Teaching Native languages growing in Washington state (fwd link)

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Teaching Native languages growing in Washington state

By Don Baumgart, Today correspondent
Story Published: Aug 17, 2009
USA

SPOKANE, Wash. – “At my great uncle’s funeral someone got up and spoke in
Nselxcin saying, ‘Once again we’ve lost another fluent speaker, and which one
of you out there is going to take this challenge and try to preserve our
language. It is in danger, it is dying.’”

That’s how Michelle Wiley-Bunting became involved with preserving Native
languages. She is now board president of Spokane’s Center for Interior Salish.

“My sister, LaRae Wiley, took that funeral speech to heart and decided she was
going to learn the language,” she said. “The first opportunity she got was to
connect with the Spokane Tribe language program and get certified as a teacher.
There were no opportunities to learn our dialect at that time.”

LaRae asked if she wanted to learn the Spokane dialect and said “yes.” They
started learning together.

Access full article below:
http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/living/53415042.html