Standing Rock Chairman Stands Up for the Language (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

Standing Rock Chairman Stands Up for the Language

Recvd from the latest issue of "Language News" 2007
Lakota Langauge Consortium
http://www.lakhota.org/html/news.html

We are pleased to announce that this spring, the Standing Rock Sioux tribe
officially launched a large-scale language revitalization initiative.
Chairman Ron His Horse is Thunder is fulfilling his commitment to bring
Lakota language back to the people of Standing Rock. The initiative,
undertaken with the technical assistance of the Lakota Language Consortium,
provides every K-12 student on the reservation with Level 1 and Level 2
textbooks, as well as supplementary materials. Over 2000 students in eight
schools will participate—the first coordinated effort by any of the Lakota
tribes to fully implement the language revitalization curriculum. The
tribe’s initiative is being directed by the Education Committee under the
leadership of Jesse Taken Alive and the SRST’s Tribal Department of Higher
Education.  Managing and coordinating the training and scheduling of the
program, is Tribal Education Manager, Ms. Sacheen Whitetail, who has worked
diligently to ensure that all participating schools teach Lakota for the
necessary number of hours per week. The tribe’s hope is that this effort
will encourage schools to become more fully involved in teaching to tribal
youth.

At the beginning of the school year the materials will be distributed, and
the tribe and LLC personnel will introduce parents and communities to
program goals, and provide some practical help for parents in assisting
their children with language learning in the home, and supporting its use
in school. The goal of the initiative is for students to achieve
proficiency in Lakota after the fourth year of regular use. By the eighth
year, the tribe expects that there will be some level of fluency for the
children in reading and writing.

One important way the tribe will help ensure their goals are being met is by
implementing pre- and post-tests for all students studying the language.
This will help determine how schools are doing in their instruction of
Lakota, as well as challenges students face in their studies. The results
of these tests will help schools improve their language programs, while
establishing more accountability for teachers and students alike. Critical
to launching this program is a thorough teaching-training program in June
2007, a three-week summer course taught at Sitting Bull College in Fort
Yates, North Dakota. More than 30 teachers working with Lakota language in
the Standing Rock school systems will join this intensive training session.