well. Tex Hall, the co-chair of the NCAI and NIEA Tribal Leader’s Education Task Force, added, “Here’s a mission we actually can accomplish. It’s time for Indian Country to show the rest of the Nation just how proud we are of our culture. We can do this by getting Congress to pass a Native American Language Protection Bill.” Events surrounding the Summit include an opening assembly on Capitol Hill from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. The assembly will feature Congressional guests, a special presentation for the Code Talkers, and dissemination of advocacy materials on the pending Immersion Bills. Hill visits to key Congressional Offices will take place from 12:30 to 5:00 p.m., and a staff briefing will be held on the Senate side in the afternoon. The Summit will conclude with an evening reception at the Museum of The American Indian co-hosted by the National Indian Gaming Association honoring the Code Talkers, and the Native Language Revitalization movement. The Summit is free, but registration is required. This will help us secure appropriate Hill visits for our members. We urge our elders, educators, tribal leaders, cultural practitioners, youth, veterans, and all those concerned with the future of Native Languages to attend. Updated information will be made known as details are worked out such as hotel information, speakers in attendance, and exact locations. A flier, in text format, will follow this broadcast. A formatted flier will be posted on our website for downloading, printing and dissemination. For more information, please contact NIEA at 202-544-7290 or at niea at niea.org.I -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Sat Jun 3 08:01:18 2006 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Sat, 3 Jun 2006 01:01:18 -0700 Subject: Language Summit Message-ID: National Indian Education Association 110 Maryland Avenue, N.E. Suite 104 Washington, DC 20002 (202) 544-7290 / phone (202) 544-7293 / fax jsoto at niea.org  -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Press Release for Summit [1].doc Type: application/msword Size: 31744 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Language Summit Flier - 6-1-06[1].doc Type: application/msword Size: 60928 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: language summit registration form.doc Type: application/msword Size: 53248 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Jun 9 14:03:31 2006 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2006 07:03:31 -0700 Subject: Funds to help revive Biripai Indigenous language (fwd) Message-ID: Funds to help revive Biripai Indigenous language Friday, 9 June 2006. 08:23 (AEDT) http://www.abc.net.au/news/items/200606/1659015.htm?midnorthcoast The New South Wales Government is calling for funding submissions to revive the Biripai Aboriginal language on the New South Wales mid-north coast. The Government allocated $250,000 in this week's Budget to support Aboriginal language programs around the state. A research officer with the Many Rivers Aboriginal Language Centre, Gary Williams, says the funding is a good start. He says work reviving the region's seven major language groups is still in the early stages. And contrary to some views, he says it is not too late for the Biripai language. "It's never too late to revive a language, they've done it from scratch over in the Adelaide Plains there, that wasn't spoken since the 1900s or something like that," he said. "There are still people around who grew up with speakers and have the sounds in their head, and all this encourages them to bring it to the fore again, you know." From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Jun 9 14:08:21 2006 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2006 07:08:21 -0700 Subject: Digital video leading to preserving more tribal history, events (fwd) Message-ID: Digital video leading to preserving more tribal history, events BY KATE LECHNIR Spooner Advocate Last Updated: Wednesday, June 07th, 2006 12:59:44 PM http://www.spooneradvocate.com/placed/index.php?sect_rank=1&story_id=220570 Her name is Hsuan-Yun Pi, an incredibly knowledgeable doctoral student in the ever-evolving digital video communications field. Her recent visits to the St. Croix Reservation at Hertel and the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College (LCOOCC) in Hayward gave the students and community members there hands-on practice with the latest equipment and spurred digitally preserving the two tribes’ history, activities and events. Her trip to Indian Country had been arranged by Susan Gooding, a Native American Studies adjunct professor at LCO College and doctoral candidate at the University of Chicago. The project was funded by Richard Barrows, dean in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. For the past year, Gooding has been involved in efforts to bring indigenous people together to document and archive, via digital video, their histories and stories. A group of interested students and teachers from LCO Ojibwa Community College and from the St. Croix Reservation, where the college has an outreach site, participated in a hands-on workshop with Hsuan-Yun Pi and her graduate campus advisor from the UW-Madison, Patty Loew. The group was instantly transported to the cutting edge of the new digital video technology. At the meeting, a demonstration of a sophisticated editing system called “Vegas” convinced the group that digital video editing tools, once reserved for big-budget, professional productions, are now affordable and practical for individuals to use. Plans were made for Hsuan to return to Indian Country to assist both LCO and St. Croix with specific digital video projects. The first project was the digital recording and editing of an original play, Post, written by LCO College instructor Patrick Shield’s English Composition classes. The play was performed by LCO College students, faculty, staff and the Makwa (Ojibwe for “bear”) Drama Club. The play depicts the building of the Winter Dam in the 1920s and the destruction of the LCO community of Post. Students from the college’s main campus in Hayward and Todd Cutler, a student from the outreach site on the St. Croix Reservation, taped the play using the UW’s high-end cameras. The goal is to preserve the historically accurate performance and to provide copies of the performance for sale to help raise much-needed funding for future Makwa Drama Club productions. During one of Hsuan-Yun Pi’s visits to the St. Croix Reservation, T.R.A.I.L.S. (Traditions Respecting American Indian Life Styles) coordinator Mark Soulier and his daughter, Nichole Soulier, the Danbury youth director for the St. Croix Tribe, set up a workshop to teach youths how to shoot and edit digital video. The youths experimented with the cameras, recording interviews and basically shooting, “from the hip,” images that were of interest to them. The group listened as Hsuan instructed them on the capabilities of the new equipment. The group also watched a series of captivating music and dramatic vignettes produced by youths from other Indian Reservations. Soulier and graduating high school senior Josh Merrill worked with Hsuan to actually produce an edited collage of the St. Croix T.R.A.I.L.S. Dance Troupe. Soulier intends to transfer some 18 years worth of historic T.R.A.I.L.S. footage to a digital format for historic preservation. It will be an ongoing project as he sorts through photos, VHS tapes, and various other visual and audio formats. As an example of the historic importance of the project, Soulier found a VHS tape of Chief Archie Mosay and other elders who have since passed on. Tracking down the original footage, transferring it to a digital format, and archiving both the original footage and the digital rendition is of great importance to St. Croix historic preservation, tribal members have noted. It is said that timing is everything. It was during one of Hsuan’s visits to the St. Croix Reservation that the maple sugar was flowing in the sugar bush. That meant that everyone from the youngest HeadStart children to the elders were busy tapping, collecting, boiling, canning and eating the delicious fruits of their labor. St. Croix Education and Youth Director Brooke Mosay Ammann and LCOOCC Ojibwe language instructor Fancis Songetay captured every step of the process on digital video. The finished product will be an Ojibwe language teaching tool centered on the activities of the St. Croix Sugar Bush, a project destined for archival preservation and the bestseller list in Indian Country. Hsuan-Yun Pi’s visits to the LCO and St. Croix reservations are seen by many as a great gift. Through the generosity of Gooding, Loew and the UW-Madison, a talented and dedicated student, Hsuan-Yun Pi has demonstrated the knowledge and tools necessary for Native Americans on the two reservations to archive their precious histories, tell their own stories, and turn their youth on to the incredible art of making movies. Hsuan-Yun Pi said she is looking forward to future visits to Indian Country to witness the blossoming of the seeds she planted there. And for years to come, long after she has completed her graduate degree at the UW–Madison, people in Indian Country will be watching for the name Hsun-Yun Pi as the credits roll on the big screen. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Jun 9 14:16:02 2006 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2006 07:16:02 -0700 Subject: Preservation Project group meets (fwd) Message-ID: Preservation Project group meets Apache Moccasin Published on Wednesday, June 7, 2006 9:43 AM MST http://www.silverbelt.com/articles/2006/06/07/apache_moccasin/apache02.txt The first public meeting of the San Carlos Apache Language Preservation project was held on May 30, with 16 people in attendance, from all areas of the reservation, and ranging in age from teenagers to elders. Members of the San Carlos Apache community are increasingly concerned about the decline in people's ability to speak and understand the Apache language. This meeting was the first of a series of community meetings to be held around the reservation regarding language preservation. The program is supported by a grant from the Administration for Native Americans. According to Joyce Johnson, the program coordinator, it is vital that the loss of Apache language be addressed soon. “If you go from the oldest members of the community to the youngest members of the community,” she said, “you go from a group of people who are all fluent Apache speakers to a group of people who are all English-only speakers. That's how quickly it can all disappear - in the span of one lifetime.” Johnson said the statistics revealed in the 2000 census are particularly alarming. While two-thirds of the adult population on the reservation speaks at least some Apache, fully 85 percent of Apache children under 18 are monolingual English speakers. According to the census, different areas of Gilson Wash have the highest and lowest rates of children with some Apache language ability. The highest appears to be in the Front Line area, the lowest being in Beverly Hills. The Language Preservation Office is currently preparing a door-to-door community language survey in order to understand more completely the status of Apache language on the reservation. The survey will also ask how people would like to address the issue of language preservation. Johnson is currently visiting the University of Massachusetts at Amherst to begin this work. David Samuels, a professor at the university, said, “It is crucial for the community to have more detailed information than we can get from the census. The census is not designed to help communities identify fluency in the Apache language.” The next community meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 13, at 10 a.m. in the education conference room in San Carlos. Anyone who is interested is urged to attend. Ms. Johnson can be contacted at the tribal planning department on San Carlos Avenue, or phone her at (928) 475-2331, email ndee_biyati at yahoo.com. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Jun 9 14:23:07 2006 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2006 07:23:07 -0700 Subject: I am still an Indian (fwd) Message-ID: I am still an Indian by Gabe Mentuck http://www.firstperspective.ca/fp_template.php?path=20060605indian Gabe Mentuck attended residential school at Labrette, Saskatchewan and Pine Creek, Manitoba. He died at the age of 77 on May 30, 2006. He farmed for most of his life at Valley River First Nation near Dauphin, Manitoba] [photo inset - Gabe Mentuck - still an Indian] Today I am a 77-year-old Indian. Tomorrow or some other day maybe not that far down the road, I will be a dead Indian but I will still be an Indian. Now most Canadians wouldn't think that's such a big deal since you are what you are born. That's reality. That's truth. But reality and truth for this 77-year-old Indian are also the sentence I served in a Manitoba residential school where for five years, nuns and priests tried to beat, torture and shame the Indian out of me. And while this inhumanity was forced on me, the Government of Canada which sponsored it looked on with approval. If there hadn't been so much sexual and physical abuse, so many destroyed children and families as a result of Canada's residential schools, maybe a century of dirt could have been swept under this country's rug. But there was too much. Too much cruelty, too much suffering and too much institutionalized evil to keep buried for as long as the grass shall grow and the rivers flow. The forcible abduction of Indian children and their imprisonment in residential schools is now a pat of history. It's not a myth or rumor. It's real, Just as real as the scars on the hearts and minds of us who were victims of this crime committed against our people. The sad thing is that even now, history only seems ready to confront a part of the truth. There's still another chapter to be written and while it may not be as tragic and violent as the others, it's the one that should damn well be told. Natives have an oral history that's a big part of our tradition but doesn't seem to mean much in the white man's world where the more words you can put down on paper, the more power you have and the more money you can make. Today's world belongs to the lawyers, bureaucrats and politicians and they are all profiting from putting lots of words down on paper about old, poor residential school survivors. Nobody asked me to be a part of a get-rich-quick scheme for lawyers and consultants but that's where I and thousands of other Indians are today. It all began over a century ago when European immigrants stole our land, herded us onto reserves and still weren't satisfied. No, it seems like they didn't think that even these brutal measures were enough to deal with what they called the "Indian problem" and their "final solution" (does that sound familiar?) was to strip helpless Indian kids of thweir Indianness by robbing them of their language, culture and family bonds. Maybe the Government of Canada thinks that was a good trade-off. In return for our language, culture and family ties, we Indians got discrimination, substance abuse and the highest poverty and suicide rates in this country. I didn't know it at the time but I guess the Canadian government considered me a part of the "Indian problem" because in 1940. I was forcibly taken from my family on the Valley River reserve and stuck into a residential school run by the Oblate Order of the Roman Catholic Church in Pine Creek, Manitoba. Yes, I received quite an education there alright, being taught to feel guilty, inferior and ashamed to be a "heathen" and "savage". They beat me for speaking Ojibway and practicing my own culture and crushed my spirituality with their religion. I endured five years of this kind of oppression and though the scars from the physical abuse have faded, the ones on my heart and mind are still fresh. Still, maybe I wouldn't have these scarred memories if I'd been a good little apple - red on the outside and white on the inside - like so many of Canada's so-called Indian leaders whose pay-cheques are signed by the federal government. Like lawyers and politicians, most of Canada's Indian leaders are good with words. But trying to find some truth in them is like trying to find a diamond in a pile of manure. It's a dirty business and the odds are against you. Today, the diamond that the Canadian government is peddling is really no more than a piece of shiny glass but it sure as hell is covered with a lot of manure, a lot of words promising fair compensation for residential school survivors. In 1998 they offered us an apology but recognizing that shovelling us some words from their pile wouldn't shut us up, they came up with a billion dollar compensation package for the 80,000 or so victims who are still alive. The only problem is that at least half a billion dollars of this payout is earmarked for legal fees and most of the rest will be swallowed up by the various commissions, committees, investigations and inquiries that governments use as substitutes for meaningful action. Time is on the government's and church's side. We survivors are dying off at a rate of about five a day. The longer this drags out, the more the lawyers and bureaucrats will scoop up and the less there'll be for the poor, old and sick victims of cultural genocide. My wife, Teresa, who meant the world to me through our fifty-four years of marriage died four years ago. She too was a residential school survivor but she did not survive long enough to see justice. Maybe I won't either but in the meantime, I intend to keep shaming the lawyers, politicians, bureaucrats and Indian leaders who continue to profit from our misery. I am old and blind but I don't need eyes to see that the abuse of residential school victims is still going on. Same crap, different pile, and instead of Indian agents, nuns and priests doing the shovelling, it's a bunch of lawyers, politicians and Indian leaders. The time will come when we'll all be dead - all of us who suffered the physical and sexual abuse at the hands of those who carried out the "final solution" of the "Indian problem". Then, once all the witnesses are gone, maybe history can be rewritten and this crime against native humanity can be given a couple of good coats of whitewash but, until then, I'm going to keep speaking out because my body may be broken but not my spirit. There's a saying that talk is cheap. Well, that's sure as hell not the case when it comes to the lawyers, bureaucrats, politicians and Indian leaders who have made a lot of money by talking about residential school victims. And while they talk and fatten their bank accounts, those they're supposed to be helping get older, sicker or die. I'm not saying there will be nothing left once those who are supposed to be helping us finish helping themselves. Next year or maybe two or three years from now, whatever survivors are left will get small slices of what was once a big compensation pie. Yes, the one thing that history has taught us Indians is that we'll be getting a lot more words before we see any money. That's OK. We're used to it. We survived a lot of betrayals and we can handle this one because, in spite of what the white man's religions and governments stole from us, the one thing they couldn't take was our identity. That's why, in spite of the Government of Canada's best - and worst - efforts, I can proudly say that I am still an Indian. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Jun 9 14:25:34 2006 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2006 07:25:34 -0700 Subject: Voting in Navajo (fwd) Message-ID: June 05, 2006, 0:47 p.m. Voting in Navajo Reconsidering the Voting Rights Act. By Peter Kirsanow http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MzRjMWQ1ZDg0YzdhYjljZTZkMmZlM2ZiMDQ0ODA0ZGE= Congress is on the road to reauthorizing certain core provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Few pieces of legislation have matched the act’s success. Fewer still have been the subject of as much demagoguery. The pre-clearance requirements contained in section 5, the minority language requirements of Sections 4(f)(4) and 203, and the voting examiner and observer authorizations of Sections 6 through 9 are set to expire on August 6, 2007. Reauthorization of each of these provisions raises a variety of substantive issues. The voting-rights landscape has changed considerably since the act’s passage more than 40 years ago. Some maintain that the types of rampant racial discrimination and disenfranchisement the act was designed to address have been either eliminated or reduced to the point that portions of the act are obsolete or superfluous. Others contend that the discrimination and disenfranchisement still exist, just in cleverer, subtler forms. And there’s also a contingent that asserts, irresponsibly, that the expiration of the act’s temporary provisions is tantamount to a repeal of the 15th Amendment; i.e., the franchise will be taken away from blacks. (As bizarre as that may seem, it’s a theme that’s been surprisingly widespread among the black electorate over the last several election cycles.) Most of the public debate regarding reauthorization has centered upon Section 5’s requiring that certain jurisdictions subject to Section 4’s coverage formulas seek approval from the attorney general or the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia before implementing any change in voting practices or procedures. But the immigration debate that promises to occupy Congress this summer will also direct attention to the minority language requirements in Sections 4(f) and 203, and deservedly so. Jurisdictions covered by sections (4)(f)(4) and 203 must provide voters election information in at least one language other than English. The coverage formulas for the two sections differ, but together their minority language requirements cover hundreds of jurisdictions in more than 30 states. Spanish is by far the most common minority language required. Other languages include American Indian languages, Alaskan native languages, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese, to name just a few. When a minority language doesn’t exist in written form, such as the Native American languages of Navajo and Zuni, oral information must be provided. The Justice department has filed approximately 20 lawsuits over the years to enforce the minority language requirements. Most of the suits pertain to jurisdictions in the southwest. The Justice department also has interposed a number of Section 5 objections to language changes adopted in jurisdictions such as Texas and Arizona. The department has recently expanded its deployment of election monitors to evaluate minority ballot language requirements. The last time the General Accountability Office assessed the costs of Section 203 bilingual voting assistance was in 1997. Costs varied by jurisdiction. Some jurisdictions were able to reduce costs by using volunteer bilingual poll workers. Large jurisdictions, however, are often confronted with providing assistance in far more than just one additional language. Los Angeles spent $1.1 million for multiple language assistance in the 1996 elections alone. It’s estimated that affected jurisdictions spend approximately 13 percent of all election expenses on minority language assistance. Congress has heard testimony that minority language assistance requirements waste limited election resources on materials that are of marginal utility or that are very seldom used. Another problem is that it doesn’t appear that any resources are directed toward detecting and preventing fraud related to bilingual election requirements. Some anecdotal evidence suggests that minority language voters are steered to vote the “right” way, or are given inaccurate or incomplete information by poll workers. A more fundamental problem voiced by some critics of minority language requirements is that they’re antithetical to basic notions of participatory democracy: since some degree of English proficiency is a requirement for U.S. citizenship and citizenship is a requirement for voting, a voter should be presumed to be able to cast a ballot without resort to a language other than English. Supporters of bilingual ballots would argue that minimal English proficiency is insufficient to comprehend all ballot language—the sur-reply being that ballot language is equally opaque in any language, so stick to English. It’s a safe bet that Congress won’t reconsider the use of bilingual ballots. Nonetheless, because of concerns about effectiveness, accuracy, cost, and fraud, the issue merits serious examination. —Peter Kirsanow is a member of the National Labor Relations Board. He is also a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. These comments do not necessarily reflect the positions of either organization. From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Fri Jun 9 17:41:31 2006 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2006 10:41:31 -0700 Subject: Native Food & Nutrition Message-ID: The Northern California Indian Development council (NCIDC) administers a statewide California Food and Nutrition Program (CFNP). The program has compiled and distributed pertinent food and nutrition newsletters and information to California Tribes and community based organizations on a monthly basis. This information includes, for example, low-fat recipes, exercise ideas, healthy tips, and other related information. One of the favorite sections is Dr. Coyote. To download all back issues of the newsletter go to: http://www.ncidc.org/food/index.html click the link Food and Nutrition Program Newsletters and Archives For more information on NCIDC go to : http://www.ncidc.org/ News Letter Topis Include: May 2006 Reducing the Health Risks of Obesity March 2006 National Nutrition Month February 2006 Natives & Obesity Problems: Lifestyle Balance January 2006 Lowering Sodium for Better Health October 2005 Weight Loss Surgery June 2005 Farmers Markets May 2005 Eggs & Healthy Eating April 2005 Soy Foods March 2005 Lowering Cholesterol Jan & Feb 2005 Heart Healthy Month December 2004 UIHS, End Of Year Wrap-Up November 2004 Garden Of Youth, Fall Fresh Food Sept & Oct 2004 Food Allergies, Smart Snacking August 2004 5-A-Day, Eating Your Best For Less June & July 2004 Strong Bones, Hydration April 2004 Food Safety Feb & March 04 Cancer January 2004 Obesity December 2003 Flu Foods November 2003 HIV .:. André Cramblit: andre.p.cramblit.86 at alum.dartmouth.org is the Operations Director Northern California Indian Development Council NCIDC (http://www.ncidc.org) is a non-profit that meets the development needs of American Indians To subscribe to a news letter of interest to Natives send an email to: IndigenousNewsNetwork-subscribe at topica.com or go to: http:// www.topica.com/lists/IndigenousNewsNetwork/subscribe/?location=listinfo From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Fri Jun 9 23:24:22 2006 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2006 16:24:22 -0700 Subject: Learn the Language Message-ID: http://www.cbc.ca/north/story/nor-bilignual-senior.html Learn Inuktitut or iqqanaijaaqajjaagunniiqtutit, mandarins told Last updated Jun 7 2006 08:47 AM CDT CBC News Senior government officials in Nunavut have been told they have to be able to speak Inuktitut by 2008, or risk losing their jobs. Premier Paul Okalik revealed the policy during the mid-term leadership review Tuesday. "Well they have to be fluent, they have to work with members and with people within Nunavut," the premier said. "They should understand and be able to communicate with Inuit that may be unilingual." Learning Inuktitut From an essay "Our Language, Our Selves", on the future of Inuktitut in the new Nunavut territory, circa 1999. "In English, and in most other European languages, a sentence is a string of beads. Each bead is a tiny little word, and the beads are strung together to make meaning. "I am happy to be here. Je suis content d'être ici. Yo estoy contento de estar aquí. "But in Inuktitut the words are like LegoTM blocks, intricate pieces locked together to produce a nugget of meaning. "quviasuktunga tamaaniinnama (happy + I here + in + be + because I) "How about this word, produced at random: Pariliarumaniralauqsimanngittunga, "I never said I wanted to go to Paris." "These words are produced by a grammatical system that is much more regular than anything in English. Inuit students like studying grammar. They get pleasure out of seeing the logical flow of something they always took for granted. The grammar is not only precise, it is complex." Okalik says seven deputy ministers and presidents of Crown corporations are taking Inuktitut lessons three times a week in a 14- month course. Three assistant deputy ministers are also taking classes. Okalik says the goal is to have senior staff who are comfortable in Inuktitut, the first language of 85 per cent of the territory's population, within 18 months. "We felt that that was enough time," he said. "I recall when I was learning English, I didn't have much help … so it's about time that our language was respected and treated in the same way." Education Minister Ed Picco, one of the few non-Inuit in the territorial assembly, has been increasing his use of Inuktitut in the legislature. He says he backs the premier's move. "He's not saying that other languages cannot be used," he said. "He wants to have the fully bilingual system in place." But MLA Hunter Tootoo thinks the policy goes too far. The Iqaluit Centre MLA doesn't speak Inuktitut, but he supports the territory's goal of having it as the government's working language by 2020. "I think the way to achieve that is not by taking the language and forcing on somebody," he said. "I think if we do things, like make changes in the education system, you won't have to teach them Inuktitut, they'll be from here," he said. Nevertheless, the premier said, he's starting with top senior staff, and the Inuktitut language requirement will eventually reach those in the levels below. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Mon Jun 12 16:39:30 2006 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2006 09:39:30 -0700 Subject: Immersion Schools Message-ID: Posted: June 05, 2006 by: Jerry Reynolds WASHINGTON - A Senate Committee on Indian Affairs oversight hearing on education May 25 raised the idea that Native-language immersion schools deserve emphasis alongside the national No Child Left Behind program. Educators throughout the nation are required to cope with the quantitative Adequate Yearly Progress scores in reading and math that assess a school's competence under No Child Left Behind. As a result, said Ryan Wilson, president of the National Indian Education Association, ''There's a huge push to advance only scientific education.'' In the meantime, Wilson and other witnesses said, evidence mounts that Native-language immersion programs are associated with stronger student interest in learning and higher academic achievement. Kevin Skenandore, acting director of the Interior Department's Office of Indian Education Programs, said a survey of Interior's five best- performing Indian schools, its five worst-performing schools and all Hopi schools (they have all passed the AYP benchmarks) yielded support for that position. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, drew from the educational experience of her own sons to note that dual-language schooling can be a concern to parents in the early school years. But later in the educational process, she said, it becomes clear that immersion learning of a second language early on pays off in better academic performance across the board. As Wilson expressed it in his written testimony, ''National studies on language learning and educational experience indicate the more language learning, the higher the academic achievement. Solid data from the immersion school experience indicates that language immersion students experience greater success in school measured by consistent improvement on local and national measures of achievement.'' Some of the May 25 testimony, as well as several examples Murkowski marshaled from Alaska, suggested that tribal students in the usually rural, often isolated environs of Indian country have a hard time finding relevance in the conventional, Western-inflected pedagogy. Though data on Native language immersion schools is still being compiled, the theme of several witnesses was that learning a Native language along with English may resolve the problem of educational relevance for many students. But Wilson added that while Native cultures and communities are losing immersion-program resources, including many speakers, ''at lightning speed,'' they are recovering their languages ''at horse-and- buggy speed.'' He offered NIEA's support for several bills before Congress that would encourage Native language immersion programs. Senate Bill 2674, the Native American Languages Act Amendments of 2006, has been sponsored by Sens. Daniel Akaka and Daniel K. Inouye, of Hawaii; Sen. Max Baucus, of Montana; and Sen. Tim Johnson, of South Dakota, all Democrats. In the House, Republican Reps. Heather Wilson, of New Mexico, and Rick Renzi, of Arizona, have offered House Bill 4766, the Native American Languages Preservation Act of 2006. Also in the House, Rep. Ed Case, D-Hawaii, has introduced H.R. 5222, the Native American Languages Amendments Act of 2006. S. 2674 has been referred to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, and Ryan Wilson urged quick action. He added that it can bring about ''a new day'' in Indian education. But much remains of the old days, including Indian test scores that trail national averages and faltering marks on the AYP standard of the No Child Left Behind initiative of President George W. Bush. Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., vice chairman of the committee, pronounced himself ''a little perplexed'' at Interior's response: a ''reorganization'' to increase the ratio of senior executives to staff personnel. The reorganization is the target of a tribal lawsuit announced one day before the hearing -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Rrlapier at AOL.COM Mon Jun 12 17:15:29 2006 From: Rrlapier at AOL.COM (Rrlapier at AOL.COM) Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:15:29 EDT Subject: Summer History Conference Message-ID: Innaihtsiiyi A history conference examining Blackfeet concepts of peace and peace agreements. Judith Landing on the Missouri River, site of 1855 Blackfeet peace treaty. Friday, August 18, 2006 10:00am to 4:00pm free & open to the public Nizipuhwahsin School Browning, Montana Guest speakers will include both academic and community scholars. Piegan Institute Researching, Promoting & Preserving Native Languages www.pieganinstitute.org For information call Rosalyn LaPier at 406.338.7740 or email rrlapier at pieganinstitute.org Co-sponsored by the Center for the Rocky Moutain West at the University of Montana. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: img_0652.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 1317050 bytes Desc: not available URL: From rick_harp at YAHOO.COM Mon Jun 12 18:35:56 2006 From: rick_harp at YAHOO.COM (Rick Harp) Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2006 11:35:56 -0700 Subject: Cree Immersion program in Alberta: Sept 06 - June 07 Message-ID: Tânisi! Hey everyone, my name is Rick Harp, and I am a Cree language (Plains Y-dialect) student at Blue Quills First Nations College near St. Paul, Alberta, Canada, and I am helping to promote their great Cree immersion/intensive program. If people want more info, you can email me, or just email cree at bluequills.ca. There are also printed and electronic versions of brochures and posters available for mail-out if you want to help spread the word. ay-ay, ekosi pitama, Rick - - - - - - - - - - - Blue Quills First Nations College CREE LANGUAGE CERTIFICATE September 2006 to June 2007 | St. Paul, Alberta "Rebuilding community through language, rebuilding language through community" Program highlights: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Students are active in the language — hearing and speaking Cree — from day one Language learning through classroom activities and community-based immersion Classes five days a week, Sept. through June (10 months) Sensitivity to needs of adult second-language learners Small class sizes with excellent teacher-to-student ratio On- and off-campus access to elders and speakers fluent in Cree (Y dialect ) Emphasis on group participation and learner/teacher team-building Students help develop learning tools for program Multimedia tools enable and enhance individual study and review Introduction to writing systems for Cree: syllabics and roman alphabet (abc’s) Restoring and revitalizing the voices of our people in a fun, safe and supportive learning environment * * * DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: JUNE 30, 2006 * * * For more info: Phone 780-645-4455 or 1-888-645-4455 (toll-free in Western Canada) Fax 780-645-5215 E-mail cree at bluequills.ca Web www.bluequills.ca/cree - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - My blog about learning Cree > http://mimicree.blogspot.com Hi5 | MySpace! __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From delrio at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Mon Jun 12 19:34:01 2006 From: delrio at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Miguel del =?iso-8859-1?Q?R=EDo_=C1lvarez?=) Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2006 12:34:01 -0700 Subject: Convocatoria de Articulos para Cultura y Educacion Message-ID: >Estimados Colegas, > >Como Editor Invitado de la revista Cultura y >Educación me complace anunciar la Convocatoria >para la Presentación de Artículos para un número >monográfico sobre El estudio de la educación >multicultural en Estados Unidos. En el documento >adjunto encontrarán las indicaciones específicas >para el envío de artículos. > >La revista Cultura y Educación se centra en >teorías e investigaciones que analizan los >procesos educativos en contextos culturales >concretos, y que goza de una excelente >reputación tanto dentro de España como en >Latinoamérica por sus estándares de calidad. >Pueden encontrar más información sobre esta >publicación en http://www.fia.es. > >Les animo a compartir esta Convocatoria con >investigadores y departamentos cuyo trabajo >encaje dentro de la línea aquí presentada. > >No duden en contactarme si tienen alguna pregunta. > >Reciban un atento saludo, > >Miguel del Río Álvarez >Editor Invitado >Cultura y Educación -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Convocatoria Articulos Cultura y Educacion.doc Type: application/mac-binhex40 Size: 79314 bytes Desc: not available URL: From delrio at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Mon Jun 12 19:34:04 2006 From: delrio at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Miguel del =?iso-8859-1?Q?R=EDo_=C1lvarez?=) Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2006 12:34:04 -0700 Subject: Fwd: Call For Papers for Cultura y Educacion Message-ID: >Dear Colleagues, > >As Invited Editor of Spanish journal Cultura y >Educación, I am pleased to announce the Call for >Papers for a monographic issue on The study on >multicultural education in the United States. > >Cultura y Educación is a publication that >reflects theories and research that analyze the >educational processes embedded in specific >cultural contexts, and which holds a high >reputation for its quality standards both in >Spain and in Latin America. You can find more >information on this publication at >http://www.fia.es. > >I encourage you to spread the word to >researchers and departments whose work might >comply with the requirements of this Call for >Papers. > >Do not hesitate to reply to this email if you have any doubts or questions. > >Yours truthfully, > >Miguel del Río >Invited Editor >Cultura y Educación -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Call for Papers Cultura y Educacion.doc Type: application/mac-binhex40 Size: 79296 bytes Desc: not available URL: From MiaKalish at LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US Mon Jun 12 19:52:46 2006 From: MiaKalish at LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US (Mia Kalish) Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:52:46 -0600 Subject: Fwd: Call For Papers for Cultura y Educacion In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Dear Miguel, Is this for Spanish/Latin American culture only? Or would it perhaps include Native American/Indigenous Languages? Mia Kalish _____ From: Indigenous Languages and Technology [mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU] On Behalf Of Miguel del Río Álvarez Sent: Monday, June 12, 2006 1:34 PM To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU Subject: [ILAT] Fwd: Call For Papers for Cultura y Educacion Dear Colleagues, As Invited Editor of Spanish journal Cultura y Educación, I am pleased to announce the Call for Papers for a monographic issue on The study on multicultural education in the United States. Cultura y Educación is a publication that reflects theories and research that analyze the educational processes embedded in specific cultural contexts, and which holds a high reputation for its quality standards both in Spain and in Latin America. You can find more information on this publication at http://www.fia.es. I encourage you to spread the word to researchers and departments whose work might comply with the requirements of this Call for Papers. Do not hesitate to reply to this email if you have any doubts or questions. Yours truthfully, Miguel del Río Invited Editor Cultura y Educación -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From delrio at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Mon Jun 12 19:55:57 2006 From: delrio at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Miguel del =?iso-8859-1?Q?R=EDo_=C1lvarez?=) Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2006 12:55:57 -0700 Subject: Fwd: Call For Papers for Cultura y Educacion In-Reply-To: <001b01c68e59$cab34e60$0200a8c0@LFPMia> Message-ID: Dear Mia, Read the document (Call for Papers.doc) attached. The monographic issue is also intended to focus on Native American education from a sociocultural point of view. If you have any further doubts, don't hesitate to contact me. Yours, Miguel >Dear Miguel, > >Is this for Spanish/Latin American culture only? >Or would it perhaps include Native >American/Indigenous Languages? > >Mia Kalish > > > >From: Indigenous Languages and Technology >[mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU] On Behalf Of >Miguel del Río Álvarez >Sent: Monday, June 12, 2006 1:34 PM >To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU >Subject: [ILAT] Fwd: Call For Papers for Cultura y Educacion > > >Dear Colleagues, > >> >> >>As Invited Editor of Spanish journal Cultura y >>Educación, I am pleased to announce the Call >>for Papers for a monographic issue on The study >>on multicultural education in the United States. >> >> >> >>Cultura y Educación is a publication that >>reflects theories and research that analyze the >>educational processes embedded in specific >>cultural contexts, and which holds a high >>reputation for its quality standards both in >>Spain and in Latin America. You can find more >>information on this publication at >>http://www.fia.es. >> >> >> >>I encourage you to spread the word to >>researchers and departments whose work might >>comply with the requirements of this Call for >>Papers. >> >> >> >>Do not hesitate to reply to this email if you have any doubts or questions. >> >> >> >>Yours truthfully, >> >> >> >>Miguel del Río >> >>Invited Editor >> >>Cultura y Educación >> > > -- Miguel del Río Álvarez Visiting Scholar Department of Language, Reading and Culture College of Education University of Arizona Tucson, AZ 85721 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From delrio at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Mon Jun 12 21:12:55 2006 From: delrio at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Miguel del =?iso-8859-1?Q?R=EDo_=C1lvarez?=) Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:12:55 -0700 Subject: Call For Papers for Cultura y Educacion Message-ID: Dear Friends, It seems some people are having trouble when opening the attached document. I enclose an .rtf version of the document; this should solve any compatibility issues. I apologize for the inconveniences. Miguel del Río Invited Editor Cultura y Educación >>Dear Colleagues, >> >>As Invited Editor of Spanish journal Cultura y >>Educación, I am pleased to announce the Call >>for Papers for a monographic issue on The study >>on multicultural education in the United States. >> >>Cultura y Educación is a publication that >>reflects theories and research that analyze the >>educational processes embedded in specific >>cultural contexts, and which holds a high >>reputation for its quality standards both in >>Spain and in Latin America. You can find more >>information on this publication at >>http://www.fia.es. >> >>I encourage you to spread the word to >>researchers and departments whose work might >>comply with the requirements of this Call for >>Papers. >> >>Do not hesitate to reply to this email if you have any doubts or questions. >> >>Yours truthfully, >> >>Miguel del Río >>Invited Editor >>Cultura y Educación > -- Miguel del Río Álvarez Visiting Scholar Department of Language, Reading and Culture College of Education University of Arizona Tucson, AZ 85721 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Call for Papers Cultura y Educacion.rtf Type: application/mac-binhex40 Size: 220892 bytes Desc: not available URL: From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Jun 14 05:01:58 2006 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2006 22:01:58 -0700 Subject: Red Lake tribe starts Internet radio station (fwd link) Message-ID: Red Lake tribe starts Internet radio station by Tom Robertson, Minnesota Public Radio June 12, 2006 http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2006/05/25/redlakeradio/ From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Jun 14 05:07:05 2006 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2006 22:07:05 -0700 Subject: Ancient tongue, modern software (fwd) Message-ID: Ancient tongue, modern software Kahnawake AIMS to revive mohawk language; All its 900 public employees must take lessons CHERYL CORNACCHIA The Gazette Monday, June 12, 2006 http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=bda326ef-1b41-4c86-b821-5ac47c5c5e4a&k=40064 On the winding streets of Kahnawake these days, the traffic signs read STOP/TESTAN. The addition of Mohawk is part of "a quiet revolution" that Grand Chief Michael Delisle and other leaders of the South Shore reserve hope will revive their native language and, by extension, the culture of their ancestors. As part of this effort, the band council led by Delisle will require Kahnawake's 900 public employees to enrol in Mohawk language lessons using interactive software purchased from a company in Harrisburg,Va., that was just received. Hospital staff, peacekeepers, firefighters, librarians, sewer plant operators and social workers are being told this week that they will begin on-the-job Mohawk language studies starting Sept. 1. The target is to make 30 per cent of Kahnawake's public employees fluent speakers in five years, 60 per cent in 10 years and 80 per cent in 15 years. Delisle admitted that the move has been met with some resistance. But he's adamant it is necessary, considering that only 1,000 of Kahnawake's 8,000 residents can speak Mohawk. "The value of what this could mean socially and politically is monumental," he said, adding that "so much of who we are is in our language." "We want to re-establish it as part of our heritage," he added. Rosetta Stone software developed by Fairfield Technologies is used by millions of people in 150 countries to learn 30 major languages, but this is the first time it will be used to teach a native language. Four other North American indigenous languages, including Inuktitut, are expected to follow soon. According to UNESCO, more than 50 per cent of the world's 6,000 languages are endangered, and on average one language disappears every two weeks. The estimated 300 aboriginal languages that existed when Jacques Cartier sailed up the St. Lawrence River are now down to 175, only 25 of which are still spoken by children. Funding for Kahnawake's Rosetta Stone project came from an unlikely source. Three years ago, when then-Kahnawake grand chief Joe Norton sent letters to more than 40 businesses in the online gaming industry asking for money to help revive the Mohawk language, only one person responded. John Moshal, president of Microgaming Inc., the world's largest online gaming software developer, contributed $250,000 U.S. to the project. Moshal, a Jew who lives in Durban, South Africa, saw parallels between the Mohawk language dying in Kahnawake and Hebrew's historic revival. With the money Moshal donated, the band council hired Fairfield Technologies to develop the Rosetta Stone software. Three weeks ago, the first 1,000 CD-roms arrived in the community, featuring four local Mohawk speakers, dozens of familiar Kahnawake faces and places - and the tools for change. Donna Goodleaf, executive director of Kahnawake's cultural centre and a Ph.D. in linguistics, said she already has started fielding calls from other First Nations groups wanting to protect their languages. The Kahnawake workplace language training is flesh on the bones of a law the band council passed in 1999 that made Mohawk - also known as Kanien'ke:ha - the territory's official language. Goodleaf said she sees great things ahead for Kahnawake as the band council aims to see the number of fluent Mohawk speakers increase from today's 12.5 per cent to between 30 and 35 per cent over the next 15 years. "There are strong indicators and real passion among young people that make me think this is going to work," she said. Workplace language training is just one of several initiatives that got under way in the community over the past eight years. In 1998, Mohawk elders - afraid that with their deaths, their language would also die - put forward a declaration calling for its preservation. At that point, Mohawk Internet Technologies, then a new Kahnawake company but now making millions licensing online gaming companies, stepped up and gave $1.25 million - $250,000 a year for five years - to the band council. The money could have gone into badly needed improvements to infrastructure - roads, sidewalks and building upgrades - but instead went into language. First, Goodleaf said, a nine-month intensive Mohawk- language course for adult learners at the community's cultural centre got started. Then young-parent graduates of that course - now in its third year - created "language nests," or playgroups, where Mohawk is the only language spoken. Spurred on, K103 Mohawk Radio and the Eastern Door, the community's weekly paper, offer regular Mohawk language lessons. In addition, two Mohawk- language television shows are now being produced in Kahnawake, and one of them - a Sesame Street knock-off directed at the community's most malleable learners - has proved especially popular. In the 1930s and '40s, Delisle said, Mohawk was what you heard everywhere in the community along the Old Malone Highway. Even some of the English-speaking and French-speaking farmers who settled on the South Shore near Kahnawake learned the language But starting in the 1950s, Mohawk began its modern decline - first abetted by all-pervasive English media and pop culture, then by the French language and political changes in Quebec, Delisle said. Mohawk became a language that was spoken only among elders and in the community's Long House. Today, Delisle admits that forcing the community's public sector employees to take Mohawk language lessons is not without controversy. As Tom Morris, the band official orchestrating the workplace training, said, there are complaints such as "I don't have time" and "How am I going to do this?" He explained some public employees - for example hospital workers - might not be able to get an hour on the job to study Mohawk and they could be asked to study at home. "People are used to the way things are, and they don't like change," he said. But unlike federal and provincial government employees, Delisle noted, Kahnawake workers will be learning their own language, not some "other" tongue. "As leaders in the community we have to set an example," Delisle said. ccornacchia at thegazette.canwest.com © The Gazette (Montreal) 2006 Copyright © 2006 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Jun 14 05:10:52 2006 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2006 22:10:52 -0700 Subject: Software to help Aboriginal language teaching (fwd) Message-ID: Wednesday, 14 June 2006, 10:49:49 AEST Software to help Aboriginal language teaching http://abc.net.au/message/news/stories/ms_news_1662566.htm An Indigenous group in north-west Queensland will use innovative software to launch a new educational program for Aborigines. The Camooweal-based Dugalunji Aboriginal Corporation has received more than $120,000 in Federal Government funding to teach maths and English using Aboriginal dialects. Dugalunji Aboriginal Corporation spokesman Colin Saltmere says Mount Isa TAFE will assist in delivering the courses by August. "Not only the Indjulundji but the Yorlta people, and if there are other language speakers in our group - and there is - we hope that they too can actually interpret that too into their literacy and numeracy program and then talk to us about taking it back to their communities and helping build those communities up," he said. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Jun 14 05:13:08 2006 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2006 22:13:08 -0700 Subject: Govt to fund Aboriginal language dictionary (fwd) Message-ID: Sunday, 11 June 2006, 07:49:35 AEST Govt to fund Aboriginal language dictionary http://abc.net.au/message/news/stories/ms_news_1660245.htm The New South Wales Government hopes the creation of an Aboriginal languages dictionary will help revive the study of traditional languages in the state's schools. The Government has set aside $250,000 in grants to revitalise Indigenous languages and create the dictionary. State Minister for Aboriginal Affairs Milton Orkopoulos says there is a demand for the initiative. "In the 10 or so schools across New South Wales where Aboriginal languages are being taught, the classes are full and there is certainly a willingness for young Aboriginal people to identify not only themselves as Aboriginal people, but also to be able to speak the language of their people," he said. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Jun 14 05:18:19 2006 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2006 22:18:19 -0700 Subject: UA summer institutes preserve native languages (fwd) Message-ID: UA summer institutes preserve native languages Wild Briefs Issue date: 6/7/06 Coushatta, Blackfeet and Southern Ute are just some of the indigenous languages that will be represented by students this summer at the UA's American Indian Language Development Institute, according to a press release. Each year, the UA Department of Language, Reading and Culture in the College of Education holds the institute for language teachers who are seeking innovative ways to preserve native languages, according to the AILDI Web site. About 60 people from the U.S. and Canada are participating in the institute this summer, although in previous years the session has attracted students from all over the world, said Ofelia Zepeda, AILDI program director. This year, 20 students were awarded fellowships from the National Science Foundation to study grant writing and their own language documentation, Zepeda said. The program aims to provide language educators skills, background, training and research through specially designed university courses in all areas of language work, Zepeda added. "Often times it's a sharing of backgrounds, and sharing of work," she said. http://wildcat.arizona.edu/media/storage/paper997/news/2006/06/07/Extra/Wild-Briefs-2025749.shtml?norewrite200606140116&sourcedomain=wildcat.arizona.edu From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Wed Jun 14 05:46:32 2006 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2006 22:46:32 -0700 Subject: NCIDC Senior Planner Needed Message-ID: Senior Planner The Northern California Indian Development Council, Inc, in Eureka, CA. seeks applicants for Senior Planner. Salary range 45-56k DOE, for this full-time position with benefits. Experienced applicants only. Full job announcement can be viewed at www.ncidc.org/planner Applications due by COB July 14th 2006. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Wed Jun 14 06:06:16 2006 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2006 23:06:16 -0700 Subject: PRESERVING LANGUAGE Message-ID: http://oregonmag.com/FDNatLang606.html June 2006 Tribal Program Preserves Native Language, Culture By Fred Delkin Editor's Note: In 2001 Oregon Magazine published an editorial criticizing a Umatilla Reservation program to teach tribal schoolchildren their native language, stating that this effort sidestepped the English language skills these students need for their economic future. This misguided opinion piece was labeled "racist" by a tribal spokesperson. The following describes this program that has obvious cultural worth. The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation have combined both private foundation and federal funds to establish a master- apprentice Language Preservation program in the tribal Nixyaawii community school serving grades 9-12 on the reservation just east of Pendleton in northeastern Oregon. This three-year project partners students with tribal elders still speaking native languages. At project's end dthe apprentices are eligible for licensure by the tribe and the state of Oregon's Teacher Standards and Practices Commission as teachers of Cayuse/Nez Perce, Umatilla and Walla Walla languages. The Umatilla reservation was established in 1855 by treaty and was united by a single tribal government in 1949. There are currently 2,525 enrolled tribal members and a reservation of 158,000 acres. We salute tribal chairman Albert Minthorn for his direction of an outstanding effort to maintain tribal heritage. This includes a just- concluded Culture Camp May 15-19 for 40 Nixyaawii students learning traditional tribal values. An "Entrepeneur Workshop" has guided students in specific techniques for starting a business..."strategies for maximizing personal satisfaction and profits." June 15-22 16 students will participate in "journeys in creativity: explorations in Native Art & Culture." Certainly the Confederated Umatilla tribes are dedicated to guiding their members into a bright future. © 2006 Oregon Magazine -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Thu Jun 15 21:31:53 2006 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2006 14:31:53 -0700 Subject: Newsletter Message-ID: ELF newsletter, available in electronic format: The Spring 2006 issue of the Endangered Language Fund newsletter, Language Legacies, has been released. For the first time, we will offer the newsletter in digital format. The following articles are in this issue: -Board member Peter Ladefoged dies -Native Nations, Native Voices conference -ELF joins Linguapax international network -Changes in ELF board -Noam Chomsky to deliver benefit lecture for ELF -People's Poetry Gathering hosts ELF in New York To receive an electronic copy of Language Legacies in .pdf format, email elf at haskins.yale.edu. Nick Emlen Endangered Language Fund From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Thu Jun 15 23:42:58 2006 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2006 16:42:58 -0700 Subject: Greetings! Message-ID: Begin forwarded message: From: David Kaufman Date: June 15, 2006 12:27:11 PM PDT To: Andre Cramblit Subject: Greetings! I'm not sure if this is going to the whole list or not, and indeed I have no clue how large the list even is, but I just joined the list a few days ago and wanted to introduce myself. My name is Dave Kaufman, MA Linguistics, from San José State U in California. I've been studying Hawaiian, and I've been analyzing and documenting a couple of now extinct Amerindian languages--Biloxi (Siouan) and Rumsien Ohlone (Penutian) in the hopes that the remaining members of these tribes may want to do revitalization at some point. (The Biloxi have already expressed some interest.) I currently live in the Silicon Valley, but next month I'll be moving to Kansas to attend the U of Kansas in the pursuit of a doctorate in Linguists and Anthropology. I just started an anthropological-linguistics blog, by the way, at http://anthro-ling.blogspot.com. What languages are list members working on? I'm also a member of the Siouan List, since, as I said, I've gotten involved with Biloxi documentation and revitalization. Thanks. Dave __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Mon Jun 19 15:13:14 2006 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2006 08:13:14 -0700 Subject: New speakers of ancient tongues (fwd) Message-ID: Published: 06.17.2006 New speakers of ancient tongues Indian tribes find teaching is last hope for saving native languages By Lourdes Medrano ARIZONA DAILY STAR http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/134019 "We can't lose our language. Without it, you lose pretty much your identity, you lose pretty much everything." Marvin Weatherwax Member of Blackfeet Tribe As time treks through Indian country, the words of ancient songs and sacred rituals crumble under the weight of the dominant language. "I hear more and more English on the reservation," said Danny Lopez, who teaches Tohono O'odham at the Sells community college. "A lot of children don't know our language anymore." But a language revival of sorts has gripped many American Indian tribes working to keep their mother tongues vibrant. Just southwest of Tucson, in the San Xavier District of the Tohono O'odham Nation, children and their parents learn the language of their ancestors in special classes. In Nebraska, Ho-Chunk youths absorb an elder's words preserved in 1,500 audiotapes about life on the reservation. In Montana, mothers immerse their newborns and toddlers in a new language program. They are some of the initiatives being discussed this month at the University of Arizona, where 20 tribal members hope to learn how to preserve declining indigenous languages. "Gathering Talk: Documenting, Describing and Revitalizing Our Languages" is the theme of the American Indian Language Development Institute this summer. The residential program has offered training since 1979 to teachers of indigenous languages. But institute director Ofelia Zepeda said it is the first time tribal members have received a fellowship from the National Science Foundation to focus on language preservation. The fellows represent languages from a number of American Indian tribes, including Oneida, Ho-Chunk, Blackfeet, Coushatta, Sahaptin, Southern Ute, Cheyenne, Laguna-Keres, Okanagan, Tohono O'odham and Akimel O'odham. The decline of indigenous languages has been well documented, but "of late we're having more tribes acknowledge it," Zepeda said. She and other linguists say the reasons for language loss are complex. But they note that American Indian languages historically were suppressed in government attempts to assimilate tribes into mainstream society. In 1995, the Alaska Native Language Center found that of 175 indigenous languages still spoken in the United States, 155 were moribund because children no longer learned them. "It's a huge loss," noted Zepeda, who is Tohono O'odham. "Young people are not learning their language, but that's because the adults are not using it." Growing up, that was certainly the case for Don Preston, an artist who grew up away from the Tohono O'odham Reservation. He returned as an adult and since March has attended a weekly language class in the evening at the San Xavier District Education Center. "My parents never taught me, and I always wanted to learn to speak my own language," said Preston, 52. "It's like going back to my own roots." Jodi Burshia, one of the fellows at the university, said she also wants to learn the language of her ancestors. Her ancestry includes Pueblo, Navajo, Sioux, Chippewa and French Canadian, but she speaks none of the languages. "I want to know about all of them," said Burshia, who grew up with the Laguna Pueblo people in New Mexico and now lives in Tucson. Burshia, like the other fellows, is learning how to write effective grant proposals to secure outside funding for language documentation when tribal money falls short. She said she hopes to help collect and preserve letters, tapes and other documents in her Laguna community. Marvin Weatherwax, a member of the Blackfeet tribe in northwestern Montana, said the death of elders in the past two years has meant a drop in the number of fluent native speakers to 350 from 500. Eighteen new speakers were gained in the past five years, said Weatherwax, who teaches language at his reservation's community college. Last summer, the UA fellow said, he determined by knocking on doors that 1,500 tribal members understand Blackfeet but rarely speak it. He calls them "sleepers," and his goal is to reawaken their knowledge about the language so they can share it with youngsters. "We can't lose our language," said Weatherwax, 59. "Without it, you lose pretty much your identity, you lose pretty much everything." In the Ho-Chunk Nation of Nebraska, Caroline Frenchman, another fellow, said tribal members teach the language to students from preschool to college two to three times a week. "But that is not enough," she said. Five fluent speakers remain among the roughly 2,600 enrolled members in the state, she said. To stir interest in the language, tribal members are digitizing the 1,500 audiotapes that a late elder, Stanford Whitewater, left behind. Frenchman said Whitewater's recordings contain a wealth of language lessons and tribal history. Frenchman, 42, said she studied her native language under Whitewater for five years before he died at age 90 recently. The language apprentice said she never learned Ho-Chunk from her grandparents, who raised her. Now, she herself is learning the language as she tries to save it from extinction. "There's an old legend that says if the language ever dies, the world will cease to exist," she said. "I don't want it to die." Marie Sanchez, a Northern Cheyenne who teaches the tribal language to elementary school students, characterized as severe the language loss among youngsters in her northeastern Montana reservation. "Our youngest fluent speaker is 30," said Sanchez, 67. To counter the downward trend, tribal members plan to expand an immersion program for mothers and infants, Sanchez said. "We want to get them back into learning the language and traditions before childbirth," she said of expectant mothers. Seeing so many youths no longer speak Cheyenne saddens Sanchez, but at the same time, "it makes me want to try harder." Delphine Saraficio, who teaches O'odham to children and adults in San Xavier, said she sometimes feels discouraged to see her native language disintegrating. But then she hears new students such as Preston painstakingly emit the soft, lilting sounds of O'odham in class. It is the affirmation she needs to keep working to save her mother tongue. ? Contact reporter Lourdes Medrano at 573-4347 or lmedrano at azstarnet.com. All content copyright © 1999-2006 AzStarNet, Arizona Daily Star and its wire services and suppliers and may not be republished without permission. All rights reserved. Any copying, redistribution, or retransmission of any of the contents of this service without the expressed written consent of Arizona Daily Star or AzStarNet is prohibited. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Mon Jun 19 15:15:24 2006 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2006 08:15:24 -0700 Subject: To tell, to hear, to learn (fwd) Message-ID: Posted on Sun, Jun. 18, 2006 To tell, to hear, to learn Storytellers keep heritage alive BY CHRISTINA M. WOODS The Wichita Eagle http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/nation/14844843.htm Vernon "Cy" Ahtone tells stories of pride, history and struggle, through polar bears, alligators and monkeys. An elder in Wichita's American Indian community and a well-known storyteller, Ahtone clings to his Kiowa heritage by telling stories and speaking the language of his people. Ahtone's stories chart his life. And after he dies, they will be his legacy. What's in a name Ahtone was born Jan. 11, 1949 in Carnegie, Okla. About three months after his birth, Ahtone met his great-grandfather. My father took me to meet his grandfather, who was on his deathbed. He lived about a mile and a half away. Winter lingered and the weather was bad. We walked across the creek. When we got there my father said, "Look Grandpa, here's my son." My great-grandfather, who is blind, reached up from his bed and touched me on the head, on the chest and on the legs. My great-grandfather gave his approval, saying, "Someday he's going to be grown and he will make you proud. But why did you bring him here in this kind of weather? Besides that, I have nothing to give him. "I have nothing to give him but my name." Ahtone. It means "small water." For a while the name was lost -- replaced with "Samuel" -- in the early 1900s when his great-grandfather attended Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania. "The proudest thing I have is that name because that old man gave it to me," he said. Ahtone is the first-born son of eight siblings and the first-born grandson of his family. His grandparents raised him from his infancy to midteen years to teach him his heritage, according to Kiowa tradition. When Ahtone's son, Vernon, was a preteen, he was sent to Carnegie to live with Ahtone's father. The tradition continued. And Ahtone moved to Wichita in the early 1980s to raise his first grandson, Claiborne. More than just stories Members of the more than 86 tribes that make up Wichita's American Indian community recognize the power in storytelling. "Stories tell more about personal histories than anything else will," said Ahtone, Stories vary by tribe, said Betty Nixon, also a Kiowa and elder in the community. There are about 189 Kiowas in Wichita, according to the U.S. Census. "We all weren't raised the same way," she said. "Our traditions are different. Our beliefs are different." For Rose Grant, of the Otoe tribe, stories take root and help preserve the core of their people. "Everything was taken from us," she said. "We don't have the buffalo, but we still have our native ways that the Creator has given us." A single phrase, "To tell the truth," helped Lance Lone Bear learn more about his Apache heritage. Honesty, Lone Bear said, is emphasized among Apaches. That's why his grandfather began each of his stories by saying, "To tell the truth." Now Lone Bear does the same. Those four words --"to tell the truth" -- resurrect childhood memories of strolling through the Arizona mountains with his grandfather, looking for arrowheads, learning the ways of Apaches and their emphasis on truth telling, Lone Bear said. "Life is a lot easier," he said, "with truth." Everyone has a story to tell, said Eugene Cameron, of the Southern Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma City. "You have a story from your family that represents your family, your culture, your traditions, who you are," said Cameron, whose stories are about animals such as bears, buffaloes and eagles. "They help share how we relate to one another within the society whatever culture that is." Lost culture Hearing stories and telling stories are different, according to Ahtone. "I love hearing their stories," he said of others' tales. "But I have no right to tell them because they're not my stories." His personal story is one of resolve. Ahtone said that while growing up in Oklahoma, teachers would reprimand students caught speaking Kiowa. Repeated verbal reprimands gave way to three licks with a paddle. "Now I hear people say, 'Oh, your language is important. You should teach it,' " Ahtone said in a hushed voice. "But back then, they tried to beat it out of me." His voice grows louder. "They tried to beat my Kiowa out of me," he said. "But they didn't do it. They weren't able to." He fears Kiowas will end up as African-Americans, many of whom have no knowledge about their people, their tribes, their African homeland. For Ahtone, there's hope. He speaks sentences in his native tongue, foreign to an ear accustomed to English but stirring to the heart. "When I can no longer do that, I'm just a dark-skinned man walking around here," he whispers. "And then that assimilation process has done its job." Ahtone refuses to let go of the heritage that took root in him through stories. There is authenticity in traditions -- and language. "Things sound so much better, you can express yourself so much more fully, stories are more exciting, jokes are funnier -- when you tell them in their original language." Legacy of knowledge His 16-year-old granddaughter, Leah Pherigo, tags along to his speaking engagements. Sometimes she wears her regalia, a dress in deep hues, with beadwork and feathers. She listens to her grandfather's stories so that one day she'll be able to pass them down. "I'll have stories to tell people, too," she said. Stories of the white bear (polar bear), the little tree men with tails (monkeys) and the water dragons (alligators) track the Kiowas' paths through North, Central and South America. It's through those stories that Ahtone plans to live forever. When Ahtone's grandchildren tell their grandchildren his stories, "I'm going to come back alive." "I have no money. I have no property. I have nothing of value that I can leave for anybody," he said. "My legacy is going to be what little knowledge I have. I pass that on through the stories I tell." Reach Christina M. Woods at 316- 269-6791 or cwoods at wichitaeagle.com. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Mon Jun 19 15:19:40 2006 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2006 08:19:40 -0700 Subject: Tribal colleges beckoning members (fwd) Message-ID: Posted on Sat, Jun. 17, 2006 Tribal colleges beckoning members SHAUN SCHAFER Associated Press http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/news/state/14843530.htm PAWNEE, Okla. - Working full-time with a family to support, Cedric Sunray said he didn't have much time to work on a college degree. Still, the desire was there, and Sunray, 31, said he rushed to be one of the 90 people enrolled in the Pawnee Nation College when it started classes last fall. "I wouldn't do it anywhere else," Sunray said. "Tribal colleges offer classes that are historically not offered anywhere and tribal colleges depend on workforce students." Flexing sovereignty and economic clout spurred in some cases by Indian gambling, tribal colleges are growing around the country. Nationally, there were no tribal colleges before 1968. Today, there are more than three dozen in the U.S. and one in Canada. Oklahoma, which didn't have a tribal college until 2002, now has four seeking accreditation and financing. "It's been a slow process, but we are happy to be where we are," said Gerald Gipp, executive director of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium. "We're going through a real learning process of operating our schools and reversing decades of neglect." Tribal colleges developed along with a growth in American Indians seeking higher education. American Indian enrollment in universities more than doubled during the past 25 years, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Simultaneously, enrollment in tribal colleges increased 62 percent in the past decade, according to the higher education consortium. Todd Fuller, president of Pawnee Nation College, said those numbers should continue to grow. He said he expected enrollment at his college to grow at least 40 percent this fall. "With tribal colleges there is that inherent mission of cultural and language preservation," Fuller said. "There also has to be a degree path." Tribal colleges also may be the last chance to save some native languages, said Quinton Roman Nose. Roman Nose, education director of the Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma, is helping develop a tribal college on the campus of Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford. "Some tribes have their own syllabary. Others have languages that aren't written. This is a really complicated area to try and preserve and teach a language," Roman Nose said. "There's a great need and this is one way of meeting it." Course offerings reflect tribal goals. In Oklahoma, the Muscogee (Creek) Nation offers Creek language as a means to preserve the tongue. The tribe also made it mandatory for Creek Headstart teachers to teach the language. In South Dakota, Sinte Gleska University's Lakota Studies Department has been integrating Lakota traditional values and history into academics since 1973. Nebraska Indian Community College, among other programs, offers an associate's degree in tribal business management. In Wyoming, Wind River Tribal College offers an Arapaho language class accredited through Southwestern Oklahoma. Tribal colleges also offer a challenge that may be unique in an American Indian student's life, Sunray said. "There are no excuses at a tribal college," Sunray said. "You can't look at a teacher and say he doesn't like me because of so-and-so." Instead of having a white instructor, students likely will see another tribal member teaching, he said. They're not there to get rich, but to make a difference, Sunray said. "They are going to make you work," he said. The institutions, however, face an uncertain future. Characterized by rural isolation, limited property tax base, and benign neglect from state governments, growth of tribal colleges has been uneven. At least seven have failed in the past 25 years, but another 17 new institutions have opened. They keep appearing because there is a need, said Roman Nose, whose great-grandfather, Henry, attended Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania. "Even our own tribal members ask 'Why do we need to do this?'" Roman Nose said. "We have needs that can't be met any other way." Funding remains key for any startup, the Pawnee's Fuller said. As president, he has worked to fund a new university and refurbish buildings for classroom space. The Cheyenne-Arapaho could only consider a tribal college after establishing a gambling operation, Roman Nose said. "With more economic power, with more wealth, we are able to do this," Roman Nose said. In North Dakota, United Tribes Technical College in Bismarck has had to fight for funding after it was eliminated from President Bush's budget proposal for the fifth straight year. Earlier this year, the state's congressional delegation said Congress restored $3.5 million. Gambling has aided some tribes, Gipp said, but not all. Most tribal gambling centers are in remote areas, and tribes have many needs to cover, he said. "These are schools chartered by the tribe," Gipp said. "So, it does indicate that tribes are feeling confident in where they are going." In Pawnee, Sunray said most of his classmates are seeking an education as a means to improve their lives. He hopes, however, that a tribal college education will do more for his 5-year-old daughter and his 1-year-old son, he said. "They're more apt to treat people better if they know who they are, if they're not marginalized," Sunray said. "They'll get along better with others and feel strong in who they are." His family speaks Choctaw and Cherokee at home and he hopes to raise children capable of communicating in several languages. Ultimately, he said when he thought about his girl someday getting married, he could picture blacks, Hispanics, whites and tribal members among her bridesmaids. "I know that sounds corny, but I really want this to make a better life for her and my son," Sunray said. "When I think about her wedding day, that's what I imagine. "And that would be nice." From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Mon Jun 19 15:22:05 2006 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2006 08:22:05 -0700 Subject: Robison looks to maintain the Western Shoshone language (fwd) Message-ID: Robison looks to maintain the Western Shoshone language [photo inset - Click to Enlarge Viktoria Pearson/LVN photo Betty Robinson will teach her grandaughter, Crystal Allen, the Western Shoshone language and culture in August. Browse and Buy Lahontan Valley News Photos] VIKTORIA PEARSON, vpearson at lahontanvalleynews.com June 17, 2006 http://www.lahontanvalleynews.com/article/20060617/News/106170026 The Nevada Arts Council approved 12 Folklife Apprenticeship grants in May, including two in Fallon. The council approved more than $28,000 to be divided between the 12 recipients throughout Nevada. The two Fallon grants equal $4,907 for apprenticeship programs in the art of Western saddlemaking and Western Shoshone language and culture. Each grant is based on the amount needed for the master artist to teach the apprentice an art form handed down within families, occupations, tribes, ethnic, regional and other community groups to preserve Nevada's rich cultural heritage. Betty Robison of Fallon is one of the master artists that will be teaching granddaughter and apprentice Crystal Allen, 23, of the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe, the Western Shoshone language and culture. Robison's grant was for $2,407 and will be used for materials and continuing education throughout the year. Allen will learn the cultural aspects and the majority of the language skills in a two-week, 80-hour study course. "We will focus on the culture and language eight hours a day for the entire two weeks. By the end of the two-week course, no more English will be spoken," said Robison. The training will continue with Allen through a correspondence program consisting of study guides, tapes and booklets Robison will make throughout the year. Robison said she tried to teach Allen the language as a child, but she had no interest in learning. "She became interested once she graduated from community college," said Robison. Robison said when Allen began studying culture in college and learned many of the nation's traditions were slowly disappearing, she realized she had a responsibility to learn and to help preserve a culture that could die out in the near future. Allen is pursuing a degree in political science with a full scholarship to Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass. Mount Holyoke is an all-female Ivy League college located near Boston. "I had taken it for granted (the language)," Allen said. "When I went to school on the East Coast, I noticed a lack of Native American representation." The Nevada Arts Council began the grant program in 1988 to preserve cultural heritage that was on the verge of disappearing from Nevada communities. Folklife Apprenticeship Grants of no more than $2,500 are given to individual master artists statewide that apply with either one or more apprentices to preserve a relevant cultural heritage. Classes for the apprentice can last from a couple of weeks to an entire year, depending on the time needed to master the skill. The grants are yearly and the application process begins in December. Grant decisions are generally voted on in May. Visit the Web site for information on the Folklife Apprenticeship programs at www.NevadaCulture.org Viktoria Pearson can be contacted at vpearson at lahontanvalleynews.com From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Tue Jun 20 16:06:39 2006 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2006 09:06:39 -0700 Subject: Alaska native sees culture, heritage endangered through climate change (fwd) Message-ID: Alaska native sees culture, heritage endangered through climate change By Dave Ranney Tuesday, June 20, 2006 http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2006/jun/20/alaska_native_sees_culture_heritage_endangered_thr/?city_local Global warming is squeezing the life out of Oscar Kawagley’s culture. “It is scary,” he said. “Cold is what makes my language, my culture, my identity. What am I going to do without cold?” Kawagley, 71, grew up in Bethel, Alaska, a Yupiaq village where, he said, “as a boy, we depended on seal for meat, for seal oil and for clothing.” Nowadays, he said, seals are scarce. “They are getting harder and harder to find because the ice is getting farther and farther out, and it’s not as thick,” Kawagley said. “Seals have to have ice for their pups — so do walrus — but it is disappearing.” Kawagley spoke Monday at “Impact of Climate Change on Indigenous Peoples,” a three-day symposium at Haskell Indian Nations University, which is a first of its type for the school. Other consequences of global warming: • Undeterred by the cold, bark beetles and budworms are wiping out thousands of acres of white and black spruce. • The number of forest fires is increasing. • Several fish species are disappearing. • The region’s permafrost is melting. • Coastal ice sheets are melting, exposing villages to the ocean’s waters. “It is a shame to see the pictures of the waves lapping against villagers’ homes,” said Kawagley, an associate professor of education at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. “But it is a reality.” • Polar bears are drowning because they must swim up to 60 miles in open sea to find food. Some have turned to cannibalism. • As food supplies dwindle, black, brown and grizzly bears are becoming more aggressive. “In Denali National Park today, they will not let you put up a tent because of the bears,” Kawagley said. Kawagley said his Yupiaq culture is reeling from the changes. “I feel afraid for my grandchildren,” he said. “Already, they are in a state of confusion.” Kawagley’s comments struck a chord with Dan Wildcat, a Haskell instructor and the symposium’s coordinator. “These are major issues to face that are very disruptive to native people — indigenous people who still take their identities, their lifeways and their cultures from the landscapes they live on,” Wildcat said. “For people who are maintaining those traditions, these changes are going to be very challenging.” The symposium ends Thursday morning. About 30 people attended Monday’s sessions. