RMC official studies Maori language (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

RMC official studies Maori language
http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?display=rednews/2004/02/27/build/local/40-pease.inc

By MARY PICKETT
Of The Gazette Staff

Rocky Mountain College administrator Janine Pease watched schoolchildren
create a skit based on Maori proverbs during a trip to New Zealand
earlier this month.

After the teacher described the assignment, the children went to work on
their skits and discussed their ideas.

What made this class special was that everything that was written and
said was in Maori, the language of native peoples of New Zealand.

Over the last 25 years, Maoris have developed language-immersion schools
in which Maori is spoken exclusively by students, teachers and staff.

Pease, Rocky's vice president for American Indian affairs, was the
coordinator of the trip to New Zealand for 35 representatives of Native
American language-immersion programs and private philanthropic
foundations. Most of those traveling to New Zealand, were, like Pease,
American Indian.

Two years ago, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation commissioned Pease to do a
study of American Indian language immersion programs.

Language immersion programs in the United States are a well-kept secret,
Pease said.

The 50 programs that exist range from family based learning groups in
which two great-grandparents teach their great-grandchildren their
native language to multilevel schools in which the entire curriculum -
including playground and lunchroom conversations - is taught in a
native language.

The 16-year-old Piegan Institute on the Blackfeet Reservation in
northwestern Montana is an example of the last type. The newer White
Clay Language Immersion School at Fort Belknap College is teaching Gros
Ventre language to younger children.

Darrell Kipp from the Piegan Institute and Linnette Chandler from the
White Clay School were among those in New Zealand with Pease.

After Pease made her report to a meeting of representatives of about 20
private foundations last year, some representatives wanted more
information about how their organizations could become involved in
immersion programs. Out of that meeting grew the trip to New Zealand to
observe Maori programs, considered the gold standard of immersion
education in indigenous languages.

The Kellogg and Lannan foundations funded the trip.

Immersion schools in New Zealand began about 25 years ago and now
encompass schools for children and students from infants through
college.

Language instruction begins with preschoolers in 700 "language nest"
schools. Children learn native music, art and stories as well as other
preschool activities.

Some language nests are attended by mothers and infants.

"No age is too young for a language nest," Pease said.

The next level is K-13 schools, which again teach everything in Maori,
except for one hour of English a day beginning in the fifth grade.

To go on to higher education, New Zealand children have to pass a Form 7
standardized test in their last year of high school. Outside the
school, Maori children are English-speaking.

Before the immersion system began, only 15 percent of Maori students
passed the Form 7 test.

In 2003, 85 percent of children going through K-13 immersion schools
passed the test in English, making them eligible to go on to colleges
and universities.

Immersion schools are successful because half of the curriculum teaches
material that will appear on the Form 7 test and half teaches Maori
culture and language.

The emphasis on Maori culture strengthens the students' sense of
self-worth.

"It provides a world of knowledge that's theirs," Pease said.

Critics of the program wonder if immersion education excludes students
from the main culture, but their success at the tests shows that that
is not true, she said. The curriculum includes subjects such as
technology and business so students can get jobs or go on with their
education.

Three tribal colleges in New Zealand with 35 campuses also teach in the
Maori language.

Twenty percent of Maori children now are in the immersion K-13 schools,
and there are long waiting lists to get into the schools.

New Zealand immersion programs began as private programs but now receive
public support after a treaty settlement with the 50 Maori tribes 20
years ago.

Taking a look at New Zealand immersion schools is important for
Americans because Maoris and American Indians both have been threatened
with the loss of their language and culture. Maoris were forced to
attend centralized boarding schools where they were punished for
speaking their language as were American Indians.

The number of Maoris speaking the language fluently was down to about
2,000 people in the 1970s. That figure has risen to about 24,000
speakers, thanks to immersion schools.

In the United States, only about 20 of the 150 American Indian languages
being spoken now are considered healthy, Pease said.

Language-immersion programs are a way to save native languages - and,
perhaps, students themselves.

Only 51 percent of American Indian students across the country finish
high school, and 90 percent of 12th grade American Indians fall in the
lowest percentile of math and science in standardized tests.

Pease called those statistics "alarming" and "shocking."

"The model we have in public schools is broken, and most American Indian
students can't enter higher education," she said. "We need to examine
entire new models."

Pease and others who went on the trip will be forming a national group
to bring together private foundations and leaders of American immersion
programs to support current programs and create new ones.

Mary Pickett can be reached at 657-1262 or at
mpickett at billingsgazette.com.