Congrats to Richard Zane Smith on the Community Spirit Award

[Richard Zane Smith]

Thanks Heather!
sounds like you have my similar approach to teaching
helping children to learn without them knowing they are being taught!

tips on singing?  hmmm....thats a tough one! can't help ya there!
awww...i don't think i it takes a *good singer* to sing and get kids
excited.
I think it *does* require a degree of personal koo-koo-craziness. [?]
and not being afraid of being caught acting silly. That and
 a strong inner conviction that if they really learn this silly thing
they'll never forget it. It will be stuck in their head if they need "that
word"
or that sentence structure or whatever.
i guess
for me, most songs sort of evolve over a period of time
but then some die and just get tossed back into the pile of notes.....
some songs come from simply  repeating over and over certain sentences,
using and exaggerating aspirations, nasals and glottal stops.
sometimes the language will just sing itself into being..... and those are
the best.
I don't use any known or established tunes but just let the water drum and
sentences
kind of point the way. But i'm also learning and singing many traditional
songs
which i think might help me to maintain some kind of direction...but who
knows!

ske:noh
Richard


On Mon, Feb 1, 2010 at 1:34 PM, Heather Souter <hsouter at gmail.com> wrote:

> Taanshi, Richard!
>
> Congratulations!
>
> It is always delightful to hear about how you are using ways to teach
> language that allows learners to discover the grammar for themselves!  This
> is a wonderful approach for all learners/emerging speakers and not just
> those in an early education setting.   I have composed a little song to help
> teach the different verbs for eat (Animate intransitive, Transitive
> Inanimate and Transitive Animate) in our language Michif.  The people who
> have learned it start to intuitively understand the differences....  I just
> wish I was a better singer and songwriter, LOL!  Any tips?!
>
> Eekoshi pitamaa.  That is it for now.
> Heather
>
>
> On Mon, Feb 1, 2010 at 12:08 PM, Richard Zane Smith <rzs at wildblue.net>wrote:
>
>> kweh Mona,
>> tizhamëh! (thanks!) yes! i am planning to come! it should be fun!
>>
>> after teaching pre-schoolers this morning  practicing their "arm song"
>> I'm introducing them to "incorporating *verbs*" for the parts of the
>> arm.
>> I-my-arm-*grab!*
>> I-my-arm-*shake!*
>> *they love it! and don't even realize they are *
>> *getting a technical lesson in basic-wendat/iroquoian linguistics*
>> *which of course should be the whole point in early education,anyway...*
>>
>> too fun listening to them laugh and shaking or grabbing their little arms!
>>
>> ske:noh
>> Richard
>>
>> On Mon, Feb 1, 2010 at 12:12 PM, Mona Smith <mona at alliesmediaart.com>wrote:
>>
>>> "First Peoples Fund is honored to announce this year's recipients of the
>>> Jennifer Easton Community Spirit Award. This flagship program of the Fund
>>> honors artists who embody Collective Spirit, that which manifests
>>> self-awareness and a sense of responsibility, to sustain the cultural fabric
>>> of a community.  " It is that which moves each one of us to stand up and
>>> make a difference, to pass on the ancestral knowledge or simply extend a
>>> hand of grnerosity", says Lori Pourier (Oglala Lakota),President"
>>>
>>> Among the winners;
>>>
>>> *Richard Smith, Wyandot - Oklahoma City, Clay, Storytelling, Wyandot
>>> songs for children.*
>>>
>>> Congratulations. Nina waste'.
>>>
>>> Will you come to Minneapolis for the award ceremony?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>     _______________________
>>> Mona M. Smith
>>> media artist/producer/director
>>> *Allies, LLC *
>>>
>>> *Allies: media/art*
>>> *4720 32nd Avenue South*
>>> *Minneapolis, MN 55406*
>>> *763-219-1696*
>>>
>>> *Indian Treaty Signers Project*
>>> *Martin Case, Director*
>>> *5001 1/2 34th Ave. South*
>>> *Minneapolis, MN 55406*
>>> *indiantreatysigners at gmail.com*
>>>
>>> http://www.alliesmediaart.com
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>
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