LSA 2006

Tue Jan 10 01:44:21 UTC 2006

Most of my people would be Indigenous developers. . . . :-) (I'm like that!)

If we knew ahead, we could see if their Tribes would support them for the
conference. They would be showing off the material we have been building
together. 

  _____  

From: Indigenous Languages and Technology [mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU]
On Behalf Of Susan Penfield
Sent: Monday, January 09, 2006 6:38 PM
To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
Subject: Re: [ILAT] LSA 2006

Maybe...I'll think about it--

We have to think about the audience who is interested === SSILA and / LSA or
both? 

It would be nice to have back to back sessions -- AND I really think we
still need to have something which invites the inclusion of community
members...

S.

On 1/9/06, Mia Kalish <MiaKalish at learningforpeople.us> wrote: 

Are you volunteering to organize a session . . . .?????? 

What if we organized 2 sessions, to support each other. How about this --> 

            You do a session about how Documentation Should Be Designed with
an Eye Toward Revitalization 

. . . and I'll organize a session for all the people working in
Revitalization about 

            How Documentation Supports and Impedes Our Efforts. 

Those of us who do revitalization depend heavily on what is learned and
collected by the people who are working on the documentation. I know in my
case, I have a really hard time doing materials for math because the
collected knowledge is so sparse. There is all kinds of physical evidence
that STEM was alive and well in Indigenous communities, and we have Nearly
Nothing in terms of elicitations to support that. 

I would also like to show others how we are using the web to network our
revitalization efforts, sharing text, sound, designs, movies and learning
across wide distances. 

How about: Documentation, Technology & the Web: Effects on Revitalization
Efforts

:-) 

Mia  

  _____  

From: Indigenous Languages and Technology [mailto:
ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU] On Behalf Of Susan Penfield
Sent: Monday, January 09, 2006 6:07 PM
To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
Subject: Re: [ILAT] no news from the LSA...

All,

Mia is right on -- Our session on Sunday was devoted to much of this. It was
the last LSA session which was both good and bad -- On the bad side, many of
the key players who were at LSA and would have attended (Leanne Hinton,
Keren Rice, Wilhelm Meya --and many others )--expressed regrets in having to
leave early ).However, many others stayed for that event and participated
--as well, we had others in attendance who might not have been there if
other talks had been taking place. Christine Sims spoke eloquently about
many issues and the evolving history of language education from the
community perspective; the folks from the Indigenous Language Institute also
did a great job of sharing their ongoing work -- half of the audience (about
50) stayed to watch Brenda McKenna's video from Nambe pueblo (which was
beautifully done).  

  I do think that the profile for endangered languages was raised at this
LSA (beginning with the airing of "the Last Speakers" on Thursday night.)
BUT -- I would like to underscore that the story hardly begins or ends at
LSA -- and that it remains up to all of us to keep the interest going.  

The next LSA, I'm told, will be in Anaheim next January. That's not so far
away in either time or distance (for many of us) ...NOW is the time to start
thinking about how to keep the energy going into next year!! I believe
abstracts are due in April ...so it might be great to propose a special
session on Indigenous Languages and technology related to both documentation
and revitalization (or something like that)... 

Best,

Susan

On 1/9/06, Mia Kalish < <mailto:MiaKalish at learningforpeople.us>
MiaKalish at learningforpeople.us> wrote: 

Hi, Phil,

I want to assure you that we did lots and lots and lots about endangered
languages. We talked about them; we talked about how documentation efforts 
that do not include an eye and support for revitalization are unethical. We
shared our ways and concepts of building revitalization materials. Numbers
of us made plans to work together to produce publishable research in 
revitalization, especially as we can be using the internet, because not
everyone who is interested in a particular topic or aspect is in the same
physical locale either with others who have the same interest, or with 
others who know the solution or approach.

We talked about involving communities, we talked about empowering
communities. We talked about building teams, and how those teams should be
and work. We talked about tools for field work, and tools for archiving. 

