KBIC continues discussion of language (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

KBIC continues discussion of language
Community gets update on progress, path ahead

By Dan Schneider, DMG Writer
http://www.mininggazette.com/stories/articles.asp?articleID=6027

BARAGA — The Keweenaw Bay Indian Community is moving forward with its
efforts to revitalize its native language.

At a community gathering held Thursday evening at the Ojibwa Casino
Chippewa Rooms, members of the tribe discussed the next steps to be
taken in the Anishnaabe Language Revitalization and Preservation
Project. The project’s goal is to increase the number of speakers
fluent in the traditional language of the Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa tribe.

Carrie Ashbrook, coordinator of the project, said she had collected 317
completed written surveys, which tribe members filled out as part of an
assessment of the current status of the language in the tribe. Ashbrook
said 340 completed surveys are needed to apply for a second-phase grant
from the Administration for Native Americans (ANA) within the United
States Department of Health and Human Services.

“If we can get more than 340, that’s great because it will really show
our commitment,” Ashbrook said.

She said oral interview surveys, another step required for the next ANA
grant, will be conducted during April and May. She said 140 KBIC
members, in their responses on the written surveys, expressed an
interest in being interviewed.

Interviews, she said, will be representative of different demographics
within the tribe.

“What we are going to do is work with male and female and different age
groups,” Ashbrook said.

Especially important is the young age demographic and the elders.

“We are still in need of the youth to fill out the survey, so if you
have a son or daughter, please have them do the survey and if you know
an elder, please help them with the survey,” Ashbrook said.

Candice Kemppainen, who teaches Ojibwe language and culture at K-8
schools in Baraga County, said she has helped her students fill out the
survey. She said even young children can fill out the survey with help
from an adult.

“The other day I did it with a second grader and he was alright, but
it’s a one-on-one thing,” Kemppainen said.

Because of that, she asked for volunteers among those at Thursday’s
gathering to help more young students fill out the form.

Kemppainen said there is a lot of enthusiasm for the language among her
students. In her classes, she teaches the native language in a manner
similar to how Spanish or French is taught in schools, as a second
language.

She said that approach is inadequate for developing fluency, which takes
a lot of work to attain.

Kemppainen has spent a summer on the Fond du Lac Reservation in
Minnesota learning the language from an elder, a native speaker, who
spoke in no other language but Ojibwa. She has also put in 500 hours at
a language immersion program in Bay Mills in the eastern Upper
Peninsula.

“I’m still learning myself and I’m almost to the point where I am
understanding everything, but I’m not speaking fluently yet,”
Kemppainen said.

The tribe is considering a variety of methods for teaching the language.
These include an immersion program, in which learners are put in an
environment where only Ojibwa is spoken and “language nests,” which are
similar to immersion but focus on pre-school age children.

The second-stage grant from the ANA would fund development of the
program, including establishing its curriculum.



Dan Schneider can be reached at dschneider at mininggazette.com