June 24, 2004
Pge 13
THE CONFEDERATED TRIBES LANGUAGE LESSON-
Spilyqy Tyrooo, Wro Springs, Oregon
The Treaty of 1855
Tribal immersion schools res
cue language and culture
Michelle Nijhuis Special to The Christian Science Monitor
http:www.csmonitor.com2002061 1p 11 s01-legn.html
Twenty years ago, Darrell Kipp moved
back to the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in
northwestern Montana. He'd been away from
his birthplace long enough to serve a tour of
duty in Vietnam, earn two master's degrees,
and establish a career as a technical writer.
He and a small group of Blackfeet
friends longed to go home again.to reconnect
with their culture and relearn the language
they'd spoken as children. They were dis
mayed to find out that while they'd been
away,the number of fluent speakers of Piegan,
the Blackfeet language, had plummeted," and
the remaining speakers were all more than 60
years old. So Mr. Kipp and his friends founded
the Piegan Institute, a nonprofit organization
dedicated to restoring and preserving native
American languages.
In 1 995, the institute opened the
privately funded Nizipuhwahsin(or Real
Speak)Center, which immerses students in the
Blackfeet lanquaqe from kindergarten
through eighth grade. The school's graduates
are the first young fluent speakers of the
Blackfeet language in a generation.
Nizipuhwahsin teacher Shirlee Crow
Shoe says the school is not only resuscitating
the language, but also helping to preserve
Blackfeet culture. 'If you go into Indian coun
try and ask a child 'Who's Indian?' most of
the time they'll say 'Oh, it's those people who
dance,' " she says. Her students, by contrast,
"will put their hands out and introduce them
selves to you in Blackfeet. Learning the lan
guage has clarified their identity."
Students are exposed to Maori or
Hawaiian all day, every day, and study English
only as a second language.
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Overcoming shame
Today, the Nizipuhwahsin Center has
36 students and more applicants than it can
accept. But when Kipp first returned to the
reservation, he says, he encountered a hostile
environment. "We met people who could not
only not speak the language, but also had a
negative view of the language."
Many tribe members grew up
ashamed of their native tongue. From the
late 1 9th century until the 1 970s, the federal
Bureau of Indian Affairs forced thousands of
students to attend schools far from reserva
tions. Students were punished for speaking
their languages, and many returned home
with only vague memories of once-familiar
words.
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Tribes started to regain control of
their children's schooling in the late 1 960s,
and a few established language classes at high
schools. But these fledgling efforts didn't
produce fluent speakers, the lifeline of any
language.
Immersion models In the early 1 980s,
Maoris in New Zealand and native Hawaiian
Islanders tried a different approach. They
founded early childhood immersion centers
known as "language nests," systems that
have since been extended through the 1 2th
grade.
The Lannan Foundation, which has
underwritten language-preservation projects
throughout the US, estimates there are 50
tribes interested in starting immersion
schools.
The power of language
Mary Hermes, an education professor
and the administrator of a publicly funded
Ojibwe-language immersion school in northern
Wisconsin, says many tribes are running out
of time to protect their languages. On her
reservation, there were 1 5 fluent Ojibwe
speakers at the beginning of the year. Now
there are 1 3.
Dr. Hermes says there's another
motivating force at work: the power of hear
ing a language, and a culture, come back to
life.
When her 6-year-old daughter said a
prayer in Ojibwe at a recent powwow, she
says, "there must have been 500 people in
the audience, and they were blown away when
they heard that.... They just yelled and yelled
when she finished. On an emotional and spiri
tual level, what we're all doing is healing."
(c) Copyright 2002 The Christian Science Monitor. All
rights reserved.
The immersion-school model reached
the mainland United States in 1985, when the
Akwesasne Freedom School in upstate New
York started creating fluent speakers of the
Mohawk language. Impressed by the success
of these schools, Kipp and the rest of the
staff at the Piegan Institute thought immer
sion could bring back the Blackfeet language.
To overcome resistance on the reservation,
they showed a video of tribal elders speaking
about their experiences with the language.
"People realized we did not quit using the
language out of choice," Kipp says. "Our par
ents and grandparents were forced to. They
didn't pass the language down because they
loved us, and they didn't want us to suffer
the same abuse."
