Mohawk immersion program gaining acceptance (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

Mohawk immersion program gaining acceptance

Posted: September 06, 2006
by: Shannon Burns / Today correspondent
http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096413577

[photo inset - Top photo by Shannon Burns; Bottom photo courtesy
Margaret Peters -- (Top) Mohawk Nation Chief Eddie Gray visited the
immersion program to teach the school children practices of the
Longhouse. Gray spoke exclusively in the Mohawk language during his
visit. (Bottom) In the Tsi Snaihne district's language immersion
program at Akwesasne, all first- through fourth-grade students stay in
the same classroom, learning the language as ''one family'' in a
home-like environment.]

AKWESASNE, Quebec - An elementary immersion program for Mohawk students
will be returning this fall under an innovative program that was
implemented last year. The program has been a success and it has
received more praise than criticism in the Akwesasne community in the
past year.

The immersion program is for students in first through fourth grades,
with a separate, less intensive program for pre-kindergarten and
kindergarten students. Part of the program's uniqueness is that the
children are kept in one double-sized classroom, learning the language
together and enforcing the one family - one nation way of life.

''It was tough in the beginning, but it got easier as the year went
on,'' said Margaret Peters, the Akwesasne Mohawk Board of Education's
kanienkeha (Mohawk language) specialist.

The program is held at one of the AMBE school district's three
elementary schools in the Tsi Snaihne district of Akwesasne. Teachers
and program coordinators did their best last summer to turn the
classroom into a home-like environment, with sofas and home
decorations, which they believe is crucial to the children's ability to
pick up Mohawk as a second language to English.

''It made a big difference,'' said Peters. ''I think it really helped
the kids learn the language on a daily basis.''

Most of the children entering the immersion program have had only
minimal exposure to the Mohawk language which, like many other Native
languages, faces extinction if programs like the immersion program
aren't successful.

AMBE's immersion program was first implemented in 1995 with some success
stories, but none as profound as this year. Children have begun to
converse with one another in Mohawk, and parents and community members
have been nothing short of impressed by the fluency that is emerging.

A video produced by Peters through AMBE was made specifically to show
how the students use the language with little need for translation
during the day. The video features classroom footage, a music video and
other clips that illustrate what's going on at AMBE's Mohawk immersion
program.

''We wanted to show that our students are speaking the Mohawk
language,'' Peters said. ''We're showing that. They are speaking and
using the Mohawk language.''

A typical day of school for students in the immersion program begins
with the traditional Mohawk opening address. Students sit as they would
in a Mohawk longhouse, with boys on one side and girls on another,
according to clan. As is the tradition of the longhouse, the girls
choose which boy will be the speaker.

Several teachers assigned to the immersion program converse with each
other and the students in Mohawk, teaching them the same subjects being
learned by the non-immersion program students. Whenever possible,
culture is incorporated into the lesson plan, as culture and language
go hand in hand, Peters said. For instance, everyone in the school is
required to have a few minutes of physical activity at the start of
each day. In the immersion classroom, this time is spent doing
traditional social dancing.

''There's culture consistently going on in our classroom,'' Peters said.

In the past year, the way the immersion program is viewed has changed
and it has earned more and more respect in the school system and with
community members and parents.

''The attitude is getting better and teachers are noticing that these
kids are speaking Mohawk,'' Peters said.

The program still faces opposition from some parents who fear their
child will be behind academically by being in an immersion program, a
belief with which Peters strongly disagrees.

''The fact that they're learning two languages already puts them
ahead,'' she said. ''They're becoming bilingual.''

Other children in the community have completed immersion programs within
the AMBE district or at the Akwesasne Freedom School - a Mohawk
immersion school - and have proven that academic success is just as
attainable for them as for English-language students. Many have gone on
to college where they have continued to succeed, and a number of them
have returned to the community to pass the language on to other
children in immersion programs.

''For a long time the speaking skills of Kanienkehaka students have been
criticized because they mispronounce words,'' Peters said. ''The saddest
part is the criticism is usually by people who are already naturally
fluent in their language. People have to understand that it is
different to learn a second language. Our Hotinonshon:ni languages are
difficult to learn, as many adults know. It's difficult but not
impossible. The best advice I can give to speakers is to be more
patient and helpful to all learners, instead of critical; and to the
learners, don't give up. Fluency is a lifelong learning process.''

AMBE's immersion program is gaining acceptance, but is still growing and
changing to find the best possible curriculum and format. Peters hopes
to see the program grow to include children up to sixth grade -
something AMBE is still holding off on.

''They want to see us have success with these kids first,'' Peters said.

However, with growing support for the effort, more funds are made
available for the immersion program to develop resources. The video
showing what's going on at the program was just one in a series Peters
and others in the language field have been developing. Another video
teaches viewers the traditional Iroquois social dances, and a new video
in the works will feature puppet shows performed in the Mohawk language.

''There are no resources for teaching the Mohawk language,'' Peters
said.

Word of Akwesasne's immersion program has been spreading, and it often
receives visitors from other tribes and Native communities where loss
of language is also a threat. Each community is seeking new ways to
preserve its dying language and many are willing to work together to
find successful programs.