Elder-approved Navajo textbook covers both language and culture (fwd link)

[phil cash cash]

Elder-approved Navajo textbook covers both language and culture

September 18th, 2008 by Eric Owen
Northern Arizona

In Dr. Evangeline Parsons Yazzie’s Navajo 101 class, students knock on the table
as part of practicing how to say “come in,” point with their lips to indicate
where the nearest bathroom is and shake hands when they work on greeting one
another.

This emphasis on non-verbal communication is something Parsons Yazzie has
supplied in her textbook Diné Bizaad Bínáhoo’aah, or Rediscovering the Navajo
Language, published this year by Salina Bookshelf, Inc.

“All of the other textbooks I had been using were not sufficient,”
Parsons-Yazzie said. “It seemed like they focused on grammar more than on
communication.”

Access full article below:
http://www.jackcentral.com/news/2008/09/elder-approved-navajo-textbook-covers-both-language-and-culture/