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Tue Jun 20 16:13:41 2006 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2006 09:13:41 -0700 Subject: Superhero flying to the rescue of native youth (fwd) Message-ID: Superhero flying to the rescue of native youth Cree legend Wesakechak comes to life in an updated form for comic books to be distributed to aboriginals Miro Cernetig Vancouver Sun Monday, June 19, 2006 http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=a97cf0e3-380e-4138-8fba-12236e9133ee&k=98554 Suicide is a scourge among young aboriginals. But a new superhero, with eagle feathers in his hair and a red, white and blue suit that hugs his chiselled body, is flying in to the rescue. His name is Wesakechak, named after the mythical shape-shifter and protector in Cree legends. But he's been updated for the 21st century with a flying motorcycle, superhuman strength and put inside a comic book now being distributed across the country for aboriginal youth. "We wanted to find a way to get through to young people," said Sean Muir, founder and executive director of the Healthy Aboriginal Network, a non-profit society. "In the past, this sort of stuff has often been done with lots of text and pamphlets. We thought a comic book might be a better way of reaching out." Apparently they were right. In fact, the comic Darkness Falls, which received $45,000 in aid from the B.C. Ministry of Health, is something of a best-seller: More than 33,000 of the comics, which will be revealed June 21 at the World Urban Forum, will be distributed to aboriginal teenagers, who are statistically five times more likely than their non-native counterparts to take their lives. What makes the comic unique -- and an effective teaching tool when discussing the silence-inducing subject of suicide, said Muir -- is that it fuses together elements of aboriginal spirituality with eye-popping action scenes and film noir fantasies one might find in an X-Men film. The comic's creator is Steve Sanderson, a 29-year-old animation artist who has worked for some of Vancouver's biggest animation and video game studios. Born to a Cree father and a non-native mother of Scottish descent, Sanderson got the inspiration a few years ago when he received a disturbing call from his cousin, who was ten years younger than him and still lived in Saskatoon. "He just called me out of the blue and said that he was going to kill himself," said Sanderson. "He meant it. He was at the end of his rope." Sanderson rushed to Saskatch-ewan to spend time with his troubled cousin. While there, he realized that his experience was one shared by thousands of aboriginals dealing with family members living in poverty who contemplate, and too often commit, suicide. But his mixed heritage and career in the entertainment world brought another perspective to the problem. "I thought it would be cool if I could mix the two -- my fascination with pop-cult and comic books and video game culture with native culture," he said. "I thought it would make something really different and more relevant for kids." What he decided to do was pit his superhero Wesakechak (pronounced wee-sak-ee-chak) against a more fearful Cree phantom which he also learned about while growing up: The Weetigo, the spirit who takes over a person's body and mind, making them commit acts such as cannibalism. Sanderson decided to make the Weetigo the evil force that drives native children to suicide. What Sanderson also did, mostly through his drawing and use of language, was portray life on the reserve as dark and desperate, as it can be sometimes. His opening panel is a depressing scene of a native high school, somewhere on the vast, sun-baked prairie. The main character, based on himself and his cousin, soon emerges as an overweight boy -- with a penchant for drawing -- who is bullied at school, told he's only good at eating by his teacher and goes home to a family where he's told he's too fat and "useless." Further on, the teen sits in a dark grove of trees, tears streaming, declaring, "I want to die. I want to die." Such scenes were not put in without pause. Muir said his organization screened the comic carefully over nine months. "The last thing you want to do is put this out and actually give people an idea about suicide," he said. But the story, while sometimes sad, is ultimately a hopeful one. When the evil Weetigo tries to force the boy to commit suicide, the powerful Wesakechak in full superhero mode tries to do battle. But he's losing. It's the young boy who hold the power to defeat this demon in front of him by declaring four words: "I don't wanna die." It's a simple story, said Sanderson. But it's left him fulfilled. "If one kids reads this and it changes their mind, then I've done something important with my life," he reflected. In fact, he already has. Sanderson's once-suicidal cousin is now graduating from film school, he said, "and has turned into a real success story," just like in the comic that thousands of other aboriginal children are now reading. mcernetig at png.canwest.com © The Vancouver Sun 2006 From candaceg at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Thu Jun 22 23:07:04 2006 From: candaceg at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Candace Galla) Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2006 16:07:04 -0700 Subject: NSF poster presentation invitation 6/27/06 Message-ID: Gathering Talk: Grant Writing and Language Documentation for Endangered Languages You are invited to a very special poster session being presented by the Native American language teams who have been participating in an intensive four-week seminar on grant proposal writing for documenting endangered languages funded by the National Science Foundation. The seminar is a part of the American Indian Language Development Institute (AILDI) and its sponsors. The project posters all represent four weeks of coursework and research on grant writing and documenting endangered languages. We hope that you will be able to stop by and talk with the poster presenters. We look forward to seeing you at this occasion. Date & Time: Tuesday June 27th, 9:00-10:45 a.m. Location: The College of Education Kiva Auditorium, Room 211 I have included the file as an attachment (pdf file). Please distribute widely. Hope to see you there! Mahalo, <--------------> Candace K. Galla Ph.D Student, LRC Graduate Assistant American Indian Language Development Institute Department of Language, Reading & Culture College of Education, Room 517 P.O. Box 210069 Tucson, AZ 85721-0069 (520) 621-1068, Fax (520)621-8174 www.u.arizona.edu/~aildi candaceg at email.arizona.edu -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: NSF poster session invitation.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 88823 bytes Desc: not available URL: From susan.penfield at GMAIL.COM Sat Jun 24 21:55:18 2006 From: susan.penfield at GMAIL.COM (Susan Penfield) Date: Sat, 24 Jun 2006 14:55:18 -0700 Subject: Indigenous Language Road Signs! Message-ID: This is a GREAT idea -- reminds me that, in order to promote the use of Latin, the ATMs in the Vatican have all been converted to Latin. Making language visible -- as the signs along the road through Salish-Kootenai country will be, encourages both an interest and respect--and use-- for languages. http://missoulian.com/articles/2006/06/24/news/mtregional/news08.txt S. -- Susan D. Penfield, Ph.D. Department of English(Primary) American Indian Language Devel.Institute Department of Linguistics Second Language Acquistion &Teaching Ph.D. Program Dept. of Language,Reading and Culture The Southwest Center (Research) Phone for messages: (520) 621-1836 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Sun Jun 25 15:31:26 2006 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2006 08:31:26 -0700 Subject: Be Creative Message-ID: The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Innovation Fund provides one-time grants to spark the creation or expansion of innovative education programs focusing on a particular field each year. The 2007 Innovation Fund seeks proposals in two areas: 1) International educational experiences occurring outside the United States, and 2) Foreign language immersion programs located in the United States or abroad. Maximum Award:$150,000. Eligibility: Programs must serve at least in part low- to moderate- income U.S. high school students who are high-achieving or have exceptional potential. Deadline: June 29, 2006. http://www.jackkentcookefoundation.org/jkcf_web/home.aspx?Page=Main -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From susan.penfield at GMAIL.COM Sun Jun 25 16:04:14 2006 From: susan.penfield at GMAIL.COM (Susan Penfield) Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2006 09:04:14 -0700 Subject: Be Creative In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Andre, I have to ask -- and am sorry that I do -- but, in this case, would the grant agency count 'Indigenous' languages as 'Foreign Languages" -- Probably not - and, of course, all on this list would blanch at that idea. What I have found is that funding of this type may represent a popular political agenda which provides great attention toward foreign language teaching (particularly of the 'strategic' languages -- those of anti-US countries). I'm not passing judgement, just making an observation. I would not want to discourage any program that fosters language teaching. We ,here in the US, do need to expand our horizons in terms of foreign language learning. However, I feel that support for endangered Indigenous languages, while surfacing in some places (like NSF/NEH DEL grants and ANA...) is generally not well supported by private foundations. This is particularly true of grants for immersion activities to support revitalization. Given the world language crisis, it would be great if this foundation, for example, would extend the funding for 'innovative and creative programs to support immersion activities for endangered languages." Maybe next year? Thanks for the post... Best, Susan On 6/25/06, Andre Cramblit wrote: > > The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Innovation Fund provides one-time grants to > spark the creation or expansion of innovative education programs focusing on > a particular field each year. > > The 2007 Innovation Fund seeks proposals in two areas: > 1) International educational experiences occurring outside the United > States, and > 2) Foreign language immersion programs located in the United States or > abroad. > > Maximum Award:$150,000. > > Eligibility: Programs must serve at least in part low- to moderate-income > U.S. high school students who are high-achieving or have exceptional > potential. > > Deadline: June 29, 2006. > > http://www.jackkentcookefoundation.org/jkcf_web/home.aspx?Page=Main > -- Susan D. Penfield, Ph.D. Department of English(Primary) American Indian Language Devel.Institute Department of Linguistics Second Language Acquistion &Teaching Ph.D. Program Dept. of Language,Reading and Culture The Southwest Center (Research) Phone for messages: (520) 621-1836 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From johnny_hilljr at YAHOO.COM Sun Jun 25 16:11:24 2006 From: johnny_hilljr at YAHOO.COM (johnny hilljr) Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2006 09:11:24 -0700 Subject: Be Creative In-Reply-To: <39a679e20606250904m66c170cama6063b0d7d71a6a8@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: hEY Susan where have you been. Susan Penfield wrote: Andre, I have to ask -- and am sorry that I do -- but, in this case, would the grant agency count 'Indigenous' languages as 'Foreign Languages" -- Probably not - and, of course, all on this list would blanch at that idea. What I have found is that funding of this type may represent a popular political agenda which provides great attention toward foreign language teaching (particularly of the 'strategic' languages -- those of anti-US countries). I'm not passing judgement, just making an observation. I would not want to discourage any program that fosters language teaching. We ,here in the US, do need to expand our horizons in terms of foreign language learning. However, I feel that support for endangered Indigenous languages, while surfacing in some places (like NSF/NEH DEL grants and ANA...) is generally not well supported by private foundations. This is particularly true of grants for immersion activities to support revitalization. Given the world language crisis, it would be great if this foundation, for example, would extend the funding for 'innovative and creative programs to support immersion activities for endangered languages." Maybe next year? Thanks for the post... Best, Susan On 6/25/06, Andre Cramblit wrote: The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Innovation Fund provides one-time grants to spark the creation or expansion of innovative education programs focusing on a particular field each year. The 2007 Innovation Fund seeks proposals in two areas: 1) International educational experiences occurring outside the United States, and 2) Foreign language immersion programs located in the United States or abroad. Maximum Award:$150,000. Eligibility: Programs must serve at least in part low- to moderate-income U.S. high school students who are high-achieving or have exceptional potential. Deadline: June 29, 2006. http://www.jackkentcookefoundation.org/jkcf_web/home.aspx?Page=Main -- Susan D. Penfield, Ph.D. Department of English(Primary) American Indian Language Devel.Institute Department of Linguistics Second Language Acquistion &Teaching Ph.D. Program Dept. of Language,Reading and Culture The Southwest Center (Research) Phone for messages: (520) 621-1836 --------------------------------- Sneak preview the all-new Yahoo.com. It's not radically different. Just radically better. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From susan.penfield at GMAIL.COM Sun Jun 25 16:28:59 2006 From: susan.penfield at GMAIL.COM (Susan Penfield) Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2006 09:28:59 -0700 Subject: Be Creative In-Reply-To: <20060625161124.50156.qmail@web37712.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message-ID: Hi JOHNNY!!! We have all been teaching for AILDI -- every day -- long days -- but WOW it has been amazing! I really wish you could come down -- I haven't been able to get extra travel money yet to make that happen -- but I'm still trying for it. Think about next summer -- would the B-I -A give you a month off? Ben and Lika will be up again soon -- early July -- I'm headed north with my kids for a vacation -- but you will see me a lot in the fall ! How are things going? Hi to Berta and the boys! (And the dogs...any more puppies?) Best, Susan On 6/25/06, johnny hilljr wrote: > > hEY Susan where have you been. > > > *Susan Penfield * wrote: > > Andre, > > I have to ask -- and am sorry that I do -- but, in this case, would the > grant agency count 'Indigenous' languages as 'Foreign Languages" -- Probably > not - and, of course, all on this list would blanch at that idea. What I > have found is that funding of this type may represent a popular political > agenda which provides great attention toward foreign language teaching > (particularly of the 'strategic' languages -- those of anti-US countries). > I'm not passing judgement, just making an observation. > > I would not want to discourage any program that fosters language teaching. > We ,here in the US, do need to expand our horizons in terms of foreign > language learning. However, I feel that support for endangered Indigenous > languages, while surfacing in some places (like NSF/NEH DEL grants and > ANA...) is generally not well supported by private foundations. This is > particularly true of grants for immersion activities to support > revitalization. > > Given the world language crisis, it would be great if this foundation, for > example, would extend the funding for 'innovative and creative programs to > support immersion activities for endangered languages." Maybe next year? > > Thanks for the post... > Best, > Susan > > On 6/25/06, Andre Cramblit wrote: > > > > The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Innovation Fund provides one-time grants > > to spark the creation or expansion of innovative education programs focusing > > on a particular field each year. > > > > The 2007 Innovation Fund seeks proposals in two areas: > > 1) International educational experiences occurring outside the United > > States, and > > 2) Foreign language immersion programs located in the United States or > > abroad. > > > > Maximum Award:$150,000. > > > > Eligibility: Programs must serve at least in part low- to > > moderate-income U.S. high school students who are high-achieving or have > > exceptional potential. > > > > Deadline: June 29, 2006. > > > > http://www.jackkentcookefoundation.org/jkcf_web/home.aspx?Page=Main > > > > > > -- > Susan D. Penfield, Ph.D. > > > Department of English(Primary) > American Indian Language Devel.Institute > Department of Linguistics > Second Language Acquistion &Teaching > Ph.D. Program > Dept. of Language,Reading and Culture > The Southwest Center (Research) > > Phone for messages: (520) 621-1836 > > > ------------------------------ > Sneak preview the all-new Yahoo.com. > It's not radically different. Just radically better. > > -- Susan D. Penfield, Ph.D. Department of English(Primary) American Indian Language Devel.Institute Department of Linguistics Second Language Acquistion &Teaching Ph.D. Program Dept. of Language,Reading and Culture The Southwest Center (Research) Phone for messages: (520) 621-1836 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From susan.penfield at GMAIL.COM Sun Jun 25 17:17:37 2006 From: susan.penfield at GMAIL.COM (Susan Penfield) Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2006 10:17:37 -0700 Subject: My apologies Message-ID: My apologies for posting my message to Johnny Hill to the general list...Sigh, a function of doing too much online stuff this morning!! Sorry... S. -- Susan D. Penfield, Ph.D. Department of English(Primary) American Indian Language Devel.Institute Department of Linguistics Second Language Acquistion &Teaching Ph.D. Program Dept. of Language,Reading and Culture The Southwest Center (Research) Phone for messages: (520) 621-1836 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Sun Jun 25 18:09:31 2006 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2006 11:09:31 -0700 Subject: Shoshone Message-ID: http://www.lahontanvalleynews.com/article/20060617/News/106170026 Robison looks to maintain the Western Shoshone language June 17, 2006  The Nevada Arts Council approved 12 Folklife Apprenticeship grants in May, including two in Fallon. The council approved more than $28,000 to be divided between the 12 recipients throughout Nevada. The two Fallon grants equal $4,907 for apprenticeship programs in the art of Western saddlemaking and Western Shoshone language and culture. Each grant is based on the amount needed for the master artist to teach the apprentice an art form handed down within families, occupations, tribes, ethnic, regional and other community groups to preserve Nevada's rich cultural heritage. Betty Robison of Fallon is one of the master artists that will be teaching granddaughter and apprentice Crystal Allen, 23, of the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe, the Western Shoshone language and culture. Robison's grant was for $2,407 and will be used for materials and continuing education throughout the year. Allen will learn the cultural aspects and the majority of the language skills in a two-week, 80-hour study course. "We will focus on the culture and language eight hours a day for the entire two weeks. By the end of the two-week course, no more English will be spoken," said Robison. The training will continue with Allen through a correspondence program consisting of study guides, tapes and booklets Robison will make throughout the year. Robison said she tried to teach Allen the language as a child, but she had no interest in learning. "She became interested once she graduated from community college," said Robison. Robison said when Allen began studying culture in college and learned many of the nation's traditions were slowly disappearing, she realized she had a responsibility to learn and to help preserve a culture that could die out in the near future. Allen is pursuing a degree in political science with a full scholarship to Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass. Mount Holyoke is an all-female Ivy League college located near Boston. "I had taken it for granted (the language)," Allen said. "When I went to school on the East Coast, I noticed a lack of Native American representation." The Nevada Arts Council began the grant program in 1988 to preserve cultural heritage that was on the verge of disappearing from Nevada communities. Folklife Apprenticeship Grants of no more than $2,500 are given to individual master artists statewide that apply with either one or more apprentices to preserve a relevant cultural heritage. Classes for the apprentice can last from a couple of weeks to an entire year, depending on the time needed to master the skill. The grants are yearly and the application process begins in December. Grant decisions are generally voted on in May. Visit the Web site for information on the Folklife Apprenticeship programs at www.NevadaCulture.org Viktoria Pearson can be contacted at vpearson at lahontanvalleynews.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: spacer.gif Type: image/gif Size: 43 bytes Desc: not available URL: From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Sun Jun 25 18:10:47 2006 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2006 11:10:47 -0700 Subject: New Speakers Message-ID: http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/134019 Tucson Region old ways, old words New speakers of ancient tongues Indian tribes find teaching is last hope for saving native languages By Lourdes Medrano Arizona Daily Star Tucson, Arizona | Published: 06.17.2006 As time treks through Indian country, the words of ancient songs and sacred rituals crumble under the weight of the dominant language. "I hear more and more English on the reservation," said Danny Lopez, who teaches Tohono O'odham at the Sells community college. "A lot of children don't know our language anymore." But a language revival of sorts has gripped many American Indian tribes working to keep their mother tongues vibrant. Just southwest of Tucson, in the San Xavier District of the Tohono O'odham Nation, children and their parents learn the language of their ancestors in special classes. In Nebraska, Ho-Chunk youths absorb an elder's words preserved in 1,500 audiotapes about life on the reservation. In Montana, mothers immerse their newborns and toddlers in a new language program. They are some of the initiatives being discussed this month at the University of Arizona, where 20 tribal members hope to learn how to preserve declining indigenous languages. "Gathering Talk: Documenting, Describing and Revitalizing Our Languages" is the theme of the American Indian Language Development Institute this summer. The residential program has offered training since 1979 to teachers of indigenous languages. But institute director Ofelia Zepeda said it is the first time tribal members have received a fellowship from the National Science Foundation to focus on language preservation. The fellows represent languages from a number of American Indian tribes, including Oneida, Ho-Chunk, Blackfeet, Coushatta, Sahaptin, Southern Ute, Cheyenne, Laguna-Keres, Okanagan, Tohono O'odham and Akimel O'odham. The decline of indigenous languages has been well documented, but "of late we're having more tribes acknowledge it," Zepeda said. She and other linguists say the reasons for language loss are complex. But they note that American Indian languages historically were suppressed in government attempts to assimilate tribes into mainstream society. In 1995, the Alaska Native Language Center found that of 175 indigenous languages still spoken in the United States, 155 were moribund because children no longer learned them. "It's a huge loss," noted Zepeda, who is Tohono O'odham. "Young people are not learning their language, but that's because the adults are not using it." Growing up, that was certainly the case for Don Preston, an artist who grew up away from the Tohono O'odham Reservation. He returned as an adult and since March has attended a weekly language class in the evening at the San Xavier District Education Center. "My parents never taught me, and I always wanted to learn to speak my own language," said Preston, 52. "It's like going back to my own roots." Jodi Burshia, one of the fellows at the university, said she also wants to learn the language of her ancestors. Her ancestry includes Pueblo, Navajo, Sioux, Chippewa and French Canadian, but she speaks none of the languages. "I want to know about all of them," said Burshia, who grew up with the Laguna Pueblo people in New Mexico and now lives in Tucson. Burshia, like the other fellows, is learning how to write effective grant proposals to secure outside funding for language documentation when tribal money falls short. She said she hopes to help collect and preserve letters, tapes and other documents in her Laguna community. Marvin Weatherwax, a member of the Blackfeet tribe in northwestern Montana, said the death of elders in the past two years has meant a drop in the number of fluent native speakers to 350 from 500. Eighteen new speakers were gained in the past five years, said Weatherwax, who teaches language at his reservation's community college. Last summer, the UA fellow said, he determined by knocking on doors that 1,500 tribal members understand Blackfeet but rarely speak it. He calls them "sleepers," and his goal is to reawaken their knowledge about the language so they can share it with youngsters. "We can't lose our language," said Weatherwax, 59. "Without it, you lose pretty much your identity, you lose pretty much everything." In the Ho-Chunk Nation of Nebraska, Caroline Frenchman, another fellow, said tribal members teach the language to students from preschool to college two to three times a week. "But that is not enough," she said. Five fluent speakers remain among the roughly 2,600 enrolled members in the state, she said. To stir interest in the language, tribal members are digitizing the 1,500 audiotapes that a late elder, Stanford Whitewater, left behind. Frenchman said Whitewater's recordings contain a wealth of language lessons and tribal history. Frenchman, 42, said she studied her native language under Whitewater for five years before he died at age 90 recently. The language apprentice said she never learned Ho-Chunk from her grandparents, who raised her. Now, she herself is learning the language as she tries to save it from extinction. "There's an old legend that says if the language ever dies, the world will cease to exist," she said. "I don't want it to die." Marie Sanchez, a Northern Cheyenne who teaches the tribal language to elementary school students, characterized as severe the language loss among youngsters in her northeastern Montana reservation. "Our youngest fluent speaker is 30," said Sanchez, 67. To counter the downward trend, tribal members plan to expand an immersion program for mothers and infants, Sanchez said. "We want to get them back into learning the language and traditions before childbirth," she said of expectant mothers. Seeing so many youths no longer speak Cheyenne saddens Sanchez, but at the same time, "it makes me want to try harder." Delphine Saraficio, who teaches O'odham to children and adults in San Xavier, said she sometimes feels discouraged to see her native language disintegrating. But then she hears new students such as Preston painstakingly emit the soft, lilting sounds of O'odham in class. It is the affirmation she needs to keep working to save her mother tongue. ● Contact reporter Lourdes Medrano at 573-4347 or lmedrano at azstarnet.com. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From MiaKalish at LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US Sun Jun 25 18:43:42 2006 From: MiaKalish at LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US (Mia Kalish) Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2006 12:43:42 -0600 Subject: My apologies In-Reply-To: <39a679e20606251017y6b28a9a5maf98ae8577355039@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: Hi, Sue, I Enjoyed it :-) I am either overloaded or lazy . . . nice to see something on a personal note without having to write it myself. Is AILDI over? I saw the post about the NSF grant writing class posters next week. . . Best, Mia _____ From: Indigenous Languages and Technology [mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU] On Behalf Of Susan Penfield Sent: Sunday, June 25, 2006 11:18 AM To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU Subject: [ILAT] My apologies My apologies for posting my message to Johnny Hill to the general list...Sigh, a function of doing too much online stuff this morning!! Sorry... S. -- Susan D. Penfield, Ph.D. Department of English(Primary) American Indian Language Devel.Institute Department of Linguistics Second Language Acquistion &Teaching Ph.D. Program Dept. of Language,Reading and Culture The Southwest Center (Research) Phone for messages: (520) 621-1836 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From coyotez at UOREGON.EDU Tue Jun 27 04:21:52 2006 From: coyotez at UOREGON.EDU (David Lewis) Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2006 21:21:52 -0700 Subject: ACTION ALERT! Message-ID: -------- Original Message -------- Subject: NIEA Action Alert Broadcast #06-034 Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2006 16:34:10 -0700 From: Jim Thornton To: Title VII Line National Indian Education Association110 Maryland Avenue, N.E.Suite 104Washington, D.C. 20002P: (202) 544-7290 / F: (202) 544-7293 June 26, 2006Broadcast #06-034 ACTION ALERT! NIEA needs your help in sending a message to Congress about the importance of our Native languages. The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs may mark up S. 2674, Native American Languages Act Amendments of 2006, a bill introduced by Senator Daniel Akaka (D-HI), in the month of July. On the House side, two bills have been introduced, H.R. 4766 and H.R. 5222, introduced by Representatives Heather Wilson (R-NM) and Ed Case (D-HI) respectively. NIEA is requesting that schools and tribes weigh in with their Congressional representative to express their support for a mark up on the Senate bill and floor vote before Congress breaks in August. Likewise, NIEA requests that schools and tribes express their support for a field hearing on Native Languages through the House Education and Workforce Committee. There is a field hearing that is being proposed for the month of August in New Mexico on H.R. 4766 and NIEA needs your help in garnering support to make this hearing happen. Please send the following letters to your Congressional delegation, in addition to the following members, to express your support for legislation that supports existing and new Native language immersion programs. Click here to acess a letter template for the Senate. Senate John McCain, Chairman, Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Byron Dorgan, Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Indian AffairsMichael Enzi, Chairman, Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Edward Kennedy, Ranking Member, Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Click here to access a letter template for the House of Representatives. House of Representatives Howard McKeon, Chairman, House Education and Workforce Committee George Miller, Ranking Member, House Education and Workforce Committee UPDATE ON NATIVE LANGUAGE LEGISLATIVE SUMMIT The following Senators and Representatives have confirmed for the Native Language Legislative Summit on July 12, 2006 in Washington, DC: Sentator Murkowski (AK)Congresswoman McCollum (MN)Congressman Kildee (MI)COngressman P. Kennedy (RI) The following will attend the reception in honor of the Native American Code Talkers: Senator Coburn (OK)Congresswoman Granger (TX)Congressman Renzi (AZ)Congressman P. Kennedy (RI) The following are the Native American Code Talkers who will be present at the Code Talker honoring reception to be held that evening at the National Museum of the American Indian: Clarence WolfGuts - Oglala SiouxKeith M. Little - NavajoSamuel Tso - NavajoPeter MacDonald - Navajo If you have any questions or would like additional information, please contact NIEA at (202)544-7290 or at niea at niea.org. ---------------------------------------If you would like to be removed from our list-serve, please send your request to niea at niea.org. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Tue Jun 27 04:54:34 2006 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2006 21:54:34 -0700 Subject: Anishinabek create official language policy (fwd) Message-ID: Anishinabek create official language policy 21 June, 2006 Media release http://www.firstperspective.ca/fp_template.php?path=20060622language NIPISSING FIRST NATION - Chiefs of the 42 member communities of the Anishinabek Nation have unanimously created an official language policy. During their June 12-14 annual Grand Council Assembly, the Chiefs endorsed a resolution declaring that the official language of the Anishinabek Nation is Anishinaabe-mowin, or the Ojibwe language. "This is a historic decision for our First Nations, and a significant step in coming out from under colonial rule and restoring our own Nationhood," said John Beaucage, who was acclaimed by the Chiefs to serve another term as their Grand Council Chief. The Grand Council Assembly serves as a traditional annual gathering for member communities of the Anishinabek Nation, as well as the annual general meeting of the Union of Ontario Indians Inc. "Our language is sacred, and protecting and restoring it is a priority for our Chiefs," said Beaucage. "It is the vision of this official language policy that our people will once again think in Anishinaabe-mowin by ensuring that Ojibwe is once again the language of our ceremonies, our gatherings, and our working life." The official language policy is in step with the Anishinabek Nation's unanimous support for the establishment of the Anishinaabe-Mushkegowuk-Onkwehonwe Language Commission that will support the language development needs of all First Nations in Ontario. Outgoing Deputy Grand Chief Nelson Toulouse, who did not seek re-election, was officially appointed as Commissioner to this new body that was modeled after the Maori language commission in New Zealand. The resolution states that "the Anishinabek Chiefs-in-Assembly hereby declare that Anishinaabe-mowin, shall herein and forever, be the official language of the Anishinabek Nation and "hereby acknowledge that English is the language of the Crown and is a working language of our people". The official language policy also adopts immersion programs as the preferred method of instruction in Anishinabek Nation schools. "Ojibwe as a second language or conventional Ojibwe language instruction shall be phased out in favour of immersion and fluency programs for school-aged children," said Grand Council Chief Beaucage. The resolution also calls for the establishment of workplace immersion programs and learning opportunities for First Nation employees. The resolution commits the Chiefs-in-Assembly to encourage and support "opportunities for learning, and that each member of the Anishinabek Nation civil service shall be granted two weeks of language development leave and/or workplace language immersion programming." Anishinabek Nation Headquarters on Nipissing First Nation will implement the workplace language programming this summer. Satellite offices located in Thunder Bay, Curve Lake and Muncey-Deleware will follow suit soon after. The 42 member First Nations will mandate and regulate the official language policy through their respect Band Councils, Agencies, Boards and Commissions by the year 2010. The Anishinabek Nation incorporated the Union of Ontario Indians as its secretariat in 1949. The UOI is a political advocate for 42 member First Nations across Ontario. The UOI is the oldest political organization in Ontario and can trace its roots back to the Confederacy of Three Fires, which existed long before European contact. From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Thu Jun 29 05:17:42 2006 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2006 22:17:42 -0700 Subject: two-year language study Message-ID: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/education/20060627-9999-1m27moro.html UCSD grad students end two-year language study By Sarah Gordon UNION-TRIBUNE June 27, 2006 At UCSD, a group of linguistics graduate students recently wrapped up a two-year investigation of an esoteric language few others had studied: Moro, one of dozens of tribal tongues spoken in the Nuba Mountains of Central Sudan.  