Such campaigns are slowly restoring
pride in tribal languages and theunique cul
tures they describe, says Mark Trahant, a
journalist and a member of the Shoshone
Bannock tribe. "Now, there's a recognition
that people are better off being multilingual.
These .languages contaiaa way , of looking at
the world that has a 1 0,000 year-old his
tory.... Those of us who don't speak our
language are viewed as less prepared for the
world."
Immersion schools are not for every
tribe, says Inee Yang Slaughter of the Indig
enous Language Institute in Santa Fe, N.M.
"Immersion is the ideal situation for any lan
guage, but you have to look at the commu
nity." Fundraising responsibilities, complex
tribal politics, and a shortage of qualified
language teachers can easily turn an immer
sion school into an overwhelming project.
Yet the idea is increasingly popular.
Tribes have recently opened immersion
schools in Nevada and Wisconsin.
In one week in late April, the
Nizipuhwhsin Center hosted visitors from the
Kootenai tribe of Montana, the White Earth
Band of the Ojibwe tribe of Minnesota, and
the Tlingit tribe of Alaska.
June in North American Indian History
by Phil Konstantin
Copyright Phil Konstantin (1 996-2002)
June 24th
7 6 10. Membertou (MICMAC) becomes the 1st Indian
Catholic.
1832: Reverend Samuel Worcester has been arrested,
and convicted of living, and working, among the
CHEROKEEs with have a state permit, or having sworn
an oath of allegiance to the state of Georgia. Today the
Supreme Court rules that the state of Georgia has
unfairly tried to exercise control over the CHEROKEEs
contrary to federal law, and treaties. The court will
strike down most of the anti-Indian laws passed by
Georgia, including those seizing their lands, and nullify
ing tribal laws. Before the trail, President Andrew
Jackson officially stated that he has no intention of
supporting the CHEROKEEs over the state of Georgia.
Speaking to the court's decision today, Jackson would
be quoted as saying, "John Marshall has rendered his
decision; now let him enforce it." Jackson would ignore
the Supreme Court ruling, and continue in his efforts to
move the CHEROKEEs out of the south, and into the
Indian Territory.
June 25th
1528: Today, Narvaez, and his Spanish expedition will
cross the Suwannee River. They will discover, and
occupy, a village they call Apalachen, in Florida. There
are approximately 40 houses in the village, and a
quantity of corn. They will remain here for almost a
month. During that time they will fight with the local
inhabitants on several occasions. The local APALACHEE
Indians call the village Ibitachoco or Ivitachuco.
1876: Col. George Custer will be commanding Troops
C, E,F,I, and L; Major Marcus Reno will have troops A,G,
and M. Captain Frederick Benteen will lead Troops H,D,
and K. Captain Thomas McDougall will guard the supply
wagons with Troop B. The following soldiers will receive ,
Congressional Medals of Honor for actions during this
battle today and tomorrow: Private Neil Bancroft,
Company A; Pvt. Abram B.Brant, Co. D; Pvt. Thomas
J.Callen, Co. B; Sgt. Benjamin C.Criswell, Co. B; Corporal
Charles Cunningham, Co. B; Pvt. Frederick Deetline, Co.
D; Sgt. George Geiger, Co. H; Pvt. Theodore Goldin,
Troop G; Pvt. David W.Harris, Co. A; Pvt. William
M.Harris, Co. D; Pvt. Henry Holden, Co. D; Sgt. Rufus
D. Hutchinson, Co. B; Blacksmith Henry Mechlin, Co. H;
Sgt. Thomas Murray, Co. B; Pvt. James Pym, Co. B; Sgt.
Stanislaus Roy, Co. A; Pvt. George Scott, Co. D; Pvt.
Thomas Stivers, Co. D; Pvt. Peter Thompson, Co. C;
Pvt. Frank Tolan, Co. D; Saddler Otto Voit, Co. H; Sgt.
Charles Welch, Co. D; Pvt. Charles Windolph, Co. H.
June 26th
1791: American negotiators, led by William Blount,
will begin the Treaty of Holston negotiations today with
the CHEROKEEs. The treaty will be signed on July 2,
1791.
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