Dakota language immersion

[Richard Smith]

wow...Beth,
I'm envious of your great learning programs.
what fortunate kids they are!
If ALL our tribal administrators realized how difficult it is to revitalize
a language once 
fluency is gone...this would be a priority, as important as health care and
housing.
Sadly there is more priority given here at the tag office(getting licence
plates) than 
reviving our language.....

Richard Zane Smith
Wyandotte, Oklahoma




On 6/13/08 3:53 PM, "Beth Brown" <brow0857 at UMN.EDU> wrote:

> Thanks for posting this, Phil! Those children in the video clips are my little
> language students in the Wicoie Nandagikendan Urban Language Immersion Program
> here in Minneapolis. For those that haven't heard of us, here is some
> background information about our program:
> The Wicoie Nandagikendan Early Childhood Urban Immersion Project provides a
> 3-hour-a-day early childhood language immersion experience that builds on the
> integral connections between culture, literacy, and educational attainment.
> The project partners with existing programs to provide fluent speakers and
> language curriculum.
> Wicoie Nandagikendan began in January 2006 with a grant from ANA. Because the
> future of native languages is in the children, it is crucial to expose
> children to these languages at a young age. When the language (Dakota or
> Ojibwe) is not spoken in the home, due to generations of language loss,
> schools and day care facilities offer an alternative opportunity to expose
> children to their heritage languages in a supportive, non-threatening
> environment.
> Wicoie currently facilitates two Ojibwe immersion classrooms, and one Dakota
> immersion classroom. The Ojibwe sites are located at Four Directions Family
> Center (ages 2-5) and at Anishinabe Academy (ages 4-5), a public Native
> American magnet school in Minneapolis. The Dakota classroom (ages 4-5) is also
> located at Anishinabe Academy. Each class meets for about 3 hours each day,
> Monday through Friday, and class sizes range from 10-25 students. In the fall,
> the program will be adding an after-school immersion option for children in
> grades K-2. 
>  
> The classes are held in separate rooms of each daycare facility or school from
> the regular classrooms. In each immersion classroom, teachers speak only
> Dakota or Ojibwe (depending on the class). Because there is not always an
> overlap between childcare professionals and fluent speakers, each classroom
> has a licensed childcare professional or teacher in the room at all times,
> though he or she may not speak the language. An auxiliary program exists to
> help these caregivers and parents further instruction in the language.
>  
>  
>  
> For more information, contact me, Beth Brown, at brow0857 at umn.edu
> <mailto:brow0857 at umn.edu> , 612-624-8217.
>   
> 
> Wopida!
> 
> On Jun 11, 2008, at 9:04 PM, phil cash cash wrote:
> 
>> Greetings everybody,
>> 
>> Although very brief (less than a minute), several video clips were just
>> posted
>> to YouTube on Dakota language immersion from Minneapolis, MN.  The children
>> are
>> seen and heard conversing in the Dakota language!  Very inspiring!
>> 
>> The clips are entitled: "Caga Sni" AND "Wiciyanna kais Hoksidan?"
>> 
>> You can view them here at my YouTube clips page:
>> http://www.youtube.com/weyiiletpu
>> 
>> Phil Cash Cash
>> UofA ILAT
>>  
> 
> 


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