Pueblo of Acoma Language Retention Program seeking teachers

[Harold F. Schiffman]

Forwarded from edling at ccat.sas.upenn.edu

Cibola County Beacon

http://www.cibolabeacon.com/articles/2006/04/01/news/news6.txt

Keres Retention Program seeking teachers

PUEBLO OF ACOMA - The Pueblo of Acoma Language Retention Program is looking
for fluent and semi-fluent Keres speakers to teach and provide models for
students in the program.

According to Vina Leno, Director of the Community Based Language Program,
the Acoma language of Keres is one of many Native American tongues in the
United States that is at risk of becoming extinct. Although there are
still many speakers of Keres in the Pueblo, she explained, the language is
no longer used universally by Pueblo community members in day-to-day
activities and fewer of the children learn it through hearing it. Many
people who spoke Keres as children lost their command of the language as
they got older and incorporated non-traditional influences into their
lives.

The Language Retention Program depends on native speakers to pass the
language to the next generation because Keres is an oral language; there
is no written literature or history to carry on the tongue. To help the
community of Acoma retain its language, Leno became involved in helping to
develop the Language Retention Program in 1996. The program was initially
funded with seed money from the federal government and will be supported
by money from the Pueblo in continuing outreach. Leno said the program is
being developed in two main areas, the school-based classes and the
community programs offered to the tribe.

When enough Keres speakers are available, the Language Retention Program
offers a summer language emersion camp for Acoma children, language and
culture classes in some Cibola County schools, and cultural sessions for
the Acoma community. The community cultural sessions are given monthly
when possible and offer traditional skills. In past sessions, community
members have studied traditional cooking, ribbon shirt- and dressmaking,
traditional gatherings and other topics.

The student part of the program includes classes in topics such as Indian
Names and Clans, Morning Prayer, Numbers and Directions, traditional arts
and crafts and language. These classes are given for students at Sky City
Community School, Laguna-Acoma High School, Cubero Elementary School and
St.  Joseph’s School in San Fidel. The Language Retention Program also
offers summer and after-school programs that teach. Leno said the program
would like to expand into the Grants schools but lacks the speakers to
teach. Teachers are also needed to keep some of the community classes at
the Pueblo alive.

Speakers do not need to have a teaching credential or teaching experience
to volunteer in the program, she explained. To be a teacher, a Keres
speaker must be fluent or semi-fluent in the language, be willing to make
a commitment to the training provided by the program staff, and be
committed to teaching in the venues the program has developed. Leno said
the program might be able to pay teachers if funding is available after
the training. The language program director emphasized that retaining the
Keres tongue is important to keep the Acoma culture, government and
spiritual tradition intact. The Acoma constitution is considered valid in
the oral tradition.  Keeping the language alive is critical to Acoma
governance and working with outside agencies that require a community to
have a governing body to make contracts. “We don’t have a [written]
constitution, but still our government is carried by our language,” Leno
said.

Finally, loss of Keres would mean the loss of much of the Acoma culture.
"We don’t want to lose our language," she said. "Without language you
don't have culture. It is what you need to talk to the elders and to take
part in traditional activities." Anyone who would like to teach Keres or
help the Pueblo of Acoma Language Retention Program in other ways should
contact Vino Leno at (505) 552-5114 or email tpasqual at puebloofacoma.org.

By Helen Davis