NANCEE E. LEWIS / Union-Tribune Elyasir Julima of Sudan listened to a question about his native language, Moro, during a UCSD linguistics class earlier this month. Julima attended the class twice a week to help graduate students studying the dying language. Twice a week, Elyasir Julima, a Sudanese refugee living in City Heights, came to class and spoke while students toiled to develop a description of Moro's tone system and grammar. Linguists say there may be more than 6,500 languages spoken around the world. So why spend two years on Moro? “It trains them to work on any language they haven't encountered,” said UCSD's associate professor of linguistics, Sharon Rose, who co- taught the field methods class. Besides, evidence indicates that Moro may be endangered. Students in the class think that would be a shame. “The language contains a lot of information about the area, the culture, its history,” student George Gibbard said. In Moro, for example, the word for “farmer” is the same as the word for “man.” In the Nuba Mountains, agriculture is so pervasive, almost every man is also a farmer.  NANCEE E. LEWIS / Union-Tribune George Gibbard, a UCSD graduate student, wrote sentences in Moro as part of his class' study on the language, spoken in Central Sudan. Linguistics is the scientific study of language. It can be a highly theoretical field, and a minority of linguistics graduate programs in the country require hands-on courses in documenting and unraveling little-studied languages. However, the UCSD-required class has been an essential part of the school's program for decades. The skills to decode rare, endangered and minority languages are of increasing importance to linguists, say academics in the field. The reasons are twofold. For one, linguists want to build databases that take advantage of modern computing's power to run complex language comparisons. “Since linguists are always trying to figure out the relationship between language and the mind, every bit of evidence we have gives us information,” said Farrell Ackerman, a professor who co-taught the field methods class with Rose. “If we only documented English, we'd have a very peculiar view of this relationship.” Linguists also want to document languages before it's too late. Increasing globalization and industrialization make many languages vulnerable to obsolescence. Rose says tribal speech can die within a couple of generations once speakers come in contact with a tongue from a more dominant and economically powerful group. The status of Moro is unknown because civil war in Sudan has kept linguists away for decades. But Rose says evidence suggests that it is threatened. Arabic is Sudan's government-endorsed language in schools and trade, and villages where Moro used to thrive have been torn apart by war.   Advertisement With its speakers dead or dispersed, the language might easily die too, Rose says. The UCSD class has a history of helping to revitalize threatened languages close to home: those of American Indians. Longtime faculty member Margaret Langdon, who died last year, devoted her career to helping the Kumeyaay band of American Indians document and teach young people their traditionally oral language. Over the years, she inspired many graduate students at UCSD. One wrote a three-volume dictionary of Luiseño. Another organizes a yearly collaborative conference between American Indians and linguists at UC Berkeley. Still, even Langdon doubted that little-used languages could ever be completely restored. “She was always of the opinion that no matter what they did, it was probably a losing battle,” Rose said. Ackerman and Rose nonetheless hope their work will eventually enrich Moro-speaking communities in Sudan. They plan to apply for a grant to continue studying the language and would ultimately like to produce learning materials in Moro, like children's books or a dictionary. “Whatever the research we do should also have a practical benefit for the community,” Ackerman said. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: moro1.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 7279 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: moro2.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 11476 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: t.gif Type: image/gif Size: 43 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: t.gif Type: image/gif Size: 43 bytes Desc: not available URL: From dzo at BISHARAT.NET Thu Jun 29 23:41:55 2006 From: dzo at BISHARAT.NET (d_z_o) Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 23:41:55 -0000 Subject: Fwd: Volkswagen Foundation funding for endangered languages Message-ID: FYI... --- In MINEL at yahoogroups.com, "Don Osborn" wrote: This funding opportunity may be of interest but it does require that a German institution take the lead (although that can involve collaboration with institutions and researchers elsewhere). It does seem a bit limited of vision of them to frame this only in terms of documenting languages before they become extinct, and not to mention revitalization efforts, but maybe those can be included. (Thanks to Ted Johnson for forwarding mention of this VW Fndn. initiative.)... DZO Documentation of Endangered Languages Next deadline for applications: October 15, 2006 http://www.volkswagenstiftung.de/foerderung/auslandsorientiert/bedrohte-sprachen.html?L=1 Some two thirds of the estimated 6,500 languages still spoken throughout the world are in danger of disappearing within the next one to two generations. But if a language dies, this also means that a piece of the cultural diversity of our world dies with it. The initiative cannot stop this development, but it can make sure that testimony to these language cultures, which are mostly only passed on by word of mouth, is recorded in an electronic archive of endangered languages before they vanish without trace: by means of audio tape, video camera, still camera and note pad. The program funds documentation projects as well as symposia and summer schools. You will find details regarding the content and information about how to file an application in the Information for Applicants, which also includes a checklist. Background: The main phase of the initiative that started in 2002 was preceded by a pilot phase in which the researchers of the first eight documentation projects together with the "technicians" around Peter Wittenburg from the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen developed a number of standardizations of a technical, juridical-ethical and methodological-linguistic nature. This central database project trod new ground in terms of the methods used; it constitutes the binding framework for the individual documentation projects. --- End forwarded message --- From susan.penfield at GMAIL.COM Fri Jun 30 00:16:42 2006 From: susan.penfield at GMAIL.COM (Susan Penfield) Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 17:16:42 -0700 Subject: Fwd: Volkswagen Foundation funding for endangered languages In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Thanks for this post. Many of us have been concerned about the strong focus on documentation, sometimes at the cost of revitalization efforts. From the linguists perspective, it is quite possible to separate the two. However, from the perspective of every community member I've ever known, these are not discreet acitivties. More funding, public and private, needs to clearly integrate both documentation and revitalization activties, even for the most endangered languages. I work with a language which has just three speakers left -- revitalizing through some of the most popular means (immersion classes, language nests) is out of the question because of the age or availability of the last speakers. Still, the community goal is clearly focused on revitalizing -- and, thanks to a number of supportive and innovative softwares, computer-based immersion teaching is possble.. Solicitation for the NSF DEL grants recently came due (September 15 deadline). While these also clearly specify they are not funding revitalization, they do not discourage the mention of turning documented language into materials for revitalization (though those activities would have to be funded under someone else) ...Still, DEL grants can be seen as one stage in the broader picture of what it takes to revitalize a language. S. On 6/29/06, d_z_o wrote: > > FYI... > > --- In MINEL at yahoogroups.com, "Don Osborn" wrote: > > This funding opportunity may be of interest but it does require that a > German institution take the lead (although that can involve > collaboration with institutions and researchers elsewhere). It does > seem a bit limited of vision of them to frame this only in terms of > documenting languages before they become extinct, and not to mention > revitalization efforts, but maybe those can be included. (Thanks to > Ted Johnson for forwarding mention of this VW Fndn. initiative.)... DZO > > > Documentation of Endangered Languages > Next deadline for applications: October 15, 2006 > > http://www.volkswagenstiftung.de/foerderung/auslandsorientiert/bedrohte-sprachen.html?L=1 > > Some two thirds of the estimated 6,500 languages still spoken > throughout the world are in danger of disappearing within the next one > to two generations. But if a language dies, this also means that a > piece of the cultural diversity of our world dies with it. The > initiative cannot stop this development, but it can make sure that > testimony to these language cultures, which are mostly only passed on > by word of mouth, is recorded in an electronic archive of endangered > languages before they vanish without trace: by means of audio tape, > video camera, still camera and note pad. > > The program funds documentation projects as well as symposia and > summer schools. You will find details regarding the content and > information about how to file an application in the Information for > Applicants, which also includes a checklist. > > Background: The main phase of the initiative that started in 2002 was > preceded by a pilot phase in which the researchers of the first eight > documentation projects together with the "technicians" around Peter > Wittenburg from the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in > Nijmegen developed a number of standardizations of a technical, > juridical-ethical and methodological-linguistic nature. This central > database project trod new ground in terms of the methods used; it > constitutes the binding framework for the individual documentation > projects. > > --- End forwarded message --- > -- Susan D. Penfield, Ph.D. Department of English(Primary) American Indian Language Devel.Institute Department of Linguistics Second Language Acquistion &Teaching Ph.D. Program Dept. of Language,Reading and Culture The Southwest Center (Research) Phone for messages: (520) 621-1836 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From MiaKalish at LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US Fri Jun 30 00:40:00 2006 From: MiaKalish at LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US (Mia Kalish) Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 18:40:00 -0600 Subject: Fwd: Volkswagen Foundation funding for endangered languages In-Reply-To: <39a679e20606291716p1b1273cdg4a8b76055e08c661@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: I guess the only thing we can do about this is Keep Talking. Right now, I am pretty maxed. . . . but it would seem that we need to be telling the NSF that learning HOW to do something as complex as this has just as much research value as Talking About it, or providing the metatheoretic. Mia _____ From: Indigenous Languages and Technology [mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU] On Behalf Of Susan Penfield Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2006 6:17 PM To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU Subject: Re: [ILAT] Fwd: Volkswagen Foundation funding for endangered languages Thanks for this post. Many of us have been concerned about the strong focus on documentation, sometimes at the cost of revitalization efforts. From the linguists perspective, it is quite possible to separate the two. However, from the perspective of every community member I've ever known, these are not discreet acitivties. More funding, public and private, needs to clearly integrate both documentation and revitalization activties, even for the most endangered languages. I work with a language which has just three speakers left -- revitalizing through some of the most popular means (immersion classes, language nests) is out of the question because of the age or availability of the last speakers. Still, the community goal is clearly focused on revitalizing -- and, thanks to a number of supportive and innovative softwares, computer-based immersion teaching is possble.. Solicitation for the NSF DEL grants recently came due (September 15 deadline). While these also clearly specify they are not funding revitalization, they do not discourage the mention of turning documented language into materials for revitalization (though those activities would have to be funded under someone else) ...Still, DEL grants can be seen as one stage in the broader picture of what it takes to revitalize a language. S. On 6/29/06, d_z_o wrote: FYI... --- In MINEL at yahoogroups.com, "Don Osborn" wrote: This funding opportunity may be of interest but it does require that a German institution take the lead (although that can involve collaboration with institutions and researchers elsewhere). It does seem a bit limited of vision of them to frame this only in terms of documenting languages before they become extinct, and not to mention revitalization efforts, but maybe those can be included. (Thanks to Ted Johnson for forwarding mention of this VW Fndn. initiative.)... DZO Documentation of Endangered Languages Next deadline for applications: October 15, 2006 http://www.volkswagenstiftung.de/foerderung/auslandsorientiert/bedrohte-spra chen.html?L=1 Some two thirds of the estimated 6,500 languages still spoken throughout the world are in danger of disappearing within the next one to two generations. But if a language dies, this also means that a piece of the cultural diversity of our world dies with it. The initiative cannot stop this development, but it can make sure that testimony to these language cultures, which are mostly only passed on by word of mouth, is recorded in an electronic archive of endangered languages before they vanish without trace: by means of audio tape, video camera, still camera and note pad. The program funds documentation projects as well as symposia and summer schools. You will find details regarding the content and information about how to file an application in the Information for Applicants, which also includes a checklist. Background: The main phase of the initiative that started in 2002 was preceded by a pilot phase in which the researchers of the first eight documentation projects together with the "technicians" around Peter Wittenburg from the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen developed a number of standardizations of a technical, juridical-ethical and methodological-linguistic nature. This central database project trod new ground in terms of the methods used; it constitutes the binding framework for the individual documentation projects. --- End forwarded message --- -- Susan D. Penfield, Ph.D. Department of English(Primary) American Indian Language Devel.Institute Department of Linguistics Second Language Acquistion &Teaching Ph.D. Program Dept. of Language,Reading and Culture The Southwest Center (Research) Phone for messages: (520) 621-1836 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From susan.penfield at GMAIL.COM Fri Jun 30 00:47:22 2006 From: susan.penfield at GMAIL.COM (Susan Penfield) Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 17:47:22 -0700 Subject: Fwd: Volkswagen Foundation funding for endangered languages In-Reply-To: <000601c69bdd$bc149120$0200a8c0@LFPMia> Message-ID: NSF is actually really trying to make this connection in other ways and certainly giving community members more support one might expect (See the AILDI activities on their website)...But yes, we all need to 'keep talking' -- the good news is that we are beginning to be heard! S. On 6/29/06, Mia Kalish wrote: > > I guess the only thing we can do about this is Keep Talking. Right now, I > am pretty maxed. . . . but it would seem that we need to be telling the NSF > that learning HOW to do something as complex as this has just as much > research value as Talking About it, or providing the metatheoretic. > > > > Mia > > > ------------------------------ > > *From:* Indigenous Languages and Technology [mailto: > ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU] *On Behalf Of *Susan Penfield > *Sent:* Thursday, June 29, 2006 6:17 PM > *To:* ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU > *Subject:* Re: [ILAT] Fwd: Volkswagen Foundation funding for endangered > languages > > > > Thanks for this post. > > Many of us have been concerned about the strong focus on documentation, > sometimes at the cost of revitalization efforts. From the linguists > perspective, it is quite possible to separate the two. However, from the > perspective of every community member I've ever known, these are not > discreet acitivties. > > More funding, public and private, needs to clearly integrate both > documentation and revitalization activties, even for the most endangered > languages. I work with a language which has just three speakers left -- > revitalizing through some of the most popular means (immersion classes, > language nests) is out of the question because of the age or availability of > the last speakers. Still, the community goal is clearly focused on > revitalizing -- and, thanks to a number of supportive and innovative > softwares, computer-based immersion teaching is possble.. > > Solicitation for the NSF DEL grants recently came due (September 15 > deadline). While these also clearly specify they are not funding > revitalization, they do not discourage the mention of turning documented > language into materials for revitalization (though those activities would > have to be funded under someone else) ...Still, DEL grants can be seen as > one stage in the broader picture of what it takes to revitalize a language. > > S. > > On 6/29/06, *d_z_o* wrote: > > FYI... > > --- In MINEL at yahoogroups.com, "Don Osborn" wrote: > > This funding opportunity may be of interest but it does require that a > German institution take the lead (although that can involve > collaboration with institutions and researchers elsewhere). It does > seem a bit limited of vision of them to frame this only in terms of > documenting languages before they become extinct, and not to mention > revitalization efforts, but maybe those can be included. (Thanks to > Ted Johnson for forwarding mention of this VW Fndn. initiative.)... DZO > > > Documentation of Endangered Languages > Next deadline for applications: October 15, 2006 > > http://www.volkswagenstiftung.de/foerderung/auslandsorientiert/bedrohte-sprachen.html?L=1 > > Some two thirds of the estimated 6,500 languages still spoken > throughout the world are in danger of disappearing within the next one > to two generations. But if a language dies, this also means that a > piece of the cultural diversity of our world dies with it. The > initiative cannot stop this development, but it can make sure that > testimony to these language cultures, which are mostly only passed on > by word of mouth, is recorded in an electronic archive of endangered > languages before they vanish without trace: by means of audio tape, > video camera, still camera and note pad. > > The program funds documentation projects as well as symposia and > summer schools. You will find details regarding the content and > information about how to file an application in the Information for > Applicants, which also includes a checklist. > > Background: The main phase of the initiative that started in 2002 was > preceded by a pilot phase in which the researchers of the first eight > documentation projects together with the "technicians" around Peter > Wittenburg from the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in > Nijmegen developed a number of standardizations of a technical, > juridical-ethical and methodological-linguistic nature. This central > database project trod new ground in terms of the methods used; it > constitutes the binding framework for the individual documentation > projects. > > --- End forwarded message --- > > > > > -- > Susan D. Penfield, Ph.D. > > > Department of English(Primary) > American Indian Language Devel.Institute > Department of Linguistics > Second Language Acquistion &Teaching > Ph.D. Program > Dept. of Language,Reading and Culture > The Southwest Center (Research) > > Phone for messages: (520) 621-1836 > -- Susan D. Penfield, Ph.D. Department of English(Primary) American Indian Language Devel.Institute Department of Linguistics Second Language Acquistion &Teaching Ph.D. Program Dept. of Language,Reading and Culture The Southwest Center (Research) Phone for messages: (520) 621-1836 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From MiaKalish at LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US Fri Jun 30 00:52:11 2006 From: MiaKalish at LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US (Mia Kalish) Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 18:52:11 -0600 Subject: Fwd: Volkswagen Foundation funding for endangered languages In-Reply-To: <39a679e20606291747j745566a3g67a959d3a6d467ba@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: I have news, actually. Someone contacted me online, and asked if I would be interested in posted my games and learning materials. They have a global market, and in a couple of weeks, will have a mobile download facility operational. :-) --> That means: Flash games in Indigenous languages in the World Market. Of course, we get paid handsomely for this. It's a demand market, so we get paid for what users download and use on their web pages or play. I'm going to start uploading next week, and will have some of the first available for mobiles. I am beside myself with delight. I always wanted to do this, and now someone else is providing the network. All I have to do is produce the content - and we all know I have been doing that to death for years. Nice value-add for the language. Mia _____ From: Indigenous Languages and Technology [mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU] On Behalf Of Susan Penfield Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2006 6:47 PM To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU Subject: Re: [ILAT] Fwd: Volkswagen Foundation funding for endangered languages NSF is actually really trying to make this connection in other ways and certainly giving community members more support one might expect (See the AILDI activities on their website)...But yes, we all need to 'keep talking' -- the good news is that we are beginning to be heard! S. On 6/29/06, Mia Kalish wrote: I guess the only thing we can do about this is Keep Talking. Right now, I am pretty maxed. . . . but it would seem that we need to be telling the NSF that learning HOW to do something as complex as this has just as much research value as Talking About it, or providing the metatheoretic. Mia _____ From: Indigenous Languages and Technology [mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU] On Behalf Of Susan Penfield Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2006 6:17 PM To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU Subject: Re: [ILAT] Fwd: Volkswagen Foundation funding for endangered languages Thanks for this post. Many of us have been concerned about the strong focus on documentation, sometimes at the cost of revitalization efforts. From the linguists perspective, it is quite possible to separate the two. However, from the perspective of every community member I've ever known, these are not discreet acitivties. More funding, public and private, needs to clearly integrate both documentation and revitalization activties, even for the most endangered languages. I work with a language which has just three speakers left -- revitalizing through some of the most popular means (immersion classes, language nests) is out of the question because of the age or availability of the last speakers. Still, the community goal is clearly focused on revitalizing -- and, thanks to a number of supportive and innovative softwares, computer-based immersion teaching is possble.. Solicitation for the NSF DEL grants recently came due (September 15 deadline). While these also clearly specify they are not funding revitalization, they do not discourage the mention of turning documented language into materials for revitalization (though those activities would have to be funded under someone else) ...Still, DEL grants can be seen as one stage in the broader picture of what it takes to revitalize a language. S. On 6/29/06, d_z_o wrote: FYI... --- In MINEL at yahoogroups.com, "Don Osborn" wrote: This funding opportunity may be of interest but it does require that a German institution take the lead (although that can involve collaboration with institutions and researchers elsewhere). It does seem a bit limited of vision of them to frame this only in terms of documenting languages before they become extinct, and not to mention revitalization efforts, but maybe those can be included. (Thanks to Ted Johnson for forwarding mention of this VW Fndn. initiative.)... DZO Documentation of Endangered Languages Next deadline for applications: October 15, 2006 http://www.volkswagenstiftung.de/foerderung/auslandsorientiert/bedrohte-spra chen.html?L=1 Some two thirds of the estimated 6,500 languages still spoken throughout the world are in danger of disappearing within the next one to two generations. But if a language dies, this also means that a piece of the cultural diversity of our world dies with it. The initiative cannot stop this development, but it can make sure that testimony to these language cultures, which are mostly only passed on by word of mouth, is recorded in an electronic archive of endangered languages before they vanish without trace: by means of audio tape, video camera, still camera and note pad. The program funds documentation projects as well as symposia and summer schools. You will find details regarding the content and information about how to file an application in the Information for Applicants, which also includes a checklist. Background: The main phase of the initiative that started in 2002 was preceded by a pilot phase in which the researchers of the first eight documentation projects together with the "technicians" around Peter Wittenburg from the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen developed a number of standardizations of a technical, juridical-ethical and methodological-linguistic nature. This central database project trod new ground in terms of the methods used; it constitutes the binding framework for the individual documentation projects. --- End forwarded message --- -- Susan D. Penfield, Ph.D. Department of English(Primary) American Indian Language Devel.Institute Department of Linguistics Second Language Acquistion &Teaching Ph.D. Program Dept. of Language,Reading and Culture The Southwest Center (Research) Phone for messages: (520) 621-1836 -- Susan D. Penfield, Ph.D. Department of English(Primary) American Indian Language Devel.Institute Department of Linguistics Second Language Acquistion &Teaching Ph.D. Program Dept. of Language,Reading and Culture The Southwest Center (Research) Phone for messages: (520) 621-1836 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dzo at BISHARAT.NET Fri Jun 30 21:35:39 2006 From: dzo at BISHARAT.NET (d_z_o) Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2006 21:35:39 -0000 Subject: Buffet, Gates, & the future of linguistic diversity Message-ID: With the news of Warren Buffet's donation of most of an estimated $44 billion to the Gates Foundation (GF), and remembering that the GF has funded some programs for endangered languages, one wonders whether any of this new mass of capital can be directed for use for language revitalization and linguistic diversity. Is not just a question of whether some more money can be allocated for specific projects, but rather whether resources can be found to develop and implement long-term programs for the development of minority languages. There are a number of important but relatively small programs to assist in documentation of endangered languages, and there are sometimes programs in individual countries to promote teaching of and development of literature in certain languages, but there does not seem to be any overarching strategy involving a range of actors (or "stakeholders") involved in or concerned with language preservation and development. At this time, when we read so often about about the current and expected rates of language extinction, when many countries and communities lack the resources to plan and manage for their own linguistic diversity, when many children especially of minority groups do not have access to formal education of any sort let alone in their maternal language, and when older people in minority language communities pass away taking with them knowledge that cannot be replaced (the proverbial "when an elder dies, a library burns"), while at the same time we have the resources, both monetary and technological, to record, manipulate, produce, and instruct in any language, there is an urgent need to develop bold, coherent and long term strategies. Basically we seem to be faced with a window of opportunity of limited duration, and an imperative to act promptly. The GF even with this added capital, is not the only organization that can assist in this area, so it shouldn't be singled out. There are other organizations that can and should contribute as well – philanthropic, national, intergovernmental, etc. However, given the amount of resources now at the GF's disposal, and its implied link via its founder to information technology (which has a great potential to help work language development and revitalization), it certainly is a logical starting place. And since this story is big in the news at this moment, maybe it deserves some focused discussion in order to produce a strong policy proposal? Don Osborn From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Thu Jun 1 04:10:39 2006 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Wed, 31 May 2006 21:10:39 -0700 Subject: Language Bill Message-ID: Drop language bill http://www.muskogeephoenix.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060531/ OPINION/60530004/1014 We should have pride in our country and in the things that make us Americans, including our common language. But America has never been a country in which only English has been spoken, so it?s with regret that the Senate passed a bill earlier this month proclaiming English the national language. The Senate measure, which was approved 63 to 34, wants to ?preserve and enhance? the role of English by restricting federal communications or services to English without altering current laws that require some documents and services in other languages. We don?t need a language law, though, for a few good reasons. For one, English is the predominant language in the United States, and nothing in more than 200 years of nationhood has threatened its unofficial status. Up until the 1980s, few even thought about the need for a national language declaration. The proposal, if it becomes law, also is an affront to this country?s diversity. Many Native Americans still speak their native languages. They are proud of their languages, as they should be, and it doesn?t make someone less of an American if they do not speak English. But the simple fact of the matter is that most people naturally will assimilate and lose their native language, and if not them, their children. Again, that?s something that has been happening throughout our history and is happening right now at a rate greater than ever. But English-only supporters raise unfounded fears that somehow things are different today and English will be squeezed out of existence. It won?t, even given the diverse world we live in. Just because the merchandise signs at Lowe?s are in English and Spanish and product assembly instructions are printed in four or five languages, it does not mean suddenly the Senate will become bilingual. And lastly, opponents to the national language bill are correct ? if made law, the Senate?s bill could eventually negate executive orders, regulations, civil service guidances and other multilingual ordinances not officially sanctioned by acts of Congress. We are and have been a big country, big enough to accommodate many people with many ideas and languages. Their presence doesn?t affect the status of English ? it never has ? but the Senate?s national language bill does make us look small-minded. Originally published May 31, 2006 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Thu Jun 1 16:46:10 2006 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2006 09:46:10 -0700 Subject: Preserving a language (fwd) Message-ID: 05/31/2006 Preserving a language Luke Brocki , Peak Reporter http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1998&dept_id=221583&newsid=16719164&PAG=461&rfi=9 [photo inset - TEACHING TRADITION: Betty Wilson, first nations coordinator for School District 47, has been instrumental in the continuing development of the Klah ah men Language Program. Working with elders, linguists, teachers and the Tla'Amin (Sliammon) cultural department, Wilson infuses lesson plans with traditional knowledge while translating the spoken tongue into written word.] Tla'Amin elders participate in teaching Klah ah men language to students in School District 47 Linguists describe the process of translation as decoding the meaning of a source text and recoding that meaning into the target language. The goal of translation is to ensure both the source and target texts communicate the same message. But what happens when there is no source text? Until recently, the Tla'Amin (Sliammon) language was a purely oral language, passed from generation to generation through stories and song. In recent years, local first nation educators developed a written form of the tongue, racing against time to record the language with the help of the only resource they can access: aging elders. "In Tla'Amin language you associate culture with the teachings," said Betty Wilson, first nations coordinator for School District 47. "Every time you lose a language, you lose a cultural being and it makes the whole world a little poorer. That's why we teach languages." When School District 47 approved implementation of the Tla'Amin language curriculum into the public school system 15 years ago, the notation involved English phonics, blending letters to make certain sounds, but being unable to represent others sounds not found in English pronunciation. Ten years ago, the Tla'Amin language program adopted the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), a system of phonetic notation created by British language teachers in the 1880s intended as a standard for representation of all spoken languages. "Linguists gave us a crash immersion course in language writing," said Wilson. In principle, IPA provides a separate symbol for each sound, avoiding letter combinations, or digraphs, such as sh and th in English orthography and ambiguity such as the different pronunciations of c in English. "We teach students the grammatical writing so that eventually, if they come across words they haven't been taught, they can start recording them themselves." Several years ago, Wilson started negotiating with BC's universities to get Klah ah men recognized in academia and offer courses at the post-secondary level. "But we needed to have a dictionary to get it university credited," said Gail Blaney, who teaches the language at Oceanview Secondary School. Numerous elders went into a recording studio to have their conversations recorded and made available for review and study. "The CDs are that dictionary," said Blaney. "It took quite a few years. Listening to them speak, writing it down and translating things. . . It's always going to be a learning process." Since then, the language has been accepted as a second language for university entry to Simon Fraser University and the University of Victoria. Negotiations with the University of BC are ongoing. The toils of recording the complete set of words and phrases that make up the language are far from over. "Right now we're trying to collate what we have and see what's missing," said Wilson. There are elders to interview, documents to collect and amalgamate, tapes and CDs to hear and transcribe. She's battling software problems--finding a universal IPA-compatible font has been a challenge--while creating an electronic dictionary from the language CDs. In the curriculum Wilson sets for the schools, lessons are illustrated through traditional cultural knowledge, but outside influence is pushing for a modernization. "Refrigerators are new, cars are new. Young people use slang just like everyone else. All language is transition. All language is change." Interest in the language programs has been high at the elementary and middle school level, with strategies in the works to bolster senior student participation. Wayne Pielle, a Tla'Amin language teacher at Brooks Secondary School, is excited about the program's success. "People are starting to realize who their neighbours are in the community," he said. The Klah ah men Language Program is offered from kindergarten to grade 12 at James Thomson Elementary School, Oceanview and Brooks, respectively. It is open to all interested students, regardless of ancestry. