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<h1 class="gmail-post-title">
Senate Committee Hears From Cherokee Immersion School Grad on Importance of Native Languages </h1>
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<span class="gmail-submitted"><span class="gmail-submitted-label">By</span> <span class="gmail-name"><a href="http://www.publicradiotulsa.org/people/matt-trotter" rel="author">Matt Trotter</a></span></span>
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<span class="gmail-pub-date">Aug 24, 2018 </span>
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<div class="gmail-social-share gmail-clearfix"><a href="http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tinyurl.com%2Fy8whj7l3&text=Senate%20Committee%20Hears%20From%20Cherokee%20Immersion%20School%20Grad%20on%20Importance%20of%20Native%20Languages" class="gmail-social-share-item gmail-twitter" title="Tweet" target="_blank">Tweet</a><a href="http://facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tinyurl.com%2Fy8whj7l3&t=Senate%20Committee%20Hears%20From%20Cherokee%20Immersion%20School%20Grad%20on%20Importance%20of%20Native%20Languages" class="gmail-social-share-item gmail-facebook" title="Share" target="_blank">Share</a><a href="https://plus.google.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tinyurl.com%2Fy8whj7l3" class="gmail-social-share-item gmail-googleplus" title="Google+" target="_blank">Google+</a><a href="mailto:?subject=Senate%20Committee%20Hears%20From%20Cherokee%20Immersion%20School%20Grad%20on%20Importance%20of%20Native%20Languages&body=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tinyurl.com%2Fy8whj7l3" class="gmail-social-share-item email" title="Email" target="_blank">Email</a></div> </div>
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<div class="gmail-field gmail-field-name-body gmail-field-type-text-with-summary gmail-field-label-hidden"><div class="gmail-field-items"><div class="gmail-field-item even"><div class="gmail-wysiwyg-asset-image-wrapper gmail-left"> <div class="gmail-wysiwyg-asset-image"> <a href="http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/kwgs/files/styles/x_large/public/201808/lauren_hummingbird.png" class="gmail-popup"> <img class="gmail-pi_assets-image" src="http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/kwgs/files/styles/large/public/201808/lauren_hummingbird.png"> </a> <div class="gmail-image-meta"> <div class="gmail-caption">Cherokee Nation immersion school graduate Lauren Hummingbird testifies before the U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee.</div> <div class="gmail-credit">Credit U.S. Senate</div> </div> </div> </div> <p>One
of the Cherokee Nation’s first immersion school graduates told U.S.
Senators this week funding to help preserve Native languages must be a
priority.</p> <p>Lauren Hummingbird testified before the Senate
Committee on Indian Affairs. Hummingbird said the Cherokee immersion
program is helping bridge the gap between elders and younger
generations, preserving the tribe’s culture.</p> <p>"I would do anything
for my culture and my people, and I know that learning my language is
one of the most important things to them," Hummingbird said.</p> <p>Health
and Human Services Administration for Native Americans Commissioner
Jeannie Hovland said those connections are between elders and younger
members of a tribe are important.</p> <p>"It’s building communities, and
healthy, strong communities help with academics, help with the
substance abuse and other issues that we face in our communities. And
so, there’s a lot of positives that come out of it," Hovland said.</p> <p>Hummingbird
said learning Cherokee also improved her overall academic achievement.
Dr. Christine Sims with the American Indian Language Policy Research and
Teacher Training Center said a closer look at those extralinguistic
benefits is in order.</p> <p>"The cognitive benefits that come with
young children — as young as 2, 3 — learning these languages and
becoming fluent, we don’t know enough about the value of what they’re
learning in a different communicative system," Sims said.</p> <p>According
to figures from the Cherokee Nation, less than 0.5 percent of its
citizens are fluent in Cherokee, and the tribe is ahead of many others
at language preservation. The average age of the tribe's 1,200 fluent
speakers is 65.</p> <p>Congress requires at least $12 million in federal
funding be spent annually on Native language programs. Speakers told
the Senate Indian Affairs Committee many native languages may die out
without increased funding.</p> <p>Hummingbird said she is willing to
help teach Cherokee, whether informally or by earning her teaching
certificate and working in the immersion school or a master-apprentice
program for adults.</p> </div></div></div></div></div></div>
<br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div></div>