Students Help Save Native Language (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

Students Help Save Native Language
http://www.uwyo.edu/news/showrelease.asp?id=16080

July 10, 2007 -- Students in a University of Wyoming Northern Arapaho
language class are working to preserve the native language for future
generations.

Aware that tribal elders estimate there are only 10 years to save Northern
Arapaho language, the class submitted grant proposals to improve the native
language's teaching tools.

The students, collaborating with the UW American Indian Studies Program,
received money from UW's President's Advisory Council on Minorities' and
Women's Affairs, and a private nonprofit foundation, The Heart of the
Healer.

Judy Antell, director of American Indian Studies, says the funds will be
used to improve DVDs containing lessons from elders, create a student
workbook, and hire native artists to design culturally-appropriate line
drawings for a coloring book. Robyn Lopez of Rawlins, who in May graduated
with a B.A. degree from UW, has been named grant director. The first
project will be to develop the DVDs.

"The class wanted to create DVD chapters for easier lesson navigation and
subtitles to provide both visual and audio components to learning," says
Amy Crowell, Dean of Students Office employee and language class guest.
Crowell says the group hopes to develop a workbook for the DVD to help
certify teachers.

Crowell led the grant writing process for the class, but doesn't take sole
credit for its process or results.

"Most of the work that went into the grant was a synthesis of class member
conversations both in and out of class," she says. "The way people spoke
about learning the language and how much it meant to them was the basis for
the vision letter."

Antell acknowledges course instructor Wayne C'Hair, a tribal elder, with
developing a unique teaching method and a learning atmosphere that imparts
not only a language, but an expanded world view. In addition to meeting for
classes, the group shares Friday night meals with C'Hair and occasional
guests from the Wind River Indian Reservation. The informal environment
allows the class to experience aspects of the culture, she says.

"Northern Arapaho is not just a language, it's a way of being and a way of
living that couldn't be needed more than it is now," Antell says.

Posted on Tuesday, July 10, 2007