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Jun 2 14:49:31 2006 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 07:49:31 -0700 Subject: The Aboriginal Languages Initiative (ALI) 2006-2007 (fwd) Message-ID: The Aboriginal Languages Initiative (ALI) 2006-2007 http://www.fphlcc.com/Language.aspx A federal program funded by the Department of Canadian Heritage (DoCH). The ALI provides funding support for community and regionally-based projects directed at maintaining, revitalizing and promoting First Nations languages. ALI funds are distributed to provincial and territorial delivery organizations. FPHLCC is the regional delivery agent for the BC ALI?s program and allocates approximately $200,000 annually. The ALI program has been extended for another year. For assistance, please contact Deanna by email at deanna at fphlcc.ca. For 2006-2007 application forms, click here. Deadline: June 30, 2006 (4:30 pm). No faxes please. From Carolyn.Hepburn at SAULTCOLLEGE.CA Fri Jun 2 14:51:44 2006 From: Carolyn.Hepburn at SAULTCOLLEGE.CA (Carolyn Hepburn) Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 10:51:44 -0400 Subject: FW: NIEA IMPORTANT Broadcast #06-029 Message-ID: National Indian Education Association 110 Maryland Avenue, N.E. Suite 104 Washington, D.C. 20002 P: (202) 544-7290 / F: (202) 544-7293 June 2, 2006 Broadcast #06-029 National Indian Education Association Urges Congress to Pass Native American Language Immersion Legislation WASHINGTON - June 2, 2006 President Wilson Issues Unprecedented Call To Action For Indian Country To Defend Our Sacred Native Languages On the heels of his moving testimony to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs concerning the rapid decline of Native languages, President Wilson calls for all of Indian Country to rally around pending legislation that would support Federal funding for Native American Immersion Programs. Wilson stated that the pending bills represent our best and possibly our last hope in revitalizing our Native languages. He also added, "The fierce urgency of now cannot be overstated. We have denied and been denied, through apathy and indifference, the sacred birthright of generation after generation of Indian children. This must end. We owe our children an opportunity to express themselves in the languages used here since the beginning of time. A thousand generations have carried on these languages before us, and now it comes down to this defining place in history where we will decide if our languages and cultures are to be relegated to the cluttered dust bin of history; or if history will record that when Indian Country was faced with this decisive moment, it chose to act, it chose to stand up, it chose to carry on, and it chose to honor its sacred legacy that so many lived and died for. Our generation truly has a date with destiny and on July 12th we will take together, with one motion, a significant step toward destiny. We will speak together with one voice, saying that Native languages have a place in Indian Education and Indian Education is incomplete without inclusion of our languages." Under the leadership of Joe Garcia, President of the National Congress of American Indians, Native language revitalization has become NCAI'S number one education priority. Other national Tribal leaders have weighed in as well. Tex Hall, the co-chair of the NCAI and NIEA Tribal Leader's Education Task Force, added, "Here's a mission we actually can accomplish. It's time for Indian Country to show the rest of the Nation just how proud we are of our culture. We can do this by getting Congress to pass a Native American Language Protection Bill." Events surrounding the Summit include an opening assembly on Capitol Hill from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. The assembly will feature Congressional guests, a special presentation for the Code Talkers, and dissemination of advocacy materials on the pending Immersion Bills. Hill visits to key Congressional Offices will take place from 12:30 to 5:00 p.m., and a staff briefing will be held on the Senate side in the afternoon. The Summit will conclude with an evening reception at the Museum of The American Indian co-hosted by the National Indian Gaming Association honoring the Code Talkers, and the Native Language Revitalization movement. The Summit is free, but registration is required. This will help us secure appropriate Hill visits for our members. We urge our elders, educators, tribal leaders, cultural practitioners, youth, veterans, and all those concerned with the future of Native Languages to attend. Updated information will be made known as details are worked out such as hotel information, speakers in attendance, and exact locations. A flier, in text format, will follow this broadcast. A formatted flier will be posted on our website for downloading, printing and dissemination. For more information, please contact NIEA at 202-544-7290 or at niea at niea.org. --------------------------------------- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Sat Jun 3 03:44:05 2006 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 20:44:05 -0700 Subject: Language Legislative Summit Message-ID: The National Indian Education Association Presents NATIVE LANGUAGE LEGISLATIVE SUMMIT JULY 12, 2006 ? Wednesday ? Washington D.C. Locations: Capitol Hill ? 10:00 a.m. ? 12:00 noon Capitol Hill ? Senate & House Visits/Advocacy ? 12:30 p.m. ? 5:00 p.m. Reception ? National Museum of The American Indian ? ?Honoring Our Code Talkers? 6:30 p.m. ? 9:00 p.m. Other Highlights: ? Guest Congressional Representatives ? Navajo Code Talkers ? Special Message to Congress on Native Languages ? Native Language Press Conference This ?Call To Action? is held in support for the following bills: ? S.2674 ? The Native American Language Amendment Act of 2006 ? S.1035 ? The Code Talkers Recognition Act ? H.R.4766 ? The Native American Language Preservation Act of 2006 ? H.R.5222 ? The Native American Language Amendment Act of 2006 Host hotel: Residence Inn Marriott 333 E Street, S.W. ? (202) 484-8280 Cut off date: 6/23/06 Reference the National Indian Education Association when making reservations Reservation forms for the Summit are available at www.niea.org National Indian Education Association 110 Maryland Avenue, N.E. Suite 104 Washington, DC 20002 (202) 544-7290 / (202) 544-7293 fax From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Sat Jun 3 03:45:49 2006 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 20:45:49 -0700 Subject: Sacred Native Languages Message-ID: National Indian Education Association 110 Maryland Avenue, N.E. Suite 104 Washington, D.C. 20002 P: (202) 544-7290 / F: (202) 544-7293 June 2, 2006 Broadcast #06-029 National Indian Education Association Urges Congress to Pass Native American Language Immersion Legislation WASHINGTON ? June 2, 2006 President Wilson Issues Unprecedented Call To Action For Indian Country To Defend Our Sacred Native Languages On the heels of his moving testimony to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs concerning the rapid decline of Native languages, President Wilson calls for all of Indian Country to rally around pending legislation that would support Federal funding for Native American Immersion Programs. Wilson stated that the pending bills represent our best and possibly our last hope in revitalizing our Native languages. He also added, ?The fierce urgency of now cannot be overstated. We have denied and been denied, through apathy and indifference, the sacred birthright of generation after generation of Indian children. This must end. We owe our children an opportunity to express themselves in the languages used here since the beginning of time. A thousand generations have carried on these languages before us, and now it comes down to this defining place in history where we will decide if our languages and cultures are to be relegated to the cluttered dust bin of history; or if history will record that when Indian Country was faced with this decisive moment, it chose to act, it chose to stand up, it chose to carry on, and it chose to honor its sacred legacy that so many lived and died for. Our generation truly has a date with destiny and on July 12th we will take together, with one motion, a significant step toward destiny. We will speak together with one voice, saying that Native languages have a place in Indian Education and Indian Education is incomplete without inclusion of our languages.? Under the leadership of Joe Garcia, President of the National Congress of American Indians, Native language revitalization has become NCAI?S number one education priority. Other national Tribal leaders have weighed in as well. Tex Hall, the co-chair of the NCAI and NIEA Tribal Leader?s Education Task Force, added, ?Here?s a mission we actually can accomplish. It?s time for Indian Country to show the rest of the Nation just how proud we are of our culture. We can do this by getting Congress to pass a Native American Language Protection Bill.? Events surrounding the Summit include an opening assembly on Capitol Hill from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. The assembly will feature Congressional guests, a special presentation for the Code Talkers, and dissemination of advocacy materials on the pending Immersion Bills. Hill visits to key Congressional Offices will take place from 12:30 to 5:00 p.m., and a staff briefing will be held on the Senate side in the afternoon. The Summit will conclude with an evening reception at the Museum of The American Indian co-hosted by the National Indian Gaming Association honoring the Code Talkers, and the Native Language Revitalization movement. The Summit is free, but registration is required. This will help us secure appropriate Hill visits for our members. We urge our elders, educators, tribal leaders, cultural practitioners, youth, veterans, and all those concerned with the future of Native Languages to attend. Updated information will be made known as details are worked out such as hotel information, speakers in attendance, and exact locations. A flier, in text format, will follow this broadcast. A formatted flier will be posted on our website for downloading, printing and dissemination. For more information, please contact NIEA at 202-544-7290 or at niea at niea.org.I -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Sat Jun 3 08:01:18 2006 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Sat, 3 Jun 2006 01:01:18 -0700 Subject: Language Summit Message-ID: National Indian Education Association 110 Maryland Avenue, N.E. Suite 104 Washington, DC 20002 (202) 544-7290 / phone (202) 544-7293 / fax jsoto at niea.org ??? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Press Release for Summit [1].doc Type: application/msword Size: 31744 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Language Summit Flier - 6-1-06[1].doc Type: application/msword Size: 60928 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: language summit registration form.doc Type: application/msword Size: 53248 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Jun 9 14:03:31 2006 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2006 07:03:31 -0700 Subject: Funds to help revive Biripai Indigenous language (fwd) Message-ID: Funds to help revive Biripai Indigenous language Friday, 9 June 2006. 08:23 (AEDT) http://www.abc.net.au/news/items/200606/1659015.htm?midnorthcoast The New South Wales Government is calling for funding submissions to revive the Biripai Aboriginal language on the New South Wales mid-north coast. The Government allocated $250,000 in this week's Budget to support Aboriginal language programs around the state. A research officer with the Many Rivers Aboriginal Language Centre, Gary Williams, says the funding is a good start. He says work reviving the region's seven major language groups is still in the early stages. And contrary to some views, he says it is not too late for the Biripai language. "It's never too late to revive a language, they've done it from scratch over in the Adelaide Plains there, that wasn't spoken since the 1900s or something like that," he said. "There are still people around who grew up with speakers and have the sounds in their head, and all this encourages them to bring it to the fore again, you know." From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Jun 9 14:08:21 2006 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2006 07:08:21 -0700 Subject: Digital video leading to preserving more tribal history, events (fwd) Message-ID: Digital video leading to preserving more tribal history, events BY KATE LECHNIR Spooner Advocate Last Updated: Wednesday, June 07th, 2006 12:59:44 PM http://www.spooneradvocate.com/placed/index.php?sect_rank=1&story_id=220570 Her name is Hsuan-Yun Pi, an incredibly knowledgeable doctoral student in the ever-evolving digital video communications field. Her recent visits to the St. Croix Reservation at Hertel and the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College (LCOOCC) in Hayward gave the students and community members there hands-on practice with the latest equipment and spurred digitally preserving the two tribes? history, activities and events. Her trip to Indian Country had been arranged by Susan Gooding, a Native American Studies adjunct professor at LCO College and doctoral candidate at the University of Chicago. The project was funded by Richard Barrows, dean in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. For the past year, Gooding has been involved in efforts to bring indigenous people together to document and archive, via digital video, their histories and stories. A group of interested students and teachers from LCO Ojibwa Community College and from the St. Croix Reservation, where the college has an outreach site, participated in a hands-on workshop with Hsuan-Yun Pi and her graduate campus advisor from the UW-Madison, Patty Loew. The group was instantly transported to the cutting edge of the new digital video technology. At the meeting, a demonstration of a sophisticated editing system called ?Vegas? convinced the group that digital video editing tools, once reserved for big-budget, professional productions, are now affordable and practical for individuals to use. Plans were made for Hsuan to return to Indian Country to assist both LCO and St. Croix with specific digital video projects. The first project was the digital recording and editing of an original play, Post, written by LCO College instructor Patrick Shield?s English Composition classes. The play was performed by LCO College students, faculty, staff and the Makwa (Ojibwe for ?bear?) Drama Club. The play depicts the building of the Winter Dam in the 1920s and the destruction of the LCO community of Post. Students from the college?s main campus in Hayward and Todd Cutler, a student from the outreach site on the St. Croix Reservation, taped the play using the UW?s high-end cameras. The goal is to preserve the historically accurate performance and to provide copies of the performance for sale to help raise much-needed funding for future Makwa Drama Club productions. During one of Hsuan-Yun Pi?s visits to the St. Croix Reservation, T.R.A.I.L.S. (Traditions Respecting American Indian Life Styles) coordinator Mark Soulier and his daughter, Nichole Soulier, the Danbury youth director for the St. Croix Tribe, set up a workshop to teach youths how to shoot and edit digital video. The youths experimented with the cameras, recording interviews and basically shooting, ?from the hip,? images that were of interest to them. The group listened as Hsuan instructed them on the capabilities of the new equipment. The group also watched a series of captivating music and dramatic vignettes produced by youths from other Indian Reservations. Soulier and graduating high school senior Josh Merrill worked with Hsuan to actually produce an edited collage of the St. Croix T.R.A.I.L.S. Dance Troupe. Soulier intends to transfer some 18 years worth of historic T.R.A.I.L.S. footage to a digital format for historic preservation. It will be an ongoing project as he sorts through photos, VHS tapes, and various other visual and audio formats. As an example of the historic importance of the project, Soulier found a VHS tape of Chief Archie Mosay and other elders who have since passed on. Tracking down the original footage, transferring it to a digital format, and archiving both the original footage and the digital rendition is of great importance to St. Croix historic preservation, tribal members have noted. It is said that timing is everything. It was during one of Hsuan?s visits to the St. Croix Reservation that the maple sugar was flowing in the sugar bush. That meant that everyone from the youngest HeadStart children to the elders were busy tapping, collecting, boiling, canning and eating the delicious fruits of their labor. St. Croix Education and Youth Director Brooke Mosay Ammann and LCOOCC Ojibwe language instructor Fancis Songetay captured every step of the process on digital video. The finished product will be an Ojibwe language teaching tool centered on the activities of the St. Croix Sugar Bush, a project destined for archival preservation and the bestseller list in Indian Country. Hsuan-Yun Pi?s visits to the LCO and St. Croix reservations are seen by many as a great gift. Through the generosity of Gooding, Loew and the UW-Madison, a talented and dedicated student, Hsuan-Yun Pi has demonstrated the knowledge and tools necessary for Native Americans on the two reservations to archive their precious histories, tell their own stories, and turn their youth on to the incredible art of making movies. Hsuan-Yun Pi said she is looking forward to future visits to Indian Country to witness the blossoming of the seeds she planted there. And for years to come, long after she has completed her graduate degree at the UW?Madison, people in Indian Country will be watching for the name Hsun-Yun Pi as the credits roll on the big screen. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Jun 9 14:16:02 2006 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2006 07:16:02 -0700 Subject: Preservation Project group meets (fwd) Message-ID: Preservation Project group meets Apache Moccasin Published on Wednesday, June 7, 2006 9:43 AM MST http://www.silverbelt.com/articles/2006/06/07/apache_moccasin/apache02.txt The first public meeting of the San Carlos Apache Language Preservation project was held on May 30, with 16 people in attendance, from all areas of the reservation, and ranging in age from teenagers to elders. Members of the San Carlos Apache community are increasingly concerned about the decline in people's ability to speak and understand the Apache language. This meeting was the first of a series of community meetings to be held around the reservation regarding language preservation. The program is supported by a grant from the Administration for Native Americans. According to Joyce Johnson, the program coordinator, it is vital that the loss of Apache language be addressed soon. ?If you go from the oldest members of the community to the youngest members of the community,? she said, ?you go from a group of people who are all fluent Apache speakers to a group of people who are all English-only speakers. That's how quickly it can all disappear - in the span of one lifetime.? Johnson said the statistics revealed in the 2000 census are particularly alarming. While two-thirds of the adult population on the reservation speaks at least some Apache, fully 85 percent of Apache children under 18 are monolingual English speakers. According to the census, different areas of Gilson Wash have the highest and lowest rates of children with some Apache language ability. The highest appears to be in the Front Line area, the lowest being in Beverly Hills. The Language Preservation Office is currently preparing a door-to-door community language survey in order to understand more completely the status of Apache language on the reservation. The survey will also ask how people would like to address the issue of language preservation. Johnson is currently visiting the University of Massachusetts at Amherst to begin this work. David Samuels, a professor at the university, said, ?It is crucial for the community to have more detailed information than we can get from the census. The census is not designed to help communities identify fluency in the Apache language.? The next community meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 13, at 10 a.m. in the education conference room in San Carlos. Anyone who is interested is urged to attend. Ms. Johnson can be contacted at the tribal planning department on San Carlos Avenue, or phone her at (928) 475-2331, email ndee_biyati at yahoo.com. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Jun 9 14:23:07 2006 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2006 07:23:07 -0700 Subject: I am still an Indian (fwd) Message-ID: I am still an Indian by Gabe Mentuck http://www.firstperspective.ca/fp_template.php?path=20060605indian Gabe Mentuck attended residential school at Labrette, Saskatchewan and Pine Creek, Manitoba. He died at the age of 77 on May 30, 2006. He farmed for most of his life at Valley River First Nation near Dauphin, Manitoba] [photo inset - Gabe Mentuck - still an Indian] Today I am a 77-year-old Indian. Tomorrow or some other day maybe not that far down the road, I will be a dead Indian but I will still be an Indian. Now most Canadians wouldn't think that's such a big deal since you are what you are born. That's reality. That's truth. But reality and truth for this 77-year-old Indian are also the sentence I served in a Manitoba residential school where for five years, nuns and priests tried to beat, torture and shame the Indian out of me. And while this inhumanity was forced on me, the Government of Canada which sponsored it looked on with approval. If there hadn't been so much sexual and physical abuse, so many destroyed children and families as a result of Canada's residential schools, maybe a century of dirt could have been swept under this country's rug. But there was too much. Too much cruelty, too much suffering and too much institutionalized evil to keep buried for as long as the grass shall grow and the rivers flow. The forcible abduction of Indian children and their imprisonment in residential schools is now a pat of history. It's not a myth or rumor. It's real, Just as real as the scars on the hearts and minds of us who were victims of this crime committed against our people. The sad thing is that even now, history only seems ready to confront a part of the truth. There's still another chapter to be written and while it may not be as tragic and violent as the others, it's the one that should damn well be told. Natives have an oral history that's a big part of our tradition but doesn't seem to mean much in the white man's world where the more words you can put down on paper, the more power you have and the more money you can make. Today's world belongs to the lawyers, bureaucrats and politicians and they are all profiting from putting lots of words down on paper about old, poor residential school survivors. Nobody asked me to be a part of a get-rich-quick scheme for lawyers and consultants but that's where I and thousands of other Indians are today. It all began over a century ago when European immigrants stole our land, herded us onto reserves and still weren't satisfied. No, it seems like they didn't think that even these brutal measures were enough to deal with what they called the "Indian problem" and their "final solution" (does that sound familiar?) was to strip helpless Indian kids of thweir Indianness by robbing them of their language, culture and family bonds. Maybe the Government of Canada thinks that was a good trade-off. In return for our language, culture and family ties, we Indians got discrimination, substance abuse and the highest poverty and suicide rates in this country. I didn't know it at the time but I guess the Canadian government considered me a part of the "Indian problem" because in 1940. I was forcibly taken from my family on the Valley River reserve and stuck into a residential school run by the Oblate Order of the Roman Catholic Church in Pine Creek, Manitoba. Yes, I received quite an education there alright, being taught to feel guilty, inferior and ashamed to be a "heathen" and "savage". They beat me for speaking Ojibway and practicing my own culture and crushed my spirituality with their religion. I endured five years of this kind of oppression and though the scars from the physical abuse have faded, the ones on my heart and mind are still fresh. Still, maybe I wouldn't have these scarred memories if I'd been a good little apple - red on the outside and white on the inside - like so many of Canada's so-called Indian leaders whose pay-cheques are signed by the federal government. Like lawyers and politicians, most of Canada's Indian leaders are good with words. But trying to find some truth in them is like trying to find a diamond in a pile of manure. It's a dirty business and the odds are against you. Today, the diamond that the Canadian government is peddling is really no more than a piece of shiny glass but it sure as hell is covered with a lot of manure, a lot of words promising fair compensation for residential school survivors. In 1998 they offered us an apology but recognizing that shovelling us some words from their pile wouldn't shut us up, they came up with a billion dollar compensation package for the 80,000 or so victims who are still alive. The only problem is that at least half a billion dollars of this payout is earmarked for legal fees and most of the rest will be swallowed up by the various commissions, committees, investigations and inquiries that governments use as substitutes for meaningful action. Time is on the government's and church's side. We survivors are dying off at a rate of about five a day. The longer this drags out, the more the lawyers and bureaucrats will scoop up and the less there'll be for the poor, old and sick victims of cultural genocide. My wife, Teresa, who meant the world to me through our fifty-four years of marriage died four years ago. She too was a residential school survivor but she did not survive long enough to see justice. Maybe I won't either but in the meantime, I intend to keep shaming the lawyers, politicians, bureaucrats and Indian leaders who continue to profit from our misery. I am old and blind but I don't need eyes to see that the abuse of residential school victims is still going on. Same crap, different pile, and instead of Indian agents, nuns and priests doing the shovelling, it's a bunch of lawyers, politicians and Indian leaders. The time will come when we'll all be dead - all of us who suffered the physical and sexual abuse at the hands of those who carried out the "final solution" of the "Indian problem". Then, once all the witnesses are gone, maybe history can be rewritten and this crime against native humanity can be given a couple of good coats of whitewash but, until then, I'm going to keep speaking out because my body may be broken but not my spirit. There's a saying that talk is cheap. Well, that's sure as hell not the case when it comes to the lawyers, bureaucrats, politicians and Indian leaders who have made a lot of money by talking about residential school victims. And while they talk and fatten their bank accounts, those they're supposed to be helping get older, sicker or die. I'm not saying there will be nothing left once those who are supposed to be helping us finish helping themselves. Next year or maybe two or three years from now, whatever survivors are left will get small slices of what was once a big compensation pie. Yes, the one thing that history has taught us Indians is that we'll be getting a lot more words before we see any money. That's OK. We're used to it. We survived a lot of betrayals and we can handle this one because, in spite of what the white man's religions and governments stole from us, the one thing they couldn't take was our identity. That's why, in spite of the Government of Canada's best - and worst - efforts, I can proudly say that I am still an Indian. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Jun 9 14:25:34 2006 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2006 07:25:34 -0700 Subject: Voting in Navajo (fwd) Message-ID: June 05, 2006, 0:47 p.m. Voting in Navajo Reconsidering the Voting Rights Act. By Peter Kirsanow http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MzRjMWQ1ZDg0YzdhYjljZTZkMmZlM2ZiMDQ0ODA0ZGE= Congress is on the road to reauthorizing certain core provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Few pieces of legislation have matched the act?s success. Fewer still have been the subject of as much demagoguery. The pre-clearance requirements contained in section 5, the minority language requirements of Sections 4(f)(4) and 203, and the voting examiner and observer authorizations of Sections 6 through 9 are set to expire on August 6, 2007. Reauthorization of each of these provisions raises a variety of substantive issues. The voting-rights landscape has changed considerably since the act?s passage more than 40 years ago. Some maintain that the types of rampant racial discrimination and disenfranchisement the act was designed to address have been either eliminated or reduced to the point that portions of the act are obsolete or superfluous. Others contend that the discrimination and disenfranchisement still exist, just in cleverer, subtler forms. And there?s also a contingent that asserts, irresponsibly, that the expiration of the act?s temporary provisions is tantamount to a repeal of the 15th Amendment; i.e., the franchise will be taken away from blacks. (As bizarre as that may seem, it?s a theme that?s been surprisingly widespread among the black electorate over the last several election cycles.) Most of the public debate regarding reauthorization has centered upon Section 5?s requiring that certain jurisdictions subject to Section 4?s coverage formulas seek approval from the attorney general or the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia before implementing any change in voting practices or procedures. But the immigration debate that promises to occupy Congress this summer will also direct attention to the minority language requirements in Sections 4(f) and 203, and deservedly so. Jurisdictions covered by sections (4)(f)(4) and 203 must provide voters election information in at least one language other than English. The coverage formulas for the two sections differ, but together their minority language requirements cover hundreds of jurisdictions in more than 30 states. Spanish is by far the most common minority language required. Other languages include American Indian languages, Alaskan native languages, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese, to name just a few. When a minority language doesn?t exist in written form, such as the Native American languages of Navajo and Zuni, oral information must be provided. The Justice department has filed approximately 20 lawsuits over the years to enforce the minority language requirements. Most of the suits pertain to jurisdictions in the southwest. The Justice department also has interposed a number of Section 5 objections to language changes adopted in jurisdictions such as Texas and Arizona. The department has recently expanded its deployment of election monitors to evaluate minority ballot language requirements. The last time the General Accountability Office assessed the costs of Section 203 bilingual voting assistance was in 1997. Costs varied by jurisdiction. Some jurisdictions were able to reduce costs by using volunteer bilingual poll workers. Large jurisdictions, however, are often confronted with providing assistance in far more than just one additional language. Los Angeles spent $1.1 million for multiple language assistance in the 1996 elections alone. It?s estimated that affected jurisdictions spend approximately 13 percent of all election expenses on minority language assistance. Congress has heard testimony that minority language assistance requirements waste limited election resources on materials that are of marginal utility or that are very seldom used. Another problem is that it doesn?t appear that any resources are directed toward detecting and preventing fraud related to bilingual election requirements. Some anecdotal evidence suggests that minority language voters are steered to vote the ?right? way, or are given inaccurate or incomplete information by poll workers. A more fundamental problem voiced by some critics of minority language requirements is that they?re antithetical to basic notions of participatory democracy: since some degree of English proficiency is a requirement for U.S. citizenship and citizenship is a requirement for voting, a voter should be presumed to be able to cast a ballot without resort to a language other than English. Supporters of bilingual ballots would argue that minimal English proficiency is insufficient to comprehend all ballot language?the sur-reply being that ballot language is equally opaque in any language, so stick to English. It?s a safe bet that Congress won?t reconsider the use of bilingual ballots. Nonetheless, because of concerns about effectiveness, accuracy, cost, and fraud, the issue merits serious examination. ?Peter Kirsanow is a member of the National Labor Relations Board. He is also a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. These comments do not necessarily reflect the positions of either organization. From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Fri Jun 9 17:41:31 2006 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2006 10:41:31 -0700 Subject: Native Food & Nutrition Message-ID: The Northern California Indian Development council (NCIDC) administers a statewide California Food and Nutrition Program (CFNP). The program has compiled and distributed pertinent food and nutrition newsletters and information to California Tribes and community based organizations on a monthly basis. This information includes, for example, low-fat recipes, exercise ideas, healthy tips, and other related information. One of the favorite sections is Dr. Coyote. To download all back issues of the newsletter go to: http://www.ncidc.org/food/index.html click the link Food and Nutrition Program Newsletters and Archives For more information on NCIDC go to : http://www.ncidc.org/ News Letter Topis Include: May 2006 Reducing the Health Risks of Obesity March 2006 National Nutrition Month February 2006 Natives & Obesity Problems: Lifestyle Balance January 2006 Lowering Sodium for Better Health October 2005 Weight Loss Surgery June 2005 Farmers Markets May 2005 Eggs & Healthy Eating April 2005 Soy Foods March 2005 Lowering Cholesterol Jan & Feb 2005 Heart Healthy Month December 2004 UIHS, End Of Year Wrap-Up November 2004 Garden Of Youth, Fall Fresh Food Sept & Oct 2004 Food Allergies, Smart Snacking August 2004 5-A-Day, Eating Your Best For Less June & July 2004 Strong Bones, Hydration April 2004 Food Safety Feb & March 04 Cancer January 2004 Obesity December 2003 Flu Foods November 2003 HIV .:. Andr? Cramblit: andre.p.cramblit.86 at alum.dartmouth.org is the Operations Director Northern California Indian Development Council NCIDC (http://www.ncidc.org) is a non-profit that meets the development needs of American Indians To subscribe to a news letter of interest to Natives send an email to: IndigenousNewsNetwork-subscribe at topica.com or go to: http:// www.topica.com/lists/IndigenousNewsNetwork/subscribe/?location=listinfo From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Fri Jun 9 23:24:22 2006 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2006 16:24:22 -0700 Subject: Learn the Language Message-ID: http://www.cbc.ca/north/story/nor-bilignual-senior.html Learn Inuktitut or iqqanaijaaqajjaagunniiqtutit, mandarins told Last updated Jun 7 2006 08:47 AM CDT CBC News Senior government officials in Nunavut have been told they have to be able to speak Inuktitut by 2008, or risk losing their jobs. Premier Paul Okalik revealed the policy during the mid-term leadership review Tuesday. "Well they have to be fluent, they have to work with members and with people within Nunavut," the premier said. "They should understand and be able to communicate with Inuit that may be unilingual." Learning Inuktitut From an essay "Our Language, Our Selves", on the future of Inuktitut in the new Nunavut territory, circa 1999. "In English, and in most other European languages, a sentence is a string of beads. Each bead is a tiny little word, and the beads are strung together to make meaning. "I am happy to be here. Je suis content d'?tre ici. Yo estoy contento de estar aqu?. "But in Inuktitut the words are like LegoTM blocks, intricate pieces locked together to produce a nugget of meaning. "quviasuktunga tamaaniinnama (happy + I here + in + be + because I) "How about this word, produced at random: Pariliarumaniralauqsimanngittunga, "I never said I wanted to go to Paris." "These words are produced by a grammatical system that is much more regular than anything in English. Inuit students like studying grammar. They get pleasure out of seeing the logical flow of something they always took for granted. The grammar is not only precise, it is complex." Okalik says seven deputy ministers and presidents of Crown corporations are taking Inuktitut lessons three times a week in a 14- month course. Three assistant deputy ministers are also taking classes. Okalik says the goal is to have senior staff who are comfortable in Inuktitut, the first language of 85 per cent of the territory's population, within 18 months. "We felt that that was enough time," he said. "I recall when I was learning English, I didn't have much help ? so it's about time that our language was respected and treated in the same way." Education Minister Ed Picco, one of the few non-Inuit in the territorial assembly, has been increasing his use of Inuktitut in the legislature. He says he backs the premier's move. "He's not saying that other languages cannot be used," he said. "He wants to have the fully bilingual system in place." But MLA Hunter Tootoo thinks the policy goes too far. The Iqaluit Centre MLA doesn't speak Inuktitut, but he supports the territory's goal of having it as the government's working language by 2020. "I think the way to achieve that is not by taking the language and forcing on somebody," he said. "I think if we do things, like make changes in the education system, you won't have to teach them Inuktitut, they'll be from here," he said. Nevertheless, the premier said, he's starting with top senior staff, and the Inuktitut language requirement will eventually reach those in the levels below. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Mon Jun 12 16:39:30 2006 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2006 09:39:30 -0700 Subject: Immersion Schools Message-ID: Posted: June 05, 2006 by: Jerry Reynolds WASHINGTON - A Senate Committee on Indian Affairs oversight hearing on education May 25 raised the idea that Native-language immersion schools deserve emphasis alongside the national No Child Left Behind program. Educators throughout the nation are required to cope with the quantitative Adequate Yearly Progress scores in reading and math that assess a school's competence under No Child Left Behind. As a result, said Ryan Wilson, president of the National Indian Education Association, ''There's a huge push to advance only scientific education.'' In the meantime, Wilson and other witnesses said, evidence mounts that Native-language immersion programs are associated with stronger student interest in learning and higher academic achievement. Kevin Skenandore, acting director of the Interior Department's Office of Indian Education Programs, said a survey of Interior's five best- performing Indian schools, its five worst-performing schools and all Hopi schools (they have all passed the AYP benchmarks) yielded support for that position. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, drew from the educational experience of her own sons to note that dual-language schooling can be a concern to parents in the early school years. But later in the educational process, she said, it becomes clear that immersion learning of a second language early on pays off in better academic performance across the board. As Wilson expressed it in his written testimony, ''National studies on language learning and educational experience indicate the more language learning, the higher the academic achievement. Solid data from the immersion school experience indicates that language immersion students experience greater success in school measured by consistent improvement on local and national measures of achievement.'' Some of the May 25 testimony, as well as several examples Murkowski marshaled from Alaska, suggested that tribal students in the usually rural, often isolated environs of Indian country have a hard time finding relevance in the conventional, Western-inflected pedagogy. Though data on Native language immersion schools is still being compiled, the theme of several witnesses was that learning a Native language along with English may resolve the problem of educational relevance for many students. But Wilson added that while Native cultures and communities are losing immersion-program resources, including many speakers, ''at lightning speed,'' they are recovering their languages ''at horse-and- buggy speed.'' He offered NIEA's support for several bills before Congress that would encourage Native language immersion programs. Senate Bill 2674, the Native American Languages Act Amendments of 2006, has been sponsored by Sens. Daniel Akaka and Daniel K. Inouye, of Hawaii; Sen. Max Baucus, of Montana; and Sen. Tim Johnson, of South Dakota, all Democrats. In the House, Republican Reps. Heather Wilson, of New Mexico, and Rick Renzi, of Arizona, have offered House Bill 4766, the Native American Languages Preservation Act of 2006. Also in the House, Rep. Ed Case, D-Hawaii, has introduced H.R. 5222, the Native American Languages Amendments Act of 2006. S. 2674 has been referred to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, and Ryan Wilson urged quick action. He added that it can bring about ''a new day'' in Indian education. But much remains of the old days, including Indian test scores that trail national averages and faltering marks on the AYP standard of the No Child Left Behind initiative of President George W. Bush. Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., vice chairman of the committee, pronounced himself ''a little perplexed'' at Interior's response: a ''reorganization'' to increase the ratio of senior executives to staff personnel. The reorganization is the target of a tribal lawsuit announced one day before the hearing -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Rrlapier at AOL.COM Mon Jun 12 17:15:29 2006 From: Rrlapier at AOL.COM (Rrlapier at AOL.COM) Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:15:29 EDT Subject: Summer History Conference Message-ID: Innaihtsiiyi A history conference examining Blackfeet concepts of peace and peace agreements. Judith Landing on the Missouri River, site of 1855 Blackfeet peace treaty. Friday, August 18, 2006 10:00am to 4:00pm free & open to the public Nizipuhwahsin School Browning, Montana Guest speakers will include both academic and community scholars. Piegan Institute Researching, Promoting & Preserving Native Languages www.pieganinstitute.org For information call Rosalyn LaPier at 406.338.7740 or email rrlapier at pieganinstitute.org Co-sponsored by the Center for the Rocky Moutain West at the University of Montana. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: img_0652.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 1317050 bytes Desc: not available URL: From rick_harp at YAHOO.COM Mon Jun 12 18:35:56 2006 From: rick_harp at YAHOO.COM (Rick Harp) Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2006 11:35:56 -0700 Subject: Cree Immersion program in Alberta: Sept 06 - June 07 Message-ID: T?nisi! Hey everyone, my name is Rick Harp, and I am a Cree language (Plains Y-dialect) student at Blue Quills First Nations College near St. Paul, Alberta, Canada, and I am helping to promote their great Cree immersion/intensive program. If people want more info, you can email me, or just email cree at bluequills.ca. There are also printed and electronic versions of brochures and posters available for mail-out if you want to help spread the word. ay-ay, ekosi pitama, Rick - - - - - - - - - - - Blue Quills First Nations College CREE LANGUAGE CERTIFICATE September 2006 to June 2007 | St. Paul, Alberta "Rebuilding community through language, rebuilding language through community" Program highlights: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Students are active in the language ? hearing and speaking Cree ? from day one Language learning through classroom activities and community-based immersion Classes five days a week, Sept. through June (10 months) Sensitivity to needs of adult second-language learners Small class sizes with excellent teacher-to-student ratio On- and off-campus access to elders and speakers fluent in Cree (Y dialect ) Emphasis on group participation and learner/teacher team-building Students help develop learning tools for program Multimedia tools enable and enhance individual study and review Introduction to writing systems for Cree: syllabics and roman alphabet (abc?s) Restoring and revitalizing the voices of our people in a fun, safe and supportive learning environment * * * DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: JUNE 30, 2006 * * * For more info: Phone 780-645-4455 or 1-888-645-4455 (toll-free in Western Canada) Fax 780-645-5215 E-mail cree at bluequills.ca Web www.bluequills.ca/cree - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - My blog about learning Cree > http://mimicree.blogspot.com Hi5 | MySpace! __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From delrio at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Mon Jun 12 19:34:01 2006 From: delrio at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Miguel del =?iso-8859-1?Q?R=EDo_=C1lvarez?=) Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2006 12:34:01 -0700 Subject: Convocatoria de Articulos para Cultura y Educacion Message-ID: >Estimados Colegas, > >Como Editor Invitado de la revista Cultura y >Educaci?n me complace anunciar la Convocatoria >para la Presentaci?n de Art?culos para un n?mero >monogr?fico sobre El estudio de la educaci?n >multicultural en Estados Unidos. En el documento >adjunto encontrar?n las indicaciones espec?ficas >para el env?o de art?culos. > >La revista Cultura y Educaci?n se centra en >teor?as e investigaciones que analizan los >procesos educativos en contextos culturales >concretos, y que goza de una excelente >reputaci?n tanto dentro de Espa?a como en >Latinoam?rica por sus est?ndares de calidad. >Pueden encontrar m?s informaci?n sobre esta >publicaci?n en http://www.fia.es. > >Les animo a compartir esta Convocatoria con >investigadores y departamentos cuyo trabajo >encaje dentro de la l?nea aqu? presentada. > >No duden en contactarme si tienen alguna pregunta. > >Reciban un atento saludo, > >Miguel del R?o ?lvarez >Editor Invitado >Cultura y Educaci?n -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Convocatoria Articulos Cultura y Educacion.doc Type: application/mac-binhex40 Size: 79314 bytes Desc: not available URL: From delrio at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Mon Jun 12 19:34:04 2006 From: delrio at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Miguel del =?iso-8859-1?Q?R=EDo_=C1lvarez?=) Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2006 12:34:04 -0700 Subject: Fwd: Call For Papers for Cultura y Educacion Message-ID: >Dear Colleagues, > >As Invited Editor of Spanish journal Cultura y >Educaci?n, I am pleased to announce the Call for >Papers for a monographic issue on The study on >multicultural education in the United States. > >Cultura y Educaci?n is a publication that >reflects theories and research that analyze the >educational processes embedded in specific >cultural contexts, and which holds a high >reputation for its quality standards both in >Spain and in Latin America. You can find more >information on this publication at >http://www.fia.es. > >I encourage you to spread the word to >researchers and departments whose work might >comply with the requirements of this Call for >Papers. > >Do not hesitate to reply to this email if you have any doubts or questions. > >Yours truthfully, > >Miguel del R?o >Invited Editor >Cultura y Educaci?n -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Call for Papers Cultura y Educacion.doc Type: application/mac-binhex40 Size: 79296 bytes Desc: not available URL: From MiaKalish at LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US Mon Jun 12 19:52:46 2006 From: MiaKalish at LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US (Mia Kalish) Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:52:46 -0600 Subject: Fwd: Call For Papers for Cultura y Educacion In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Dear Miguel, Is this for Spanish/Latin American culture only? Or would it perhaps include Native American/Indigenous Languages? Mia Kalish _____ From: Indigenous Languages and Technology [mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU] On Behalf Of Miguel del R?o ?lvarez Sent: Monday, June 12, 2006 1:34 PM To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU Subject: [ILAT] Fwd: Call For Papers for Cultura y Educacion Dear Colleagues, As Invited Editor of Spanish journal Cultura y Educaci?n, I am pleased to announce the Call for Papers for a monographic issue on The study on multicultural education in the United States. Cultura y Educaci?n is a publication that reflects theories and research that analyze the educational processes embedded in specific cultural contexts, and which holds a high reputation for its quality standards both in Spain and in Latin America. You can find more information on this publication at http://www.fia.es. I encourage you to spread the word to researchers and departments whose work might comply with the requirements of this Call for Papers. Do not hesitate to reply to this email if you have any doubts or questions. Yours truthfully, Miguel del R?o Invited Editor Cultura y Educaci?n -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From delrio at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Mon Jun 12 19:55:57 2006 From: delrio at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Miguel del =?iso-8859-1?Q?R=EDo_=C1lvarez?=) Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2006 12:55:57 -0700 Subject: Fwd: Call For Papers for Cultura y Educacion In-Reply-To: <001b01c68e59$cab34e60$0200a8c0@LFPMia> Message-ID: Dear Mia, Read the document (Call for Papers.doc) attached. The monographic issue is also intended to focus on Native American education from a sociocultural point of view. If you have any further doubts, don't hesitate to contact me. Yours, Miguel >Dear Miguel, > >Is this for Spanish/Latin American culture only? >Or would it perhaps include Native >American/Indigenous Languages? > >Mia Kalish > > > >From: Indigenous Languages and Technology >[mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU] On Behalf Of >Miguel del R?o ?lvarez >Sent: Monday, June 12, 2006 1:34 PM >To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU >Subject: [ILAT] Fwd: Call For Papers for Cultura y Educacion > > >Dear Colleagues, > >> >> >>As Invited Editor of Spanish journal Cultura y >>Educaci?n, I am pleased to announce the Call >>for Papers for a monographic issue on The study >>on multicultural education in the United States. >> >> >> >>Cultura y Educaci?n is a publication that >>reflects theories and research that analyze the >>educational processes embedded in specific >>cultural contexts, and which holds a high >>reputation for its quality standards both in >>Spain and in Latin America. You can find more >>information on this publication at >>http://www.fia.es. >> >> >> >>I encourage you to spread the word to >>researchers and departments whose work might >>comply with the requirements of this Call for >>Papers. >> >> >> >>Do not hesitate to reply to this email if you have any doubts or questions. >> >> >> >>Yours truthfully, >> >> >> >>Miguel del R?o >> >>Invited Editor >> >>Cultura y Educaci?n >> > > -- Miguel del R?o ?lvarez Visiting Scholar Department of Language, Reading and Culture College of Education University of Arizona Tucson, AZ 85721 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From delrio at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Mon Jun 12 21:12:55 2006 From: delrio at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Miguel del =?iso-8859-1?Q?R=EDo_=C1lvarez?=) Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:12:55 -0700 Subject: Call For Papers for Cultura y Educacion Message-ID: Dear Friends, It seems some people are having trouble when opening the attached document. I enclose an .rtf version of the document; this should solve any compatibility issues. I apologize for the inconveniences. Miguel del R?o Invited Editor Cultura y Educaci?n >>Dear Colleagues, >> >>As Invited Editor of Spanish journal Cultura y >>Educaci?n, I am pleased to announce the Call >>for Papers for a monographic issue on The study >>on multicultural education in the United States. >> >>Cultura y Educaci?n is a publication that >>reflects theories and research that analyze the >>educational processes embedded in specific >>cultural contexts, and which holds a high >>reputation for its quality standards both in >>Spain and in Latin America. You can find more >>information on this publication at >>http://www.fia.es. >> >>I encourage you to spread the word to >>researchers and departments whose work might >>comply with the requirements of this Call for >>Papers. >> >>Do not hesitate to reply to this email if you have any doubts or questions. >> >>Yours truthfully, >> >>Miguel del R?o >>Invited Editor >>Cultura y Educaci?n > -- Miguel del R?o ?lvarez Visiting Scholar Department of Language, Reading and Culture College of Education University of Arizona Tucson, AZ 85721 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Call for Papers Cultura y Educacion.rtf Type: application/mac-binhex40 Size: 220892 bytes Desc: not available URL: From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Jun 14 05:01:58 2006 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2006 22:01:58 -0700 Subject: Red Lake tribe starts Internet radio station (fwd link) Message-ID: Red Lake tribe starts Internet radio station by Tom Robertson, Minnesota Public Radio June 12, 2006 http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2006/05/25/redlakeradio/ From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Jun 14 05:07:05 2006 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2006 22:07:05 -0700 Subject: Ancient tongue, modern software (fwd) Message-ID: Ancient tongue, modern software Kahnawake AIMS to revive mohawk language; All its 900 public employees must take lessons CHERYL CORNACCHIA The Gazette Monday, June 12, 2006 http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=bda326ef-1b41-4c86-b821-5ac47c5c5e4a&k=40064 On the winding streets of Kahnawake these days, the traffic signs read STOP/TESTAN. The addition of Mohawk is part of "a quiet revolution" that Grand Chief Michael Delisle and other leaders of the South Shore reserve hope will revive their native language and, by extension, the culture of their ancestors. As part of this effort, the band council led by Delisle will require Kahnawake's 900 public employees to enrol in Mohawk language lessons using interactive software purchased from a company in Harrisburg,Va., that was just received. Hospital staff, peacekeepers, firefighters, librarians, sewer plant operators and social workers are being told this week that they will begin on-the-job Mohawk language studies starting Sept. 1. The target is to make 30 per cent of Kahnawake's public employees fluent speakers in five years, 60 per cent in 10 years and 80 per cent in 15 years. Delisle admitted that the move has been met with some resistance. But he's adamant it is necessary, considering that only 1,000 of Kahnawake's 8,000 residents can speak Mohawk. "The value of what this could mean socially and politically is monumental," he said, adding that "so much of who we are is in our language." "We want to re-establish it as part of our heritage," he added. Rosetta Stone software developed by Fairfield Technologies is used by millions of people in 150 countries to learn 30 major languages, but this is the first time it will be used to teach a native language. Four other North American indigenous languages, including Inuktitut, are expected to follow soon. According to UNESCO, more than 50 per cent of the world's 6,000 languages are endangered, and on average one language disappears every two weeks. The estimated 300 aboriginal languages that existed when Jacques Cartier sailed up the St. Lawrence River are now down to 175, only 25 of which are still spoken by children. Funding for Kahnawake's Rosetta Stone project came from an unlikely source. Three years ago, when then-Kahnawake grand chief Joe Norton sent letters to more than 40 businesses in the online gaming industry asking for money to help revive the Mohawk language, only one person responded. John Moshal, president of Microgaming Inc., the world's largest online gaming software developer, contributed $250,000 U.S. to the project. Moshal, a Jew who lives in Durban, South Africa, saw parallels between the Mohawk language dying in Kahnawake and Hebrew's historic revival. With the money Moshal donated, the band council hired Fairfield Technologies to develop the Rosetta Stone software. Three weeks ago, the first 1,000 CD-roms arrived in the community, featuring four local Mohawk speakers, dozens of familiar Kahnawake faces and places - and the tools for change. Donna Goodleaf, executive director of Kahnawake's cultural centre and a Ph.D. in linguistics, said she already has started fielding calls from other First Nations groups wanting to protect their languages. The Kahnawake workplace language training is flesh on the bones of a law the band council passed in 1999 that made Mohawk - also known as Kanien'ke:ha - the territory's official language. Goodleaf said she sees great things ahead for Kahnawake as the band council aims to see the number of fluent Mohawk speakers increase from today's 12.5 per cent to between 30 and 35 per cent over the next 15 years. "There are strong indicators and real passion among young people that make me think this is going to work," she said. Workplace language training is just one of several initiatives that got under way in the community over the past eight years. In 1998, Mohawk elders - afraid that with their deaths, their language would also die - put forward a declaration calling for its preservation. At that point, Mohawk Internet Technologies, then a new Kahnawake company but now making millions licensing online gaming companies, stepped up and gave $1.25 million - $250,000 a year for five years - to the band council. The money could have gone into badly needed improvements to infrastructure - roads, sidewalks and building upgrades - but instead went into language. First, Goodleaf said, a nine-month intensive Mohawk- language course for adult learners at the community's cultural centre got started. Then young-parent graduates of that course - now in its third year - created "language nests," or playgroups, where Mohawk is the only language spoken. Spurred on, K103 Mohawk Radio and the Eastern Door, the community's weekly paper, offer regular Mohawk language lessons. In addition, two Mohawk- language television shows are now being produced in Kahnawake, and one of them - a Sesame Street knock-off directed at the community's most malleable learners - has proved especially popular. In the 1930s and '40s, Delisle said, Mohawk was what you heard everywhere in the community along the Old Malone Highway. Even some of the English-speaking and French-speaking farmers who settled on the South Shore near Kahnawake learned the language But starting in the 1950s, Mohawk began its modern decline - first abetted by all-pervasive English media and pop culture, then by the French language and political changes in Quebec, Delisle said. Mohawk became a language that was spoken only among elders and in the community's Long House. Today, Delisle admits that forcing the community's public sector employees to take Mohawk language lessons is not without controversy. As Tom Morris, the band official orchestrating the workplace training, said, there are complaints such as "I don't have time" and "How am I going to do this?" He explained some public employees - for example hospital workers - might not be able to get an hour on the job to study Mohawk and they could be asked to study at home. "People are used to the way things are, and they don't like change," he said. But unlike federal and provincial government employees, Delisle noted, Kahnawake workers will be learning their own language, not some "other" tongue. "As leaders in the community we have to set an example," Delisle said. ccornacchia at thegazette.canwest.com ? The Gazette (Montreal) 2006 Copyright ? 2006 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Jun 14 05:10:52 2006 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2006 22:10:52 -0700 Subject: Software to help Aboriginal language teaching (fwd) Message-ID: Wednesday, 14 June 2006, 10:49:49 AEST Software to help Aboriginal language teaching http://abc.net.au/message/news/stories/ms_news_1662566.htm An Indigenous group in north-west Queensland will use innovative software to launch a new educational program for Aborigines. The Camooweal-based Dugalunji Aboriginal Corporation has received more than $120,000 in Federal Government funding to teach maths and English using Aboriginal dialects. Dugalunji Aboriginal Corporation spokesman Colin Saltmere says Mount Isa TAFE will assist in delivering the courses by August. "Not only the Indjulundji but the Yorlta people, and if there are other language speakers in our group - and there is - we hope that they too can actually interpret that too into their literacy and numeracy program and then talk to us about taking it back to their communities and helping build those communities up," he said. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Jun 14 05:13:08 2006 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2006 22:13:08 -0700 Subject: Govt to fund Aboriginal language dictionary (fwd) Message-ID: Sunday, 11 June 2006, 07:49:35 AEST Govt to fund Aboriginal language dictionary http://abc.net.au/message/news/stories/ms_news_1660245.htm The New South Wales Government hopes the creation of an Aboriginal languages dictionary will help revive the study of traditional languages in the state's schools. The Government has set aside $250,000 in grants to revitalise Indigenous languages and create the dictionary. State Minister for Aboriginal Affairs Milton Orkopoulos says there is a demand for the initiative. "In the 10 or so schools across New South Wales where Aboriginal languages are being taught, the classes are full and there is certainly a willingness for young Aboriginal people to identify not only themselves as Aboriginal people, but also to be able to speak the language of their people," he said. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Jun 14 05:18:19 2006 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2006 22:18:19 -0700 Subject: UA summer institutes preserve native languages (fwd) Message-ID: UA summer institutes preserve native languages Wild Briefs Issue date: 6/7/06 Coushatta, Blackfeet and Southern Ute are just some of the indigenous languages that will be represented by students this summer at the UA's American Indian Language Development Institute, according to a press release. Each year, the UA Department of Language, Reading and Culture in the College of Education holds the institute for language teachers who are seeking innovative ways to preserve native languages, according to the AILDI Web site. About 60 people from the U.S. and Canada are participating in the institute this summer, although in previous years the session has attracted students from all over the world, said Ofelia Zepeda, AILDI program director. This year, 20 students were awarded fellowships from the National Science Foundation to study grant writing and their own language documentation, Zepeda said. The program aims to provide language educators skills, background, training and research through specially designed university courses in all areas of language work, Zepeda added. "Often times it's a sharing of backgrounds, and sharing of work," she said. http://wildcat.arizona.edu/media/storage/paper997/news/2006/06/07/Extra/Wild-Briefs-2025749.shtml?norewrite200606140116&sourcedomain=wildcat.arizona.edu From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Wed Jun 14 05:46:32 2006 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2006 22:46:32 -0700 Subject: NCIDC Senior Planner Needed Message-ID: Senior Planner The Northern California Indian Development Council, Inc, in Eureka, CA. seeks applicants for Senior Planner. Salary range 45-56k DOE, for this full-time position with benefits. Experienced applicants only. Full job announcement can be viewed at www.ncidc.org/planner Applications due by COB July 14th 2006. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Wed Jun 14 06:06:16 2006 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2006 23:06:16 -0700 Subject: PRESERVING LANGUAGE Message-ID: http://oregonmag.com/FDNatLang606.html June 2006 Tribal Program Preserves Native Language, Culture By Fred Delkin Editor's Note: In 2001 Oregon Magazine published an editorial criticizing a Umatilla Reservation program to teach tribal schoolchildren their native language, stating that this effort sidestepped the English language skills these students need for their economic future. This misguided opinion piece was labeled "racist" by a tribal spokesperson. The following describes this program that has obvious cultural worth. The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation have combined both private foundation and federal funds to establish a master- apprentice Language Preservation program in the tribal Nixyaawii community school serving grades 9-12 on the reservation just east of Pendleton in northeastern Oregon. This three-year project partners students with tribal elders still speaking native languages. At project's end dthe apprentices are eligible for licensure by the tribe and the state of Oregon's Teacher Standards and Practices Commission as teachers of Cayuse/Nez Perce, Umatilla and Walla Walla languages. The Umatilla reservation was established in 1855 by treaty and was united by a single tribal government in 1949. There are currently 2,525 enrolled tribal members and a reservation of 158,000 acres. We salute tribal chairman Albert Minthorn for his direction of an outstanding effort to maintain tribal heritage. This includes a just- concluded Culture Camp May 15-19 for 40 Nixyaawii students learning traditional tribal values. An "Entrepeneur Workshop" has guided students in specific techniques for starting a business..."strategies for maximizing personal satisfaction and profits." June 15-22 16 students will participate in "journeys in creativity: explorations in Native Art & Culture." Certainly the Confederated Umatilla tribes are dedicated to guiding their members into a bright future. ? 2006 Oregon Magazine -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Thu Jun 15 21:31:53 2006 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2006 14:31:53 -0700 Subject: Newsletter Message-ID: ELF newsletter, available in electronic format: The Spring 2006 issue of the Endangered Language Fund newsletter, Language Legacies, has been released. For the first time, we will offer the newsletter in digital format. The following articles are in this issue: -Board member Peter Ladefoged dies -Native Nations, Native Voices conference -ELF joins Linguapax international network -Changes in ELF board -Noam Chomsky to deliver benefit lecture for ELF -People's Poetry Gathering hosts ELF in New York To receive an electronic copy of Language Legacies in .pdf format, email elf at haskins.yale.edu. Nick Emlen Endangered Language Fund From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Thu Jun 15 23:42:58 2006 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2006 16:42:58 -0700 Subject: Greetings! Message-ID: Begin forwarded message: From: David Kaufman Date: June 15, 2006 12:27:11 PM PDT To: Andre Cramblit Subject: Greetings! I'm not sure if this is going to the whole list or not, and indeed I have no clue how large the list even is, but I just joined the list a few days ago and wanted to introduce myself. My name is Dave Kaufman, MA Linguistics, from San Jos? State U in California. I've been studying Hawaiian, and I've been analyzing and documenting a couple of now extinct Amerindian languages--Biloxi (Siouan) and Rumsien Ohlone (Penutian) in the hopes that the remaining members of these tribes may want to do revitalization at some point. (The Biloxi have already expressed some interest.) I currently live in the Silicon Valley, but next month I'll be moving to Kansas to attend the U of Kansas in the pursuit of a doctorate in Linguists and Anthropology. I just started an anthropological-linguistics blog, by the way, at http://anthro-ling.blogspot.com. What languages are list members working on? I'm also a member of the Siouan List, since, as I said, I've gotten involved with Biloxi documentation and revitalization. Thanks. Dave __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Mon Jun 19 15:13:14 2006 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2006 08:13:14 -0700 Subject: New speakers of ancient tongues (fwd) Message-ID: Published: 06.17.2006 New speakers of ancient tongues Indian tribes find teaching is last hope for saving native languages By Lourdes Medrano ARIZONA DAILY STAR http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/134019 "We can't lose our language. Without it, you lose pretty much your identity, you lose pretty much everything." Marvin Weatherwax Member of Blackfeet Tribe As time treks through Indian country, the words of ancient songs and sacred rituals crumble under the weight of the dominant language. "I hear more and more English on the reservation," said Danny Lopez, who teaches Tohono O'odham at the Sells community college. "A lot of children don't know our language anymore." But a language revival of sorts has gripped many American Indian tribes working to keep their mother tongues vibrant. Just southwest of Tucson, in the San Xavier District of the Tohono O'odham Nation, children and their parents learn the language of their ancestors in special classes. In Nebraska, Ho-Chunk youths absorb an elder's words preserved in 1,500 audiotapes about life on the reservation. In Montana, mothers immerse their newborns and toddlers in a new language program. They are some of the initiatives being discussed this month at the University of Arizona, where 20 tribal members hope to learn how to preserve declining indigenous languages. "Gathering Talk: Documenting, Describing and Revitalizing Our Languages" is the theme of the American Indian Language Development Institute this summer. The residential program has offered training since 1979 to teachers of indigenous languages. But institute director Ofelia Zepeda said it is the first time tribal members have received a fellowship from the National Science Foundation to focus on language preservation. The fellows represent languages from a number of American Indian tribes, including Oneida, Ho-Chunk, Blackfeet, Coushatta, Sahaptin, Southern Ute, Cheyenne, Laguna-Keres, Okanagan, Tohono O'odham and Akimel O'odham. The decline of indigenous languages has been well documented, but "of late we're having more tribes acknowledge it," Zepeda said. She and other linguists say the reasons for language loss are complex. But they note that American Indian languages historically were suppressed in government attempts to assimilate tribes into mainstream society. In 1995, the Alaska Native Language Center found that of 175 indigenous languages still spoken in the United States, 155 were moribund because children no longer learned them. "It's a huge loss," noted Zepeda, who is Tohono O'odham. "Young people are not learning their language, but that's because the adults are not using it." Growing up, that was certainly the case for Don Preston, an artist who grew up away from the Tohono O'odham Reservation. He returned as an adult and since March has attended a weekly language class in the evening at the San Xavier District Education Center. "My parents never taught me, and I always wanted to learn to speak my own language," said Preston, 52. "It's like going back to my own roots." Jodi Burshia, one of the fellows at the university, said she also wants to learn the language of her ancestors. Her ancestry includes Pueblo, Navajo, Sioux, Chippewa and French Canadian, but she speaks none of the languages. "I want to know about all of them," said Burshia, who grew up with the Laguna Pueblo people in New Mexico and now lives in Tucson. Burshia, like the other fellows, is learning how to write effective grant proposals to secure outside funding for language documentation when tribal money falls short. She said she hopes to help collect and preserve letters, tapes and other documents in her Laguna community. Marvin Weatherwax, a member of the Blackfeet tribe in northwestern Montana, said the death of elders in the past two years has meant a drop in the number of fluent native speakers to 350 from 500. Eighteen new speakers were gained in the past five years, said Weatherwax, who teaches language at his reservation's community college. Last summer, the UA fellow said, he determined by knocking on doors that 1,500 tribal members understand Blackfeet but rarely speak it. He calls them "sleepers," and his goal is to reawaken their knowledge about the language so they can share it with youngsters. "We can't lose our language," said Weatherwax, 59. "Without it, you lose pretty much your identity, you lose pretty much everything." In the Ho-Chunk Nation of Nebraska, Caroline Frenchman, another fellow, said tribal members teach the language to students from preschool to college two to three times a week. "But that is not enough," she said. Five fluent speakers remain among the roughly 2,600 enrolled members in the state, she said. To stir interest in the language, tribal members are digitizing the 1,500 audiotapes that a late elder, Stanford Whitewater, left behind. Frenchman said Whitewater's recordings contain a wealth of language lessons and tribal history. Frenchman, 42, said she studied her native language under Whitewater for five years before he died at age 90 recently. The language apprentice said she never learned Ho-Chunk from her grandparents, who raised her. Now, she herself is learning the language as she tries to save it from extinction. "There's an old legend that says if the language ever dies, the world will cease to exist," she said. "I don't want it to die." Marie Sanchez, a Northern Cheyenne who teaches the tribal language to elementary school students, characterized as severe the language loss among youngsters in her northeastern Montana reservation. "Our youngest fluent speaker is 30," said Sanchez, 67. To counter the downward trend, tribal members plan to expand an immersion program for mothers and infants, Sanchez said. "We want to get them back into learning the language and traditions before childbirth," she said of expectant mothers. Seeing so many youths no longer speak Cheyenne saddens Sanchez, but at the same time, "it makes me want to try harder." Delphine Saraficio, who teaches O'odham to children and adults in San Xavier, said she sometimes feels discouraged to see her native language disintegrating. But then she hears new students such as Preston painstakingly emit the soft, lilting sounds of O'odham in class. It is the affirmation she needs to keep working to save her mother tongue. ? Contact reporter Lourdes Medrano at 573-4347 or lmedrano at azstarnet.com. All content copyright ? 1999-2006 AzStarNet, Arizona Daily Star and its wire services and suppliers and may not be republished without permission. All rights reserved. Any copying, redistribution, or retransmission of any of the contents of this service without the expressed written consent of Arizona Daily Star or AzStarNet is prohibited. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Mon Jun 19 15:15:24 2006 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2006 08:15:24 -0700 Subject: To tell, to hear, to learn (fwd) Message-ID: Posted on Sun, Jun. 18, 2006 To tell, to hear, to learn Storytellers keep heritage alive BY CHRISTINA M. WOODS The Wichita Eagle http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/nation/14844843.htm Vernon "Cy" Ahtone tells stories of pride, history and struggle, through polar bears, alligators and monkeys. An elder in Wichita's American Indian community and a well-known storyteller, Ahtone clings to his Kiowa heritage by telling stories and speaking the language of his people. Ahtone's stories chart his life. And after he dies, they will be his legacy. What's in a name Ahtone was born Jan. 11, 1949 in Carnegie, Okla. About three months after his birth, Ahtone met his great-grandfather. My father took me to meet his grandfather, who was on his deathbed. He lived about a mile and a half away. Winter lingered and the weather was bad. We walked across the creek. When we got there my father said, "Look Grandpa, here's my son." My great-grandfather, who is blind, reached up from his bed and touched me on the head, on the chest and on the legs. My great-grandfather gave his approval, saying, "Someday he's going to be grown and he will make you proud. But why did you bring him here in this kind of weather? Besides that, I have nothing to give him. "I have nothing to give him but my name." Ahtone. It means "small water." For a while the name was lost -- replaced with "Samuel" -- in the early 1900s when his great-grandfather attended Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania. "The proudest thing I have is that name because that old man gave it to me," he said. Ahtone is the first-born son of eight siblings and the first-born grandson of his family. His grandparents raised him from his infancy to midteen years to teach him his heritage, according to Kiowa tradition. When Ahtone's son, Vernon, was a preteen, he was sent to Carnegie to live with Ahtone's father. The tradition continued. And Ahtone moved to Wichita in the early 1980s to raise his first grandson, Claiborne. More than just stories Members of the more than 86 tribes that make up Wichita's American Indian community recognize the power in storytelling. "Stories tell more about personal histories than anything else will," said Ahtone, Stories vary by tribe, said Betty Nixon, also a Kiowa and elder in the community. There are about 189 Kiowas in Wichita, according to the U.S. Census. "We all weren't raised the same way," she said. "Our traditions are different. Our beliefs are different." For Rose Grant, of the Otoe tribe, stories take root and help preserve the core of their people. "Everything was taken from us," she said. "We don't have the buffalo, but we still have our native ways that the Creator has given us." A single phrase, "To tell the truth," helped Lance Lone Bear learn more about his Apache heritage. Honesty, Lone Bear said, is emphasized among Apaches. That's why his grandfather began each of his stories by saying, "To tell the truth." Now Lone Bear does the same. Those four words --"to tell the truth" -- resurrect childhood memories of strolling through the Arizona mountains with his grandfather, looking for arrowheads, learning the ways of Apaches and their emphasis on truth telling, Lone Bear said. "Life is a lot easier," he said, "with truth." Everyone has a story to tell, said Eugene Cameron, of the Southern Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma City. "You have a story from your family that represents your family, your culture, your traditions, who you are," said Cameron, whose stories are about animals such as bears, buffaloes and eagles. "They help share how we relate to one another within the society whatever culture that is." Lost culture Hearing stories and telling stories are different, according to Ahtone. "I love hearing their stories," he said of others' tales. "But I have no right to tell them because they're not my stories." His personal story is one of resolve. Ahtone said that while growing up in Oklahoma, teachers would reprimand students caught speaking Kiowa. Repeated verbal reprimands gave way to three licks with a paddle. "Now I hear people say, 'Oh, your language is important. You should teach it,' " Ahtone said in a hushed voice. "But back then, they tried to beat it out of me." His voice grows louder. "They tried to beat my Kiowa out of me," he said. "But they didn't do it. They weren't able to." He fears Kiowas will end up as African-Americans, many of whom have no knowledge about their people, their tribes, their African homeland. For Ahtone, there's hope. He speaks sentences in his native tongue, foreign to an ear accustomed to English but stirring to the heart. "When I can no longer do that, I'm just a dark-skinned man walking around here," he whispers. "And then that assimilation process has done its job." Ahtone refuses to let go of the heritage that took root in him through stories. There is authenticity in traditions -- and language. "Things sound so much better, you can express yourself so much more fully, stories are more exciting, jokes are funnier -- when you tell them in their original language." Legacy of knowledge His 16-year-old granddaughter, Leah Pherigo, tags along to his speaking engagements. Sometimes she wears her regalia, a dress in deep hues, with beadwork and feathers. She listens to her grandfather's stories so that one day she'll be able to pass them down. "I'll have stories to tell people, too," she said. Stories of the white bear (polar bear), the little tree men with tails (monkeys) and the water dragons (alligators) track the Kiowas' paths through North, Central and South America. It's through those stories that Ahtone plans to live forever. When Ahtone's grandchildren tell their grandchildren his stories, "I'm going to come back alive." "I have no money. I have no property. I have nothing of value that I can leave for anybody," he said. "My legacy is going to be what little knowledge I have. I pass that on through the stories I tell." Reach Christina M. Woods at 316- 269-6791 or cwoods at wichitaeagle.com. