Natives want their dying language taught

[Linda Lanz]

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/rural/story/7611812p-7522874c.html


Natives want their dying language taught
NANWALEK: Village asks Kenai School District to make Sugt'stun part  
of curriculum.
By TOM KIZZIA
Anchorage Daily News

Published: April 9, 2006
Last Modified: April 9, 2006 at 02:48 AM



HOMER -- Two generations ago, students in Nanwalek had to lick the  
schoolhouse floor when they spoke Sugt'stun like their parents. Now  
the village's last fluent speakers are asking the school's help to  
save their dying Native language.

Nanwalek parents and elders want the Kenai Peninsula Borough School  
District to make Sugt'stun part of their core curriculum, with  
academic credit for a high school course. Nanwalek even has a  
certified teacher eager to teach the language, which is spoken  
statewide by fewer than 100 people, most of them elderly.
"Kenai Peninsula is the Sugpiaq homeland. We are the last band of  
survivors of the Sugpiaq people," former bilingual aide Sally Ash  
told the School Board last week. "We consider it an insult that we  
have no say about how our village school is run."
But school officials -- citing budget cuts, new federal rules and  
Nanwalek's low achievement test scores -- say they have to  
concentrate on basic offerings like English and math. Earlier this  
winter, they suggested Nanwalek's students who want a language credit  
take an online Spanish course instead.
A dozen parents flew out of the village of 230 and then drove to  
Soldotna last Monday to make their pitch to the Kenai Peninsula  
School Board. They were joined at the podium by parents from the  
Russian Old Believer village of Kachemak Selo, who were seeking a  
similar step-up of support for Russian language instruction in their  
local school.
School officials couldn't promise much more than adjustments in the  
bilingual aide program for younger students. But the School Board  
scheduled an April 17 work session to discuss the village requests.
The Kenai Peninsula's language dilemma provides a stark example of  
how Alaska school districts are being forced to concentrate on  
meeting national testing standards, often with little left over to  
address unique local needs.

LEARN SPANISH INSTEAD?

The problem in the Old Believer village is somewhat different. Unlike  
Nanwalek, where children now grow up speaking English, those entering  
school in Kachemak Selo speak mostly Russian.
Kachemak Selo parents were roused to seek help after the School  
District moved to scale back the bilingual aide program. They also  
want to see a high school Russian class, pointing out that their  
school of 90 students offers no gym, theater or other non-core  
activities.
"We don't want them to lose it," said Polly Reutov, the mother of six  
students. "If they're completely immersed in English, they will lose  
it."
Reutov said her son had been asked this year if he'd be interested in  
taking high school Spanish instead. In his case, distance delivery  
wouldn't mean an online program -- Kachemak Selo still holds to the  
Old Believer stricture against use of computers, Reutov said.
District officials say they are pushing Kachemak Selo to run its  
bilingual program more like the nearby Old Believer village of  
Voznesenka, several miles of switchbacking trail away.
The school there has met federal standards for yearly progress on  
test scores and the Russian language program is more successful,  
district officials say.
Instead of teaching language, aides in Voznesenka have concentrated  
on using Russian to pre-teach concepts in, say, math, so that English- 
language instruction will be easier for children to follow, said  
Norma Holmgaard, the district's director of federal programs and  
small schools.
Voznesenka also offers Russian for high school students. That's  
largely a matter of luck, Holmgaard said. Federal rules require  
teacher certification and expertise, and Voznesenka has a certified  
Old Believer teacher able to leave his elementary class every day to  
teach a high school course.
District officials suggested Kachemak Selo send someone away to  
become certified as a teacher and return to teach the classes they want.

CURRICULUM OBSTACLE

In Nanwalek, however, just having a certified teacher isn't enough.  
Nanwalek boasts a village son back from Fairbanks with a master's  
degree in education with a Native language specialty. He's now  
working as an aide with younger students, and covertly teaching  
Sugt'stun to high school students during an elective period set aside  
for art.
"The kids are using it at home, they're so eager and anxious to show  
off," said a parent, Nancy Yeaton.
But other obstacles remain, district officials say. There's no  
approved curriculum for Sugt'stun, as there are for more widely  
spoken Native languages such as Yup'ik. (Chugachmiut, the regional  
Native nonprofit, hopes to have one developed by 2008.)
And for a school that has not met achievement scores and progress  
goals required under federal law, there's no money for extras like  
language, Holmgaard said.
"If we add something somewhere, we have to cut somewhere else," she  
said. "All they have right now is the core."
But Nanwalek parents are increasingly indignant. When they learned  
that seven students had signed up for Spanish, six pulled their  
children out of the program.
Parents want some influence over the curriculum in their village, and  
say they are tired of having to beg for favors. They haven't spoken  
up like this in the past, they say, because of a legacy of cringing  
shame about being Native, inculcated in the schools of the Bureau of  
Indian Affairs.

LANGUAGE ON THE BRINK

At a recent meeting in the village, Ash said, older residents  
recalled being mocked or smacked by teachers for speaking Sugt'stun.  
One told how he was forced to go outdoors and hold the school flag  
pole for an hour in a snowstorm.
"How does the saying go? You broke it, you own it, you fix it," Ash  
told the School Board. At 48, she is one of the youngest fluent  
speakers. "You are not responsible for the past crimes, but you are  
for the one that is occurring right now."
Today, Nanwalek has about 20 fluent speakers, more than any other  
community. If they fail, villagers say, the consequence won't just be  
undermining their children's sense of culture. The Sugt'stun language  
will disappear off the face of the Earth.
School officials responded sympathetically, but they made no promises.
"Personally, I think it's really important," said Holmgaard. "But  
professionally, I can say, is it the responsibility of the School  
District, or is it the responsibility of Nanwalek and Chugachmiut?"
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20060409/02bdbe66/attachment.htm>