Keres teachers keep Acoma tradition alive (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

Friday, December 02, 2005

Keres teachers keep Acoma tradition alive
http://www.cibolabeacon.com/articles/2005/12/02/news/news3.txt

LAGUNA PUEBLO - Three daughters of Acoma Pueblo are teaching the younger
generation the language of their ancestors in Cibola County.

As the first teachers in the new Acoma-Keres Language Program, Marlene
Vicenti, Cheryl Lowden and Josephine Yazzie pass on the traditional
language to students at Cubero Elementary School and Laguna-Acoma High
School.

The language program grew out of a Memorandum of Agreement among the
Pueblo of Acoma, the Grants/Cibola County School Board and the New
Mexico Department of Education, which allowed the pueblo to recruit and
certify its own instructors regardless of established state standards
for public school teachers.

The three women expressed great enthusiasm for the program during the
interview at the high school, where they were joined by Gloria Hale,
Director of Native American Education for the Grants/Cibola County
School District.

Vicente is from Acomita Village, where she has lived all her life. She
attended the University of New Mexico for one year and became so
homesick that she dropped out and returned home. Vicente then attended
New Mexico State University-Grants campus where she earned an
associate’s degree in early childhood education. “Keres was my first
language,” Vicente said. “I was actually forced to learn English, but I
love teaching our language to the kids.”

Vicente is seeing the effect of learning the native language in the
classroom. “Most of the students have heard the language at home, but
don’t know the meaning of what’s behind it. Now they can’t get enough
of the language and I hate to see the classes end. These kids learn
where they’re supposed to be,” she said.

Yazzie grew up in McCartys with her grandparents, who spoke Keres at
home. She went on to work for Amtrak for 25 years as a conductor’s
assistant on the Southwest Chief, which ran from Los Angeles to
Chicago. “At first it was a big adventure, but as the years went by, I
got homesick for Acoma,” she recalled. Later she worked for the
Grants/Cibola County School District for 11 years as an educational
assistant. “The language program was ready when I was ready to come
home and help our kids,” she said. “Until I started teaching the
language classes I didn’t realize how much knowledge needed to be
brought back to the children.”

Loudon teaches Keres at Cubero Elementary School in addition to part
time teaching at LAHS. She is a native of Acoma Pueblo, but spent most
of her childhood in Arizona where her father was a foreman for the
Santa Fe Railroad. She grew up playing with Navajo kids, but at home
her entire family spoke Keres. Her late grandfathers on both sides
spoke the old, traditional form of Keres.

Loudon dropped out of high school, but later earned her GED certificate
and went on to get a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of
New Mexico. She has a state teaching license in elementary education.
Louden taught early childhood education at Acoma Head Start, fifth
grade at Pine Hill School on the Navajo Reservation and second grade
for the Zuni Public School system. She has a total of 25 years’
experience as a classroom teacher and became involved in teaching the
Keres language at the Acoma Language Retention summer camps, which were
established in 1999. She found that the school district needed certified
teachers and that eventually led her to the newly established Keres
language program.

Because the course integrates artistic and cultural elements such as
traditional sewing and moccasin making, the students learn much more
than language. “All these elements make the students want to learn more
about their history and culture. They develop a better comprehension of
what our ceremonies and prayers mean,” Louden said.

“I really feel like I’ve come home,” she added. “This program is so
important because it helps the kids to build self esteem and identity.
These students want to know who they are and the language and
traditions really help them with that discovery.”

The teachers said they have found that many of their students want to
take the course more than once, but the necessity of accruing all
required courses often prevents this. The Keres language course is an
elective, so if a student requires an extra elective for graduation, he
can take the course a second time.

“Often the students who have already taken the course act as mentors for
the new kids,” Yazzie said.

A pool of qualified teachers is being developed by the pueblo’s
community-based education program. An evaluator from the Linguistics
Institute for Native Americans at the University of New Mexico will
assess the Keres language program in the near future.

Hale pointed out that attempts are being made to establish language
programs for all 22 Native American communities in New Mexico, which
include the 19 pueblos, two Apache reservations and one Navajo
community.

Yazzie noted that, “the students start to say that they’re proud to be
from Acoma and that they have a better understanding of the clan
system. This course starts a continuous learning process that the
students will carry on to their lives in college, the workforce and
their families.”

By Diane Fowler