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Mon Jun 19 15:19:40 2006 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2006 08:19:40 -0700 Subject: Tribal colleges beckoning members (fwd) Message-ID: Posted on Sat, Jun. 17, 2006 Tribal colleges beckoning members SHAUN SCHAFER Associated Press http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/news/state/14843530.htm PAWNEE, Okla. - Working full-time with a family to support, Cedric Sunray said he didn't have much time to work on a college degree. Still, the desire was there, and Sunray, 31, said he rushed to be one of the 90 people enrolled in the Pawnee Nation College when it started classes last fall. "I wouldn't do it anywhere else," Sunray said. "Tribal colleges offer classes that are historically not offered anywhere and tribal colleges depend on workforce students." Flexing sovereignty and economic clout spurred in some cases by Indian gambling, tribal colleges are growing around the country. Nationally, there were no tribal colleges before 1968. Today, there are more than three dozen in the U.S. and one in Canada. Oklahoma, which didn't have a tribal college until 2002, now has four seeking accreditation and financing. "It's been a slow process, but we are happy to be where we are," said Gerald Gipp, executive director of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium. "We're going through a real learning process of operating our schools and reversing decades of neglect." Tribal colleges developed along with a growth in American Indians seeking higher education. American Indian enrollment in universities more than doubled during the past 25 years, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Simultaneously, enrollment in tribal colleges increased 62 percent in the past decade, according to the higher education consortium. Todd Fuller, president of Pawnee Nation College, said those numbers should continue to grow. He said he expected enrollment at his college to grow at least 40 percent this fall. "With tribal colleges there is that inherent mission of cultural and language preservation," Fuller said. "There also has to be a degree path." Tribal colleges also may be the last chance to save some native languages, said Quinton Roman Nose. Roman Nose, education director of the Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma, is helping develop a tribal college on the campus of Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford. "Some tribes have their own syllabary. Others have languages that aren't written. This is a really complicated area to try and preserve and teach a language," Roman Nose said. "There's a great need and this is one way of meeting it." Course offerings reflect tribal goals. In Oklahoma, the Muscogee (Creek) Nation offers Creek language as a means to preserve the tongue. The tribe also made it mandatory for Creek Headstart teachers to teach the language. In South Dakota, Sinte Gleska University's Lakota Studies Department has been integrating Lakota traditional values and history into academics since 1973. Nebraska Indian Community College, among other programs, offers an associate's degree in tribal business management. In Wyoming, Wind River Tribal College offers an Arapaho language class accredited through Southwestern Oklahoma. Tribal colleges also offer a challenge that may be unique in an American Indian student's life, Sunray said. "There are no excuses at a tribal college," Sunray said. "You can't look at a teacher and say he doesn't like me because of so-and-so." Instead of having a white instructor, students likely will see another tribal member teaching, he said. They're not there to get rich, but to make a difference, Sunray said. "They are going to make you work," he said. The institutions, however, face an uncertain future. Characterized by rural isolation, limited property tax base, and benign neglect from state governments, growth of tribal colleges has been uneven. At least seven have failed in the past 25 years, but another 17 new institutions have opened. They keep appearing because there is a need, said Roman Nose, whose great-grandfather, Henry, attended Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania. "Even our own tribal members ask 'Why do we need to do this?'" Roman Nose said. "We have needs that can't be met any other way." Funding remains key for any startup, the Pawnee's Fuller said. As president, he has worked to fund a new university and refurbish buildings for classroom space. The Cheyenne-Arapaho could only consider a tribal college after establishing a gambling operation, Roman Nose said. "With more economic power, with more wealth, we are able to do this," Roman Nose said. In North Dakota, United Tribes Technical College in Bismarck has had to fight for funding after it was eliminated from President Bush's budget proposal for the fifth straight year. Earlier this year, the state's congressional delegation said Congress restored $3.5 million. Gambling has aided some tribes, Gipp said, but not all. Most tribal gambling centers are in remote areas, and tribes have many needs to cover, he said. "These are schools chartered by the tribe," Gipp said. "So, it does indicate that tribes are feeling confident in where they are going." In Pawnee, Sunray said most of his classmates are seeking an education as a means to improve their lives. He hopes, however, that a tribal college education will do more for his 5-year-old daughter and his 1-year-old son, he said. "They're more apt to treat people better if they know who they are, if they're not marginalized," Sunray said. "They'll get along better with others and feel strong in who they are." His family speaks Choctaw and Cherokee at home and he hopes to raise children capable of communicating in several languages. Ultimately, he said when he thought about his girl someday getting married, he could picture blacks, Hispanics, whites and tribal members among her bridesmaids. "I know that sounds corny, but I really want this to make a better life for her and my son," Sunray said. "When I think about her wedding day, that's what I imagine. "And that would be nice." From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Mon Jun 19 15:22:05 2006 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2006 08:22:05 -0700 Subject: Robison looks to maintain the Western Shoshone language (fwd) Message-ID: Robison looks to maintain the Western Shoshone language [photo inset - Click to Enlarge Viktoria Pearson/LVN photo Betty Robinson will teach her grandaughter, Crystal Allen, the Western Shoshone language and culture in August. Browse and Buy Lahontan Valley News Photos] VIKTORIA PEARSON, vpearson at lahontanvalleynews.com June 17, 2006 http://www.lahontanvalleynews.com/article/20060617/News/106170026 The Nevada Arts Council approved 12 Folklife Apprenticeship grants in May, including two in Fallon. The council approved more than $28,000 to be divided between the 12 recipients throughout Nevada. The two Fallon grants equal $4,907 for apprenticeship programs in the art of Western saddlemaking and Western Shoshone language and culture. Each grant is based on the amount needed for the master artist to teach the apprentice an art form handed down within families, occupations, tribes, ethnic, regional and other community groups to preserve Nevada's rich cultural heritage. Betty Robison of Fallon is one of the master artists that will be teaching granddaughter and apprentice Crystal Allen, 23, of the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe, the Western Shoshone language and culture. Robison's grant was for $2,407 and will be used for materials and continuing education throughout the year. Allen will learn the cultural aspects and the majority of the language skills in a two-week, 80-hour study course. "We will focus on the culture and language eight hours a day for the entire two weeks. By the end of the two-week course, no more English will be spoken," said Robison. The training will continue with Allen through a correspondence program consisting of study guides, tapes and booklets Robison will make throughout the year. Robison said she tried to teach Allen the language as a child, but she had no interest in learning. "She became interested once she graduated from community college," said Robison. Robison said when Allen began studying culture in college and learned many of the nation's traditions were slowly disappearing, she realized she had a responsibility to learn and to help preserve a culture that could die out in the near future. Allen is pursuing a degree in political science with a full scholarship to Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass. Mount Holyoke is an all-female Ivy League college located near Boston. "I had taken it for granted (the language)," Allen said. "When I went to school on the East Coast, I noticed a lack of Native American representation." The Nevada Arts Council began the grant program in 1988 to preserve cultural heritage that was on the verge of disappearing from Nevada communities. Folklife Apprenticeship Grants of no more than $2,500 are given to individual master artists statewide that apply with either one or more apprentices to preserve a relevant cultural heritage. Classes for the apprentice can last from a couple of weeks to an entire year, depending on the time needed to master the skill. The grants are yearly and the application process begins in December. Grant decisions are generally voted on in May. Visit the Web site for information on the Folklife Apprenticeship programs at www.NevadaCulture.org Viktoria Pearson can be contacted at vpearson at lahontanvalleynews.com From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Tue Jun 20 16:06:39 2006 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2006 09:06:39 -0700 Subject: Alaska native sees culture, heritage endangered through climate change (fwd) Message-ID: Alaska native sees culture, heritage endangered through climate change By Dave Ranney Tuesday, June 20, 2006 http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2006/jun/20/alaska_native_sees_culture_heritage_endangered_thr/?city_local Global warming is squeezing the life out of Oscar Kawagley?s culture. ?It is scary,? he said. ?Cold is what makes my language, my culture, my identity. What am I going to do without cold?? Kawagley, 71, grew up in Bethel, Alaska, a Yupiaq village where, he said, ?as a boy, we depended on seal for meat, for seal oil and for clothing.? Nowadays, he said, seals are scarce. ?They are getting harder and harder to find because the ice is getting farther and farther out, and it?s not as thick,? Kawagley said. ?Seals have to have ice for their pups ? so do walrus ? but it is disappearing.? Kawagley spoke Monday at ?Impact of Climate Change on Indigenous Peoples,? a three-day symposium at Haskell Indian Nations University, which is a first of its type for the school. Other consequences of global warming: ? Undeterred by the cold, bark beetles and budworms are wiping out thousands of acres of white and black spruce. ? The number of forest fires is increasing. ? Several fish species are disappearing. ? The region?s permafrost is melting. ? Coastal ice sheets are melting, exposing villages to the ocean?s waters. ?It is a shame to see the pictures of the waves lapping against villagers? homes,? said Kawagley, an associate professor of education at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. ?But it is a reality.? ? Polar bears are drowning because they must swim up to 60 miles in open sea to find food. Some have turned to cannibalism. ? As food supplies dwindle, black, brown and grizzly bears are becoming more aggressive. ?In Denali National Park today, they will not let you put up a tent because of the bears,? Kawagley said. Kawagley said his Yupiaq culture is reeling from the changes. ?I feel afraid for my grandchildren,? he said. ?Already, they are in a state of confusion.? Kawagley?s comments struck a chord with Dan Wildcat, a Haskell instructor and the symposium?s coordinator. ?These are major issues to face that are very disruptive to native people ? indigenous people who still take their identities, their lifeways and their cultures from the landscapes they live on,? Wildcat said. ?For people who are maintaining those traditions, these changes are going to be very challenging.? The symposium ends Thursday morning. About 30 people attended Monday?s sessions. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Tue Jun 20 16:13:41 2006 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2006 09:13:41 -0700 Subject: Superhero flying to the rescue of native youth (fwd) Message-ID: Superhero flying to the rescue of native youth Cree legend Wesakechak comes to life in an updated form for comic books to be distributed to aboriginals Miro Cernetig Vancouver Sun Monday, June 19, 2006 http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=a97cf0e3-380e-4138-8fba-12236e9133ee&k=98554 Suicide is a scourge among young aboriginals. But a new superhero, with eagle feathers in his hair and a red, white and blue suit that hugs his chiselled body, is flying in to the rescue. His name is Wesakechak, named after the mythical shape-shifter and protector in Cree legends. But he's been updated for the 21st century with a flying motorcycle, superhuman strength and put inside a comic book now being distributed across the country for aboriginal youth. "We wanted to find a way to get through to young people," said Sean Muir, founder and executive director of the Healthy Aboriginal Network, a non-profit society. "In the past, this sort of stuff has often been done with lots of text and pamphlets. We thought a comic book might be a better way of reaching out." Apparently they were right. In fact, the comic Darkness Falls, which received $45,000 in aid from the B.C. Ministry of Health, is something of a best-seller: More than 33,000 of the comics, which will be revealed June 21 at the World Urban Forum, will be distributed to aboriginal teenagers, who are statistically five times more likely than their non-native counterparts to take their lives. What makes the comic unique -- and an effective teaching tool when discussing the silence-inducing subject of suicide, said Muir -- is that it fuses together elements of aboriginal spirituality with eye-popping action scenes and film noir fantasies one might find in an X-Men film. The comic's creator is Steve Sanderson, a 29-year-old animation artist who has worked for some of Vancouver's biggest animation and video game studios. Born to a Cree father and a non-native mother of Scottish descent, Sanderson got the inspiration a few years ago when he received a disturbing call from his cousin, who was ten years younger than him and still lived in Saskatoon. "He just called me out of the blue and said that he was going to kill himself," said Sanderson. "He meant it. He was at the end of his rope." Sanderson rushed to Saskatch-ewan to spend time with his troubled cousin. While there, he realized that his experience was one shared by thousands of aboriginals dealing with family members living in poverty who contemplate, and too often commit, suicide. But his mixed heritage and career in the entertainment world brought another perspective to the problem. "I thought it would be cool if I could mix the two -- my fascination with pop-cult and comic books and video game culture with native culture," he said. "I thought it would make something really different and more relevant for kids." What he decided to do was pit his superhero Wesakechak (pronounced wee-sak-ee-chak) against a more fearful Cree phantom which he also learned about while growing up: The Weetigo, the spirit who takes over a person's body and mind, making them commit acts such as cannibalism. Sanderson decided to make the Weetigo the evil force that drives native children to suicide. What Sanderson also did, mostly through his drawing and use of language, was portray life on the reserve as dark and desperate, as it can be sometimes. His opening panel is a depressing scene of a native high school, somewhere on the vast, sun-baked prairie. The main character, based on himself and his cousin, soon emerges as an overweight boy -- with a penchant for drawing -- who is bullied at school, told he's only good at eating by his teacher and goes home to a family where he's told he's too fat and "useless." Further on, the teen sits in a dark grove of trees, tears streaming, declaring, "I want to die. I want to die." Such scenes were not put in without pause. Muir said his organization screened the comic carefully over nine months. "The last thing you want to do is put this out and actually give people an idea about suicide," he said. But the story, while sometimes sad, is ultimately a hopeful one. When the evil Weetigo tries to force the boy to commit suicide, the powerful Wesakechak in full superhero mode tries to do battle. But he's losing. It's the young boy who hold the power to defeat this demon in front of him by declaring four words: "I don't wanna die." It's a simple story, said Sanderson. But it's left him fulfilled. "If one kids reads this and it changes their mind, then I've done something important with my life," he reflected. In fact, he already has. Sanderson's once-suicidal cousin is now graduating from film school, he said, "and has turned into a real success story," just like in the comic that thousands of other aboriginal children are now reading. mcernetig at png.canwest.com ? The Vancouver Sun 2006 From candaceg at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Thu Jun 22 23:07:04 2006 From: candaceg at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Candace Galla) Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2006 16:07:04 -0700 Subject: NSF poster presentation invitation 6/27/06 Message-ID: Gathering Talk: Grant Writing and Language Documentation for Endangered Languages You are invited to a very special poster session being presented by the Native American language teams who have been participating in an intensive four-week seminar on grant proposal writing for documenting endangered languages funded by the National Science Foundation. The seminar is a part of the American Indian Language Development Institute (AILDI) and its sponsors. The project posters all represent four weeks of coursework and research on grant writing and documenting endangered languages. We hope that you will be able to stop by and talk with the poster presenters. We look forward to seeing you at this occasion. Date & Time: Tuesday June 27th, 9:00-10:45 a.m. Location: The College of Education Kiva Auditorium, Room 211 I have included the file as an attachment (pdf file). Please distribute widely. Hope to see you there! Mahalo, <--------------> Candace K. Galla Ph.D Student, LRC Graduate Assistant American Indian Language Development Institute Department of Language, Reading & Culture College of Education, Room 517 P.O. Box 210069 Tucson, AZ 85721-0069 (520) 621-1068, Fax (520)621-8174 www.u.arizona.edu/~aildi candaceg at email.arizona.edu -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: NSF poster session invitation.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 88823 bytes Desc: not available URL: From susan.penfield at GMAIL.COM Sat Jun 24 21:55:18 2006 From: susan.penfield at GMAIL.COM (Susan Penfield) Date: Sat, 24 Jun 2006 14:55:18 -0700 Subject: Indigenous Language Road Signs! Message-ID: This is a GREAT idea -- reminds me that, in order to promote the use of Latin, the ATMs in the Vatican have all been converted to Latin. Making language visible -- as the signs along the road through Salish-Kootenai country will be, encourages both an interest and respect--and use-- for languages. http://missoulian.com/articles/2006/06/24/news/mtregional/news08.txt S. -- Susan D. Penfield, Ph.D. Department of English(Primary) American Indian Language Devel.Institute Department of Linguistics Second Language Acquistion &Teaching Ph.D. Program Dept. of Language,Reading and Culture The Southwest Center (Research) Phone for messages: (520) 621-1836 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Sun Jun 25 15:31:26 2006 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2006 08:31:26 -0700 Subject: Be Creative Message-ID: The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Innovation Fund provides one-time grants to spark the creation or expansion of innovative education programs focusing on a particular field each year. The 2007 Innovation Fund seeks proposals in two areas: 1) International educational experiences occurring outside the United States, and 2) Foreign language immersion programs located in the United States or abroad. Maximum Award:$150,000. Eligibility: Programs must serve at least in part low- to moderate- income U.S. high school students who are high-achieving or have exceptional potential. Deadline: June 29, 2006. http://www.jackkentcookefoundation.org/jkcf_web/home.aspx?Page=Main -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From susan.penfield at GMAIL.COM Sun Jun 25 16:04:14 2006 From: susan.penfield at GMAIL.COM (Susan Penfield) Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2006 09:04:14 -0700 Subject: Be Creative In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Andre, I have to ask -- and am sorry that I do -- but, in this case, would the grant agency count 'Indigenous' languages as 'Foreign Languages" -- Probably not - and, of course, all on this list would blanch at that idea. What I have found is that funding of this type may represent a popular political agenda which provides great attention toward foreign language teaching (particularly of the 'strategic' languages -- those of anti-US countries). I'm not passing judgement, just making an observation. I would not want to discourage any program that fosters language teaching. We ,here in the US, do need to expand our horizons in terms of foreign language learning. However, I feel that support for endangered Indigenous languages, while surfacing in some places (like NSF/NEH DEL grants and ANA...) is generally not well supported by private foundations. This is particularly true of grants for immersion activities to support revitalization. Given the world language crisis, it would be great if this foundation, for example, would extend the funding for 'innovative and creative programs to support immersion activities for endangered languages." Maybe next year? Thanks for the post... Best, Susan On 6/25/06, Andre Cramblit wrote: > > The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Innovation Fund provides one-time grants to > spark the creation or expansion of innovative education programs focusing on > a particular field each year. > > The 2007 Innovation Fund seeks proposals in two areas: > 1) International educational experiences occurring outside the United > States, and > 2) Foreign language immersion programs located in the United States or > abroad. > > Maximum Award:$150,000. > > Eligibility: Programs must serve at least in part low- to moderate-income > U.S. high school students who are high-achieving or have exceptional > potential. > > Deadline: June 29, 2006. > > http://www.jackkentcookefoundation.org/jkcf_web/home.aspx?Page=Main > -- Susan D. Penfield, Ph.D. Department of English(Primary) American Indian Language Devel.Institute Department of Linguistics Second Language Acquistion &Teaching Ph.D. Program Dept. of Language,Reading and Culture The Southwest Center (Research) Phone for messages: (520) 621-1836 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From johnny_hilljr at YAHOO.COM Sun Jun 25 16:11:24 2006 From: johnny_hilljr at YAHOO.COM (johnny hilljr) Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2006 09:11:24 -0700 Subject: Be Creative In-Reply-To: <39a679e20606250904m66c170cama6063b0d7d71a6a8@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: hEY Susan where have you been. Susan Penfield wrote: Andre, I have to ask -- and am sorry that I do -- but, in this case, would the grant agency count 'Indigenous' languages as 'Foreign Languages" -- Probably not - and, of course, all on this list would blanch at that idea. What I have found is that funding of this type may represent a popular political agenda which provides great attention toward foreign language teaching (particularly of the 'strategic' languages -- those of anti-US countries). I'm not passing judgement, just making an observation. I would not want to discourage any program that fosters language teaching. We ,here in the US, do need to expand our horizons in terms of foreign language learning. However, I feel that support for endangered Indigenous languages, while surfacing in some places (like NSF/NEH DEL grants and ANA...) is generally not well supported by private foundations. This is particularly true of grants for immersion activities to support revitalization. Given the world language crisis, it would be great if this foundation, for example, would extend the funding for 'innovative and creative programs to support immersion activities for endangered languages." Maybe next year? Thanks for the post... Best, Susan On 6/25/06, Andre Cramblit wrote: The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Innovation Fund provides one-time grants to spark the creation or expansion of innovative education programs focusing on a particular field each year. The 2007 Innovation Fund seeks proposals in two areas: 1) International educational experiences occurring outside the United States, and 2) Foreign language immersion programs located in the United States or abroad. Maximum Award:$150,000. Eligibility: Programs must serve at least in part low- to moderate-income U.S. high school students who are high-achieving or have exceptional potential. Deadline: June 29, 2006. http://www.jackkentcookefoundation.org/jkcf_web/home.aspx?Page=Main -- Susan D. Penfield, Ph.D. Department of English(Primary) American Indian Language Devel.Institute Department of Linguistics Second Language Acquistion &Teaching Ph.D. Program Dept. of Language,Reading and Culture The Southwest Center (Research) Phone for messages: (520) 621-1836 --------------------------------- Sneak preview the all-new Yahoo.com. It's not radically different. Just radically better. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From susan.penfield at GMAIL.COM Sun Jun 25 16:28:59 2006 From: susan.penfield at GMAIL.COM (Susan Penfield) Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2006 09:28:59 -0700 Subject: Be Creative In-Reply-To: <20060625161124.50156.qmail@web37712.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message-ID: Hi JOHNNY!!! We have all been teaching for AILDI -- every day -- long days -- but WOW it has been amazing! I really wish you could come down -- I haven't been able to get extra travel money yet to make that happen -- but I'm still trying for it. Think about next summer -- would the B-I -A give you a month off? Ben and Lika will be up again soon -- early July -- I'm headed north with my kids for a vacation -- but you will see me a lot in the fall ! How are things going? Hi to Berta and the boys! (And the dogs...any more puppies?) Best, Susan On 6/25/06, johnny hilljr wrote: > > hEY Susan where have you been. > > > *Susan Penfield * wrote: > > Andre, > > I have to ask -- and am sorry that I do -- but, in this case, would the > grant agency count 'Indigenous' languages as 'Foreign Languages" -- Probably > not - and, of course, all on this list would blanch at that idea. What I > have found is that funding of this type may represent a popular political > agenda which provides great attention toward foreign language teaching > (particularly of the 'strategic' languages -- those of anti-US countries). > I'm not passing judgement, just making an observation. > > I would not want to discourage any program that fosters language teaching. > We ,here in the US, do need to expand our horizons in terms of foreign > language learning. However, I feel that support for endangered Indigenous > languages, while surfacing in some places (like NSF/NEH DEL grants and > ANA...) is generally not well supported by private foundations. This is > particularly true of grants for immersion activities to support > revitalization. > > Given the world language crisis, it would be great if this foundation, for > example, would extend the funding for 'innovative and creative programs to > support immersion activities for endangered languages." Maybe next year? > > Thanks for the post... > Best, > Susan > > On 6/25/06, Andre Cramblit wrote: > > > > The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Innovation Fund provides one-time grants > > to spark the creation or expansion of innovative education programs focusing > > on a particular field each year. > > > > The 2007 Innovation Fund seeks proposals in two areas: > > 1) International educational experiences occurring outside the United > > States, and > > 2) Foreign language immersion programs located in the United States or > > abroad. > > > > Maximum Award:$150,000. > > > > Eligibility: Programs must serve at least in part low- to > > moderate-income U.S. high school students who are high-achieving or have > > exceptional potential. > > > > Deadline: June 29, 2006. > > > > http://www.jackkentcookefoundation.org/jkcf_web/home.aspx?Page=Main > > > > > > -- > Susan D. Penfield, Ph.D. > > > Department of English(Primary) > American Indian Language Devel.Institute > Department of Linguistics > Second Language Acquistion &Teaching > Ph.D. Program > Dept. of Language,Reading and Culture > The Southwest Center (Research) > > Phone for messages: (520) 621-1836 > > > ------------------------------ > Sneak preview the all-new Yahoo.com. > It's not radically different. Just radically better. > > -- Susan D. Penfield, Ph.D. Department of English(Primary) American Indian Language Devel.Institute Department of Linguistics Second Language Acquistion &Teaching Ph.D. Program Dept. of Language,Reading and Culture The Southwest Center (Research) Phone for messages: (520) 621-1836 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From susan.penfield at GMAIL.COM Sun Jun 25 17:17:37 2006 From: susan.penfield at GMAIL.COM (Susan Penfield) Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2006 10:17:37 -0700 Subject: My apologies Message-ID: My apologies for posting my message to Johnny Hill to the general list...Sigh, a function of doing too much online stuff this morning!! Sorry... S. -- Susan D. Penfield, Ph.D. Department of English(Primary) American Indian Language Devel.Institute Department of Linguistics Second Language Acquistion &Teaching Ph.D. Program Dept. of Language,Reading and Culture The Southwest Center (Research) Phone for messages: (520) 621-1836 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Sun Jun 25 18:09:31 2006 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2006 11:09:31 -0700 Subject: Shoshone Message-ID: http://www.lahontanvalleynews.com/article/20060617/News/106170026 Robison looks to maintain the Western Shoshone language June 17, 2006 ? The Nevada Arts Council approved 12 Folklife Apprenticeship grants in May, including two in Fallon. The council approved more than $28,000 to be divided between the 12 recipients throughout Nevada. The two Fallon grants equal $4,907 for apprenticeship programs in the art of Western saddlemaking and Western Shoshone language and culture. Each grant is based on the amount needed for the master artist to teach the apprentice an art form handed down within families, occupations, tribes, ethnic, regional and other community groups to preserve Nevada's rich cultural heritage. Betty Robison of Fallon is one of the master artists that will be teaching granddaughter and apprentice Crystal Allen, 23, of the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe, the Western Shoshone language and culture. Robison's grant was for $2,407 and will be used for materials and continuing education throughout the year. Allen will learn the cultural aspects and the majority of the language skills in a two-week, 80-hour study course. "We will focus on the culture and language eight hours a day for the entire two weeks. By the end of the two-week course, no more English will be spoken," said Robison. The training will continue with Allen through a correspondence program consisting of study guides, tapes and booklets Robison will make throughout the year. Robison said she tried to teach Allen the language as a child, but she had no interest in learning. "She became interested once she graduated from community college," said Robison. Robison said when Allen began studying culture in college and learned many of the nation's traditions were slowly disappearing, she realized she had a responsibility to learn and to help preserve a culture that could die out in the near future. Allen is pursuing a degree in political science with a full scholarship to Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass. Mount Holyoke is an all-female Ivy League college located near Boston. "I had taken it for granted (the language)," Allen said. "When I went to school on the East Coast, I noticed a lack of Native American representation." The Nevada Arts Council began the grant program in 1988 to preserve cultural heritage that was on the verge of disappearing from Nevada communities. Folklife Apprenticeship Grants of no more than $2,500 are given to individual master artists statewide that apply with either one or more apprentices to preserve a relevant cultural heritage. Classes for the apprentice can last from a couple of weeks to an entire year, depending on the time needed to master the skill. The grants are yearly and the application process begins in December. Grant decisions are generally voted on in May. Visit the Web site for information on the Folklife Apprenticeship programs at www.NevadaCulture.org Viktoria Pearson can be contacted at vpearson at lahontanvalleynews.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: spacer.gif Type: image/gif Size: 43 bytes Desc: not available URL: From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Sun Jun 25 18:10:47 2006 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2006 11:10:47 -0700 Subject: New Speakers Message-ID: http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/134019 Tucson Region old ways, old words New speakers of ancient tongues Indian tribes find teaching is last hope for saving native languages By Lourdes Medrano Arizona Daily Star Tucson, Arizona | Published: 06.17.2006 As time treks through Indian country, the words of ancient songs and sacred rituals crumble under the weight of the dominant language. "I hear more and more English on the reservation," said Danny Lopez, who teaches Tohono O'odham at the Sells community college. "A lot of children don't know our language anymore." But a language revival of sorts has gripped many American Indian tribes working to keep their mother tongues vibrant. Just southwest of Tucson, in the San Xavier District of the Tohono O'odham Nation, children and their parents learn the language of their ancestors in special classes. In Nebraska, Ho-Chunk youths absorb an elder's words preserved in 1,500 audiotapes about life on the reservation. In Montana, mothers immerse their newborns and toddlers in a new language program. They are some of the initiatives being discussed this month at the University of Arizona, where 20 tribal members hope to learn how to preserve declining indigenous languages. "Gathering Talk: Documenting, Describing and Revitalizing Our Languages" is the theme of the American Indian Language Development Institute this summer. The residential program has offered training since 1979 to teachers of indigenous languages. But institute director Ofelia Zepeda said it is the first time tribal members have received a fellowship from the National Science Foundation to focus on language preservation. The fellows represent languages from a number of American Indian tribes, including Oneida, Ho-Chunk, Blackfeet, Coushatta, Sahaptin, Southern Ute, Cheyenne, Laguna-Keres, Okanagan, Tohono O'odham and Akimel O'odham. The decline of indigenous languages has been well documented, but "of late we're having more tribes acknowledge it," Zepeda said. She and other linguists say the reasons for language loss are complex. But they note that American Indian languages historically were suppressed in government attempts to assimilate tribes into mainstream society. In 1995, the Alaska Native Language Center found that of 175 indigenous languages still spoken in the United States, 155 were moribund because children no longer learned them. "It's a huge loss," noted Zepeda, who is Tohono O'odham. "Young people are not learning their language, but that's because the adults are not using it." Growing up, that was certainly the case for Don Preston, an artist who grew up away from the Tohono O'odham Reservation. He returned as an adult and since March has attended a weekly language class in the evening at the San Xavier District Education Center. "My parents never taught me, and I always wanted to learn to speak my own language," said Preston, 52. "It's like going back to my own roots." Jodi Burshia, one of the fellows at the university, said she also wants to learn the language of her ancestors. Her ancestry includes Pueblo, Navajo, Sioux, Chippewa and French Canadian, but she speaks none of the languages. "I want to know about all of them," said Burshia, who grew up with the Laguna Pueblo people in New Mexico and now lives in Tucson. Burshia, like the other fellows, is learning how to write effective grant proposals to secure outside funding for language documentation when tribal money falls short. She said she hopes to help collect and preserve letters, tapes and other documents in her Laguna community. Marvin Weatherwax, a member of the Blackfeet tribe in northwestern Montana, said the death of elders in the past two years has meant a drop in the number of fluent native speakers to 350 from 500. Eighteen new speakers were gained in the past five years, said Weatherwax, who teaches language at his reservation's community college. Last summer, the UA fellow said, he determined by knocking on doors that 1,500 tribal members understand Blackfeet but rarely speak it. He calls them "sleepers," and his goal is to reawaken their knowledge about the language so they can share it with youngsters. "We can't lose our language," said Weatherwax, 59. "Without it, you lose pretty much your identity, you lose pretty much everything." In the Ho-Chunk Nation of Nebraska, Caroline Frenchman, another fellow, said tribal members teach the language to students from preschool to college two to three times a week. "But that is not enough," she said. Five fluent speakers remain among the roughly 2,600 enrolled members in the state, she said. To stir interest in the language, tribal members are digitizing the 1,500 audiotapes that a late elder, Stanford Whitewater, left behind. Frenchman said Whitewater's recordings contain a wealth of language lessons and tribal history. Frenchman, 42, said she studied her native language under Whitewater for five years before he died at age 90 recently. The language apprentice said she never learned Ho-Chunk from her grandparents, who raised her. Now, she herself is learning the language as she tries to save it from extinction. "There's an old legend that says if the language ever dies, the world will cease to exist," she said. "I don't want it to die." Marie Sanchez, a Northern Cheyenne who teaches the tribal language to elementary school students, characterized as severe the language loss among youngsters in her northeastern Montana reservation. "Our youngest fluent speaker is 30," said Sanchez, 67. To counter the downward trend, tribal members plan to expand an immersion program for mothers and infants, Sanchez said. "We want to get them back into learning the language and traditions before childbirth," she said of expectant mothers. Seeing so many youths no longer speak Cheyenne saddens Sanchez, but at the same time, "it makes me want to try harder." Delphine Saraficio, who teaches O'odham to children and adults in San Xavier, said she sometimes feels discouraged to see her native language disintegrating. But then she hears new students such as Preston painstakingly emit the soft, lilting sounds of O'odham in class. It is the affirmation she needs to keep working to save her mother tongue. ? Contact reporter Lourdes Medrano at 573-4347 or lmedrano at azstarnet.com. