Willamina to offer Chinook immersion (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

Willamina to offer Chinook immersion

Published: March 17, 2005

By PAUL DAQUILANTE
Of the News-Register
http://www.newsregister.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=191433

GRAND RONDE - The Willamina School District and the Grand Ronde Tribe
are close to agreement on the launching of a Chinook language immersion
program for first- and second-graders, Superintendent Gus Forster said.

Forster said the curriculum would be offered to between 15 and 20
district students. He said enrollment will be open to tribal and
nontribal members.

The Chinooks were once a strong tribe with related bands near the mouth
of the Columbia River and extending from the Pacific Ocean to the
Cascade Mountains.

Until recently, however, Chinook jargon, also known as Chinuk-wawa, was
almost extinct.

Interest has rebounded in recent years. The tribe is now trying to make
it the language of the future.

Tony Johnson, who teaches in the tribe's education center, is working
with the district to create the program, Forster told the school board
at its Monday night meeting at the middle school.

Johnson has worked with Portland linguist Henry Zenk to create a written
Chinuk-wawa alphabet. He has also designed a computer program so
Chinuk-wawa characters can be typed.

Meanwhile, Johnson has developed a teaching program that has become a
model for Pacific Northwest tribes. Both he and Zenk are licensed by
the state to teach the language.

"We're committed to this," Forster said. "We're getting very close. It's
going to be very interesting."