Language Is Life

[Richard Zane Smith]

Mia,
thanks for sharing this colorful personal insight 

I'm so proud of the little ones i'm working with
because even though the class sizes are way TOO big
they are catching the patterns in Wyandotte numbers
We sing a little catchy song :1-10 (even the kindergardners have it down)
now they easily pick up the "teens" and the rest.
When i asked the 2nd graders
 "Ok,who wants to try a REALLY hard one!?"
half of them were waving so hard it was hard to choose one
When i wrote "263" on the board one little girl said it perfectly without help:
"tëndi emë'gyaweh-wazha'-ewahshë' ashehk"
(200 and 60 and 3)
these kids have had less than six full hours of teaching (20 minutes a week)
and most of THAT time is storytelling and singing .

Our living hope for language reknewal is these bright-eyed kids
We are going to show off next week with a small school assembly!

richard 


Richard Zane Smith
18474 S.Cayuga Rd.
Wyandotte Oklahoma
                                  74370