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From MiaKalish at LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US Sun Jun 25 18:43:42 2006 From: MiaKalish at LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US (Mia Kalish) Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2006 12:43:42 -0600 Subject: My apologies In-Reply-To: <39a679e20606251017y6b28a9a5maf98ae8577355039@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: Hi, Sue, I Enjoyed it :-) I am either overloaded or lazy . . . nice to see something on a personal note without having to write it myself. Is AILDI over? I saw the post about the NSF grant writing class posters next week. . . Best, Mia _____ From: Indigenous Languages and Technology [mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU] On Behalf Of Susan Penfield Sent: Sunday, June 25, 2006 11:18 AM To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU Subject: [ILAT] My apologies My apologies for posting my message to Johnny Hill to the general list...Sigh, a function of doing too much online stuff this morning!! Sorry... S. -- Susan D. Penfield, Ph.D. Department of English(Primary) American Indian Language Devel.Institute Department of Linguistics Second Language Acquistion &Teaching Ph.D. Program Dept. of Language,Reading and Culture The Southwest Center (Research) Phone for messages: (520) 621-1836 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From coyotez at UOREGON.EDU Tue Jun 27 04:21:52 2006 From: coyotez at UOREGON.EDU (David Lewis) Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2006 21:21:52 -0700 Subject: ACTION ALERT! Message-ID: -------- Original Message -------- Subject: NIEA Action Alert Broadcast #06-034 Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2006 16:34:10 -0700 From: Jim Thornton To: Title VII Line National Indian Education Association110 Maryland Avenue, N.E.Suite 104Washington, D.C. 20002P: (202) 544-7290 / F: (202) 544-7293 June 26, 2006Broadcast #06-034 ACTION ALERT! NIEA needs your help in sending a message to Congress about the importance of our Native languages. The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs may mark up S. 2674, Native American Languages Act Amendments of 2006, a bill introduced by Senator Daniel Akaka (D-HI), in the month of July. On the House side, two bills have been introduced, H.R. 4766 and H.R. 5222, introduced by Representatives Heather Wilson (R-NM) and Ed Case (D-HI) respectively. NIEA is requesting that schools and tribes weigh in with their Congressional representative to express their support for a mark up on the Senate bill and floor vote before Congress breaks in August. Likewise, NIEA requests that schools and tribes express their support for a field hearing on Native Languages through the House Education and Workforce Committee. There is a field hearing that is being proposed for the month of August in New Mexico on H.R. 4766 and NIEA needs your help in garnering support to make this hearing happen. Please send the following letters to your Congressional delegation, in addition to the following members, to express your support for legislation that supports existing and new Native language immersion programs. Click here to acess a letter template for the Senate. Senate John McCain, Chairman, Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Byron Dorgan, Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Indian AffairsMichael Enzi, Chairman, Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Edward Kennedy, Ranking Member, Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Click here to access a letter template for the House of Representatives. House of Representatives Howard McKeon, Chairman, House Education and Workforce Committee George Miller, Ranking Member, House Education and Workforce Committee UPDATE ON NATIVE LANGUAGE LEGISLATIVE SUMMIT The following Senators and Representatives have confirmed for the Native Language Legislative Summit on July 12, 2006 in Washington, DC: Sentator Murkowski (AK)Congresswoman McCollum (MN)Congressman Kildee (MI)COngressman P. Kennedy (RI) The following will attend the reception in honor of the Native American Code Talkers: Senator Coburn (OK)Congresswoman Granger (TX)Congressman Renzi (AZ)Congressman P. Kennedy (RI) The following are the Native American Code Talkers who will be present at the Code Talker honoring reception to be held that evening at the National Museum of the American Indian: Clarence WolfGuts - Oglala SiouxKeith M. Little - NavajoSamuel Tso - NavajoPeter MacDonald - Navajo If you have any questions or would like additional information, please contact NIEA at (202)544-7290 or at niea at niea.org. ---------------------------------------If you would like to be removed from our list-serve, please send your request to niea at niea.org. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Tue Jun 27 04:54:34 2006 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2006 21:54:34 -0700 Subject: Anishinabek create official language policy (fwd) Message-ID: Anishinabek create official language policy 21 June, 2006 Media release http://www.firstperspective.ca/fp_template.php?path=20060622language NIPISSING FIRST NATION - Chiefs of the 42 member communities of the Anishinabek Nation have unanimously created an official language policy. During their June 12-14 annual Grand Council Assembly, the Chiefs endorsed a resolution declaring that the official language of the Anishinabek Nation is Anishinaabe-mowin, or the Ojibwe language. "This is a historic decision for our First Nations, and a significant step in coming out from under colonial rule and restoring our own Nationhood," said John Beaucage, who was acclaimed by the Chiefs to serve another term as their Grand Council Chief. The Grand Council Assembly serves as a traditional annual gathering for member communities of the Anishinabek Nation, as well as the annual general meeting of the Union of Ontario Indians Inc. "Our language is sacred, and protecting and restoring it is a priority for our Chiefs," said Beaucage. "It is the vision of this official language policy that our people will once again think in Anishinaabe-mowin by ensuring that Ojibwe is once again the language of our ceremonies, our gatherings, and our working life." The official language policy is in step with the Anishinabek Nation's unanimous support for the establishment of the Anishinaabe-Mushkegowuk-Onkwehonwe Language Commission that will support the language development needs of all First Nations in Ontario. Outgoing Deputy Grand Chief Nelson Toulouse, who did not seek re-election, was officially appointed as Commissioner to this new body that was modeled after the Maori language commission in New Zealand. The resolution states that "the Anishinabek Chiefs-in-Assembly hereby declare that Anishinaabe-mowin, shall herein and forever, be the official language of the Anishinabek Nation and "hereby acknowledge that English is the language of the Crown and is a working language of our people". The official language policy also adopts immersion programs as the preferred method of instruction in Anishinabek Nation schools. "Ojibwe as a second language or conventional Ojibwe language instruction shall be phased out in favour of immersion and fluency programs for school-aged children," said Grand Council Chief Beaucage. The resolution also calls for the establishment of workplace immersion programs and learning opportunities for First Nation employees. The resolution commits the Chiefs-in-Assembly to encourage and support "opportunities for learning, and that each member of the Anishinabek Nation civil service shall be granted two weeks of language development leave and/or workplace language immersion programming." Anishinabek Nation Headquarters on Nipissing First Nation will implement the workplace language programming this summer. Satellite offices located in Thunder Bay, Curve Lake and Muncey-Deleware will follow suit soon after. The 42 member First Nations will mandate and regulate the official language policy through their respect Band Councils, Agencies, Boards and Commissions by the year 2010. The Anishinabek Nation incorporated the Union of Ontario Indians as its secretariat in 1949. The UOI is a political advocate for 42 member First Nations across Ontario. The UOI is the oldest political organization in Ontario and can trace its roots back to the Confederacy of Three Fires, which existed long before European contact. From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Thu Jun 29 05:17:42 2006 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2006 22:17:42 -0700 Subject: two-year language study Message-ID: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/education/20060627-9999-1m27moro.html UCSD grad students end two-year language study By Sarah Gordon UNION-TRIBUNE June 27, 2006 At UCSD, a group of linguistics graduate students recently wrapped up a two-year investigation of an esoteric language few others had studied: Moro, one of dozens of tribal tongues spoken in the Nuba Mountains of Central Sudan. ? NANCEE E. LEWIS / Union-Tribune Elyasir Julima of Sudan listened to a question about his native language, Moro, during a UCSD linguistics class earlier this month. Julima attended the class twice a week to help graduate students studying the dying language. Twice a week, Elyasir Julima, a Sudanese refugee living in City Heights, came to class and spoke while students toiled to develop a description of Moro's tone system and grammar. Linguists say there may be more than 6,500 languages spoken around the world. So why spend two years on Moro? ?It trains them to work on any language they haven't encountered,? said UCSD's associate professor of linguistics, Sharon Rose, who co- taught the field methods class. Besides, evidence indicates that Moro may be endangered. Students in the class think that would be a shame. ?The language contains a lot of information about the area, the culture, its history,? student George Gibbard said. In Moro, for example, the word for ?farmer? is the same as the word for ?man.? In the Nuba Mountains, agriculture is so pervasive, almost every man is also a farmer. ? NANCEE E. LEWIS / Union-Tribune George Gibbard, a UCSD graduate student, wrote sentences in Moro as part of his class' study on the language, spoken in Central Sudan. Linguistics is the scientific study of language. It can be a highly theoretical field, and a minority of linguistics graduate programs in the country require hands-on courses in documenting and unraveling little-studied languages. However, the UCSD-required class has been an essential part of the school's program for decades. The skills to decode rare, endangered and minority languages are of increasing importance to linguists, say academics in the field. The reasons are twofold. For one, linguists want to build databases that take advantage of modern computing's power to run complex language comparisons. ?Since linguists are always trying to figure out the relationship between language and the mind, every bit of evidence we have gives us information,? said Farrell Ackerman, a professor who co-taught the field methods class with Rose. ?If we only documented English, we'd have a very peculiar view of this relationship.? Linguists also want to document languages before it's too late. Increasing globalization and industrialization make many languages vulnerable to obsolescence. Rose says tribal speech can die within a couple of generations once speakers come in contact with a tongue from a more dominant and economically powerful group. The status of Moro is unknown because civil war in Sudan has kept linguists away for decades. But Rose says evidence suggests that it is threatened. Arabic is Sudan's government-endorsed language in schools and trade, and villages where Moro used to thrive have been torn apart by war. ? ? Advertisement With its speakers dead or dispersed, the language might easily die too, Rose says. The UCSD class has a history of helping to revitalize threatened languages close to home: those of American Indians. Longtime faculty member Margaret Langdon, who died last year, devoted her career to helping the Kumeyaay band of American Indians document and teach young people their traditionally oral language. Over the years, she inspired many graduate students at UCSD. One wrote a three-volume dictionary of Luise?o. Another organizes a yearly collaborative conference between American Indians and linguists at UC Berkeley. Still, even Langdon doubted that little-used languages could ever be completely restored. ?She was always of the opinion that no matter what they did, it was probably a losing battle,? Rose said. Ackerman and Rose nonetheless hope their work will eventually enrich Moro-speaking communities in Sudan. They plan to apply for a grant to continue studying the language and would ultimately like to produce learning materials in Moro, like children's books or a dictionary. ?Whatever the research we do should also have a practical benefit for the community,? Ackerman said. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: moro1.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 7279 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: moro2.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 11476 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: t.gif Type: image/gif Size: 43 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: t.gif Type: image/gif Size: 43 bytes Desc: not available URL: From dzo at BISHARAT.NET Thu Jun 29 23:41:55 2006 From: dzo at BISHARAT.NET (d_z_o) Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 23:41:55 -0000 Subject: Fwd: Volkswagen Foundation funding for endangered languages Message-ID: FYI... --- In MINEL at yahoogroups.com, "Don Osborn" wrote: This funding opportunity may be of interest but it does require that a German institution take the lead (although that can involve collaboration with institutions and researchers elsewhere). It does seem a bit limited of vision of them to frame this only in terms of documenting languages before they become extinct, and not to mention revitalization efforts, but maybe those can be included. (Thanks to Ted Johnson for forwarding mention of this VW Fndn. initiative.)... DZO Documentation of Endangered Languages Next deadline for applications: October 15, 2006 http://www.volkswagenstiftung.de/foerderung/auslandsorientiert/bedrohte-sprachen.html?L=1 Some two thirds of the estimated 6,500 languages still spoken throughout the world are in danger of disappearing within the next one to two generations. But if a language dies, this also means that a piece of the cultural diversity of our world dies with it. The initiative cannot stop this development, but it can make sure that testimony to these language cultures, which are mostly only passed on by word of mouth, is recorded in an electronic archive of endangered languages before they vanish without trace: by means of audio tape, video camera, still camera and note pad. The program funds documentation projects as well as symposia and summer schools. You will find details regarding the content and information about how to file an application in the Information for Applicants, which also includes a checklist. Background: The main phase of the initiative that started in 2002 was preceded by a pilot phase in which the researchers of the first eight documentation projects together with the "technicians" around Peter Wittenburg from the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen developed a number of standardizations of a technical, juridical-ethical and methodological-linguistic nature. This central database project trod new ground in terms of the methods used; it constitutes the binding framework for the individual documentation projects. --- End forwarded message --- From susan.penfield at GMAIL.COM Fri Jun 30 00:16:42 2006 From: susan.penfield at GMAIL.COM (Susan Penfield) Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 17:16:42 -0700 Subject: Fwd: Volkswagen Foundation funding for endangered languages In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Thanks for this post. Many of us have been concerned about the strong focus on documentation, sometimes at the cost of revitalization efforts. From the linguists perspective, it is quite possible to separate the two. However, from the perspective of every community member I've ever known, these are not discreet acitivties. More funding, public and private, needs to clearly integrate both documentation and revitalization activties, even for the most endangered languages. I work with a language which has just three speakers left -- revitalizing through some of the most popular means (immersion classes, language nests) is out of the question because of the age or availability of the last speakers. Still, the community goal is clearly focused on revitalizing -- and, thanks to a number of supportive and innovative softwares, computer-based immersion teaching is possble.. Solicitation for the NSF DEL grants recently came due (September 15 deadline). While these also clearly specify they are not funding revitalization, they do not discourage the mention of turning documented language into materials for revitalization (though those activities would have to be funded under someone else) ...Still, DEL grants can be seen as one stage in the broader picture of what it takes to revitalize a language. S. On 6/29/06, d_z_o wrote: > > FYI... > > --- In MINEL at yahoogroups.com, "Don Osborn" wrote: > > This funding opportunity may be of interest but it does require that a > German institution take the lead (although that can involve > collaboration with institutions and researchers elsewhere). It does > seem a bit limited of vision of them to frame this only in terms of > documenting languages before they become extinct, and not to mention > revitalization efforts, but maybe those can be included. (Thanks to > Ted Johnson for forwarding mention of this VW Fndn. initiative.)... DZO > > > Documentation of Endangered Languages > Next deadline for applications: October 15, 2006 > > http://www.volkswagenstiftung.de/foerderung/auslandsorientiert/bedrohte-sprachen.html?L=1 > > Some two thirds of the estimated 6,500 languages still spoken > throughout the world are in danger of disappearing within the next one > to two generations. But if a language dies, this also means that a > piece of the cultural diversity of our world dies with it. The > initiative cannot stop this development, but it can make sure that > testimony to these language cultures, which are mostly only passed on > by word of mouth, is recorded in an electronic archive of endangered > languages before they vanish without trace: by means of audio tape, > video camera, still camera and note pad. > > The program funds documentation projects as well as symposia and > summer schools. You will find details regarding the content and > information about how to file an application in the Information for > Applicants, which also includes a checklist. > > Background: The main phase of the initiative that started in 2002 was > preceded by a pilot phase in which the researchers of the first eight > documentation projects together with the "technicians" around Peter > Wittenburg from the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in > Nijmegen developed a number of standardizations of a technical, > juridical-ethical and methodological-linguistic nature. This central > database project trod new ground in terms of the methods used; it > constitutes the binding framework for the individual documentation > projects. > > --- End forwarded message --- > -- Susan D. Penfield, Ph.D. Department of English(Primary) American Indian Language Devel.Institute Department of Linguistics Second Language Acquistion &Teaching Ph.D. Program Dept. of Language,Reading and Culture The Southwest Center (Research) Phone for messages: (520) 621-1836 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From MiaKalish at LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US Fri Jun 30 00:40:00 2006 From: MiaKalish at LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US (Mia Kalish) Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 18:40:00 -0600 Subject: Fwd: Volkswagen Foundation funding for endangered languages In-Reply-To: <39a679e20606291716p1b1273cdg4a8b76055e08c661@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: I guess the only thing we can do about this is Keep Talking. Right now, I am pretty maxed. . . . but it would seem that we need to be telling the NSF that learning HOW to do something as complex as this has just as much research value as Talking About it, or providing the metatheoretic. Mia _____ From: Indigenous Languages and Technology [mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU] On Behalf Of Susan Penfield Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2006 6:17 PM To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU Subject: Re: [ILAT] Fwd: Volkswagen Foundation funding for endangered languages Thanks for this post. Many of us have been concerned about the strong focus on documentation, sometimes at the cost of revitalization efforts. From the linguists perspective, it is quite possible to separate the two. However, from the perspective of every community member I've ever known, these are not discreet acitivties. More funding, public and private, needs to clearly integrate both documentation and revitalization activties, even for the most endangered languages. I work with a language which has just three speakers left -- revitalizing through some of the most popular means (immersion classes, language nests) is out of the question because of the age or availability of the last speakers. Still, the community goal is clearly focused on revitalizing -- and, thanks to a number of supportive and innovative softwares, computer-based immersion teaching is possble.. Solicitation for the NSF DEL grants recently came due (September 15 deadline). While these also clearly specify they are not funding revitalization, they do not discourage the mention of turning documented language into materials for revitalization (though those activities would have to be funded under someone else) ...Still, DEL grants can be seen as one stage in the broader picture of what it takes to revitalize a language. S. On 6/29/06, d_z_o wrote: FYI... --- In MINEL at yahoogroups.com, "Don Osborn" wrote: This funding opportunity may be of interest but it does require that a German institution take the lead (although that can involve collaboration with institutions and researchers elsewhere). It does seem a bit limited of vision of them to frame this only in terms of documenting languages before they become extinct, and not to mention revitalization efforts, but maybe those can be included. (Thanks to Ted Johnson for forwarding mention of this VW Fndn. initiative.)... DZO Documentation of Endangered Languages Next deadline for applications: October 15, 2006 http://www.volkswagenstiftung.de/foerderung/auslandsorientiert/bedrohte-spra chen.html?L=1 Some two thirds of the estimated 6,500 languages still spoken throughout the world are in danger of disappearing within the next one to two generations. But if a language dies, this also means that a piece of the cultural diversity of our world dies with it. The initiative cannot stop this development, but it can make sure that testimony to these language cultures, which are mostly only passed on by word of mouth, is recorded in an electronic archive of endangered languages before they vanish without trace: by means of audio tape, video camera, still camera and note pad. The program funds documentation projects as well as symposia and summer schools. You will find details regarding the content and information about how to file an application in the Information for Applicants, which also includes a checklist. Background: The main phase of the initiative that started in 2002 was preceded by a pilot phase in which the researchers of the first eight documentation projects together with the "technicians" around Peter Wittenburg from the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen developed a number of standardizations of a technical, juridical-ethical and methodological-linguistic nature. This central database project trod new ground in terms of the methods used; it constitutes the binding framework for the individual documentation projects. --- End forwarded message --- -- Susan D. Penfield, Ph.D. Department of English(Primary) American Indian Language Devel.Institute Department of Linguistics Second Language Acquistion &Teaching Ph.D. Program Dept. of Language,Reading and Culture The Southwest Center (Research) Phone for messages: (520) 621-1836 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From susan.penfield at GMAIL.COM Fri Jun 30 00:47:22 2006 From: susan.penfield at GMAIL.COM (Susan Penfield) Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 17:47:22 -0700 Subject: Fwd: Volkswagen Foundation funding for endangered languages In-Reply-To: <000601c69bdd$bc149120$0200a8c0@LFPMia> Message-ID: NSF is actually really trying to make this connection in other ways and certainly giving community members more support one might expect (See the AILDI activities on their website)...But yes, we all need to 'keep talking' -- the good news is that we are beginning to be heard! S. On 6/29/06, Mia Kalish wrote: > > I guess the only thing we can do about this is Keep Talking. Right now, I > am pretty maxed. . . . but it would seem that we need to be telling the NSF > that learning HOW to do something as complex as this has just as much > research value as Talking About it, or providing the metatheoretic. > > > > Mia > > > ------------------------------ > > *From:* Indigenous Languages and Technology [mailto: > ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU] *On Behalf Of *Susan Penfield > *Sent:* Thursday, June 29, 2006 6:17 PM > *To:* ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU > *Subject:* Re: [ILAT] Fwd: Volkswagen Foundation funding for endangered > languages > > > > Thanks for this post. > > Many of us have been concerned about the strong focus on documentation, > sometimes at the cost of revitalization efforts. From the linguists > perspective, it is quite possible to separate the two. However, from the > perspective of every community member I've ever known, these are not > discreet acitivties. > > More funding, public and private, needs to clearly integrate both > documentation and revitalization activties, even for the most endangered > languages. I work with a language which has just three speakers left -- > revitalizing through some of the most popular means (immersion classes, > language nests) is out of the question because of the age or availability of > the last speakers. Still, the community goal is clearly focused on > revitalizing -- and, thanks to a number of supportive and innovative > softwares, computer-based immersion teaching is possble.. > > Solicitation for the NSF DEL grants recently came due (September 15 > deadline). While these also clearly specify they are not funding > revitalization, they do not discourage the mention of turning documented > language into materials for revitalization (though those activities would > have to be funded under someone else) ...Still, DEL grants can be seen as > one stage in the broader picture of what it takes to revitalize a language. > > S. > > On 6/29/06, *d_z_o* wrote: > > FYI... > > --- In MINEL at yahoogroups.com, "Don Osborn" wrote: > > This funding opportunity may be of interest but it does require that a > German institution take the lead (although that can involve > collaboration with institutions and researchers elsewhere). It does > seem a bit limited of vision of them to frame this only in terms of > documenting languages before they become extinct, and not to mention > revitalization efforts, but maybe those can be included. (Thanks to > Ted Johnson for forwarding mention of this VW Fndn. initiative.)... DZO > > > Documentation of Endangered Languages > Next deadline for applications: October 15, 2006 > > http://www.volkswagenstiftung.de/foerderung/auslandsorientiert/bedrohte-sprachen.html?L=1 > > Some two thirds of the estimated 6,500 languages still spoken > throughout the world are in danger of disappearing within the next one > to two generations. But if a language dies, this also means that a > piece of the cultural diversity of our world dies with it. The > initiative cannot stop this development, but it can make sure that > testimony to these language cultures, which are mostly only passed on > by word of mouth, is recorded in an electronic archive of endangered > languages before they vanish without trace: by means of audio tape, > video camera, still camera and note pad. > > The program funds documentation projects as well as symposia and > summer schools. You will find details regarding the content and > information about how to file an application in the Information for > Applicants, which also includes a checklist. > > Background: The main phase of the initiative that started in 2002 was > preceded by a pilot phase in which the researchers of the first eight > documentation projects together with the "technicians" around Peter > Wittenburg from the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in > Nijmegen developed a number of standardizations of a technical, > juridical-ethical and methodological-linguistic nature. This central > database project trod new ground in terms of the methods used; it > constitutes the binding framework for the individual documentation > projects. > > --- End forwarded message --- > > > > > -- > Susan D. Penfield, Ph.D. > > > Department of English(Primary) > American Indian Language Devel.Institute > Department of Linguistics > Second Language Acquistion &Teaching > Ph.D. Program > Dept. of Language,Reading and Culture > The Southwest Center (Research) > > Phone for messages: (520) 621-1836 > -- Susan D. Penfield, Ph.D. Department of English(Primary) American Indian Language Devel.Institute Department of Linguistics Second Language Acquistion &Teaching Ph.D. Program Dept. of Language,Reading and Culture The Southwest Center (Research) Phone for messages: (520) 621-1836 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From MiaKalish at LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US Fri Jun 30 00:52:11 2006 From: MiaKalish at LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US (Mia Kalish) Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 18:52:11 -0600 Subject: Fwd: Volkswagen Foundation funding for endangered languages In-Reply-To: <39a679e20606291747j745566a3g67a959d3a6d467ba@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: I have news, actually. Someone contacted me online, and asked if I would be interested in posted my games and learning materials. They have a global market, and in a couple of weeks, will have a mobile download facility operational. :-) --> That means: Flash games in Indigenous languages in the World Market. Of course, we get paid handsomely for this. It's a demand market, so we get paid for what users download and use on their web pages or play. I'm going to start uploading next week, and will have some of the first available for mobiles. I am beside myself with delight. I always wanted to do this, and now someone else is providing the network. All I have to do is produce the content - and we all know I have been doing that to death for years. Nice value-add for the language. Mia _____ From: Indigenous Languages and Technology [mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU] On Behalf Of Susan Penfield Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2006 6:47 PM To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU Subject: Re: [ILAT] Fwd: Volkswagen Foundation funding for endangered languages NSF is actually really trying to make this connection in other ways and certainly giving community members more support one might expect (See the AILDI activities on their website)...But yes, we all need to 'keep talking' -- the good news is that we are beginning to be heard! S. On 6/29/06, Mia Kalish wrote: I guess the only thing we can do about this is Keep Talking. Right now, I am pretty maxed. . . . but it would seem that we need to be telling the NSF that learning HOW to do something as complex as this has just as much research value as Talking About it, or providing the metatheoretic. Mia _____ From: Indigenous Languages and Technology [mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU] On Behalf Of Susan Penfield Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2006 6:17 PM To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU Subject: Re: [ILAT] Fwd: Volkswagen Foundation funding for endangered languages Thanks for this post. Many of us have been concerned about the strong focus on documentation, sometimes at the cost of revitalization efforts. From the linguists perspective, it is quite possible to separate the two. However, from the perspective of every community member I've ever known, these are not discreet acitivties. More funding, public and private, needs to clearly integrate both documentation and revitalization activties, even for the most endangered languages. I work with a language which has just three speakers left -- revitalizing through some of the most popular means (immersion classes, language nests) is out of the question because of the age or availability of the last speakers. Still, the community goal is clearly focused on revitalizing -- and, thanks to a number of supportive and innovative softwares, computer-based immersion teaching is possble.. Solicitation for the NSF DEL grants recently came due (September 15 deadline). While these also clearly specify they are not funding revitalization, they do not discourage the mention of turning documented language into materials for revitalization (though those activities would have to be funded under someone else) ...Still, DEL grants can be seen as one stage in the broader picture of what it takes to revitalize a language. S. On 6/29/06, d_z_o wrote: FYI... --- In MINEL at yahoogroups.com, "Don Osborn" wrote: This funding opportunity may be of interest but it does require that a German institution take the lead (although that can involve collaboration with institutions and researchers elsewhere). It does seem a bit limited of vision of them to frame this only in terms of documenting languages before they become extinct, and not to mention revitalization efforts, but maybe those can be included. (Thanks to Ted Johnson for forwarding mention of this VW Fndn. initiative.)... DZO Documentation of Endangered Languages Next deadline for applications: October 15, 2006 http://www.volkswagenstiftung.de/foerderung/auslandsorientiert/bedrohte-spra chen.html?L=1 Some two thirds of the estimated 6,500 languages still spoken throughout the world are in danger of disappearing within the next one to two generations. But if a language dies, this also means that a piece of the cultural diversity of our world dies with it. The initiative cannot stop this development, but it can make sure that testimony to these language cultures, which are mostly only passed on by word of mouth, is recorded in an electronic archive of endangered languages before they vanish without trace: by means of audio tape, video camera, still camera and note pad. The program funds documentation projects as well as symposia and summer schools. You will find details regarding the content and information about how to file an application in the Information for Applicants, which also includes a checklist. Background: The main phase of the initiative that started in 2002 was preceded by a pilot phase in which the researchers of the first eight documentation projects together with the "technicians" around Peter Wittenburg from the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen developed a number of standardizations of a technical, juridical-ethical and methodological-linguistic nature. This central database project trod new ground in terms of the methods used; it constitutes the binding framework for the individual documentation projects. --- End forwarded message --- -- Susan D. Penfield, Ph.D. Department of English(Primary) American Indian Language Devel.Institute Department of Linguistics Second Language Acquistion &Teaching Ph.D. Program Dept. of Language,Reading and Culture The Southwest Center (Research) Phone for messages: (520) 621-1836 -- Susan D. Penfield, Ph.D. Department of English(Primary) American Indian Language Devel.Institute Department of Linguistics Second Language Acquistion &Teaching Ph.D. Program Dept. of Language,Reading and Culture The Southwest Center (Research) Phone for messages: (520) 621-1836 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dzo at BISHARAT.NET Fri Jun 30 21:35:39 2006 From: dzo at BISHARAT.NET (d_z_o) Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2006 21:35:39 -0000 Subject: Buffet, Gates, & the future of linguistic diversity Message-ID: With the news of Warren Buffet's donation of most of an estimated $44 billion to the Gates Foundation (GF), and remembering that the GF has funded some programs for endangered languages, one wonders whether any of this new mass of capital can be directed for use for language revitalization and linguistic diversity. Is not just a question of whether some more money can be allocated for specific projects, but rather whether resources can be found to develop and implement long-term programs for the development of minority languages. There are a number of important but relatively small programs to assist in documentation of endangered languages, and there are sometimes programs in individual countries to promote teaching of and development of literature in certain languages, but there does not seem to be any overarching strategy involving a range of actors (or "stakeholders") involved in or concerned with language preservation and development. At this time, when we read so often about about the current and expected rates of language extinction, when many countries and communities lack the resources to plan and manage for their own linguistic diversity, when many children especially of minority groups do not have access to formal education of any sort let alone in their maternal language, and when older people in minority language communities pass away taking with them knowledge that cannot be replaced (the proverbial "when an elder dies, a library burns"), while at the same time we have the resources, both monetary and technological, to record, manipulate, produce, and instruct in any language, there is an urgent need to develop bold, coherent and long term strategies. Basically we seem to be faced with a window of opportunity of limited duration, and an imperative to act promptly. The GF even with this added capital, is not the only organization that can assist in this area, so it shouldn't be singled out. There are other organizations that can and should contribute as well ? philanthropic, national, intergovernmental, etc. However, given the amount of resources now at the GF's disposal, and its implied link via its founder to information technology (which has a great potential to help work language development and revitalization), it certainly is a logical starting place. And since this story is big in the news at this moment, maybe it deserves some focused discussion in order to produce a strong policy proposal? Don Osborn