It's true that a large portion of both LSA and SSILA were dominated by
linguistic elements, but there was a recognizable chunk devoted to the
revitalization issue. Some people, not everyone, but lots of people, are 
realizing that we have to make sure these languages don't end up on museum
shelves, but back in the community.

We even in some places made tiny little headways into issues of language
extension. The success of the Maori was one of the shining stars that gave 
people something to think about. My presentation was about how we have no
language for math and science. I showed my materials, and how difficult it
was to find words for shapes, and how difficult it was to find people to 
record the sounds of the words we do have for numbers.

If the languages don't move into contemporary use, they WILL die, and people
are starting to talk about that. Interestingly enough, it is the younger
grad students who seem to find this concept intuitively obvious. I don't
know why that is, but the people who needed no explanation were people who
were in their 20's, and who were coping with complex issues in the field, 
sometimes in South America, sometimes locally with diverse populations.

We also talked about how Indigenous Languages need to be taught in schools,
both public and private, and we talked about how Indigenous scholars, people

like Mary Eunice Romero, are writing Indigenous pedagogies. There need to be
more Indigenous scholars writing about Indigenous pedagogies. Sandy Grande
also writes about Indigenous pedagogies; she calls it Red Pedagogy. She is a

critical race theorist, actually. But the bottom line is that the world
NEEDS TO KNOW that you don't teach Ndn kids the way you teach white kids.
Vine and Daniel Wildcat have been saying that for a long time, and so have 
the Smiths, and Devon Mihesuah.

We also need more research that shows that if you give people crappy
materials, they won't learn very well. We need research that helps others
understand what the technical term "crappy material" means in the context of

teaching and learning. Did you ever notice how people seldom if ever
evaluate their materials, but they are very ready to use these same,
uncritically accepted materials, to make people less than?

Anyway, that's the gist of the conference.  This is also the gist of where 
some of us are going (while others, who shall remain nameless of course, are
going to sojourn among the beautiful trout in the equally beautiful Snake
River in spectacular nearly-southern Idaho. (But of course we aren't saying 
WHO, EXACTLY, is doing that. . . . . lalalalalaaaaaa. Send us pictures,
okay? I love trout, especially the living, breathing, swimming kind.)

Best,
Mia

-----Original Message-----
From: Indigenous Languages and Technology [mailto:
ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU]
On Behalf Of phil cash cash
Sent: Monday, January 09, 2006 12:38 PM
To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU 
Subject: Re: [ILAT] no news from the LSA...

it wasn't me that was left out, it was our endangered languages and i 
am sorry too.  glad to hear you all had a good time though.

Philcc

On Jan 9, 2006, at 12:10 PM, Mia Kalish wrote: 

> We were having too much fun going to presentations, giving
> presentations, 
> recovering from presentations, meeting new friends,  . . . And, in my
> case.
> . . . talking about revitalization software and who wants to build it 
> :-)
>
> A good time was had by all. Sorry we left you out. . . we apologize. 
> <Hangs
> head humbly>
>
> Mia
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Indigenous Languages and Technology 
> [mailto: <mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>  ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU]
> On Behalf Of phil cash cash
> Sent: Monday, January 09, 2006 10:36 AM
> To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
> Subject: [ILAT] no news from the LSA...
>
> Greetings ILAT,
>
> I am a bit surprised that there is virually no news coming out from the
> LSA conference this past week.  The only news item I saw today was the 
> "word of the year" which seems a bit trivial but particularly news
> worthy.  Nevertheless, we should continue to draw attention to the
> plight of the world's endangered languages.
>
> Phil Cash Cash
> UofA, ILAT
>

-- 
Susan D. Penfield, Ph.D.

Department of English
Affiliate faculty: Department of Linguistics 
and the Second Language Acquisition and Teaching Program 
American Indian Language Development Institute
Phone for messages: (520) 621-1836 

-- 
Susan D. Penfield, Ph.D.

Department of English
Affiliate faculty: Department of Linguistics 
and the Second Language Acquisition and Teaching Program
American Indian Language Development Institute
Phone for messages: (520) 621-1836 

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