Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current, December 15, 2002, SPECIAL FEATURE, Image 13

Smoke signals., December 15, 2002, SPECIAL FEATURE, Image 13

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Newspaper Page TextSmoke Signals - SPECIAL FEATURE Tribe's Language Immersion Program Teaches A New Generation Teachers, students look to revitalize the Chinuk language in Grand Ronde. IV1 n 7 :' 7 V 1" f.u ,j art J 1 , 7 V UliliMX IS iliiiifei 1 1 I f MP UV4 aiii, ... Leading The Way To The Future Language specialists Tony Johnson and Jackie Whisler have been at the forefront of the Tribe's effort to revitalize the Chinuk language by teaching a total language immersion class at the pre-school in Grand Ronde. By Peta Tinda Kids are smart. They can tell what you're thinking just by looking at you, or lis tening to the sound of your voice. So even though the nine preschoolers in the Chinuk language immersion class don't quite understand all the words yet, when teacher Tony Johnson says "Nunk'-killapai iktaas," all the children know what it means It's time to pick up the toys. "Nunk killapai! Nunk killapai!" The kids call out and enthusiastically put away the toys. Five days a week, the children come to the Chinuk class to hear and learn the language of their ancestors. Photos by Peta Tinda It's the first im mersion class in Oregon to revital ize a diminishing Native language that many older speakers thought would die with them. "It was pretty much though that it was a dy ing language, but right now there are many more people learning to speak Chinuk than there are fluent Elders," Johnson said. "So we're re versing that process of the language dying." "It was pretty much though that it was a dying language, but right now there are many more people learning to speak Chinuk than there are fluent Elders. So we're reversing that process of the language dying." Tony Johnson Language Specialist Johnson and Chinuk speakers Jackie Whisler, Bobby Mercier and Elaine Lane teach the class with help from linguists Henry Zenk and Janne Underriner. Continued on next page f -'1 .ijtr-'y.lmr-.. I i , : . J!-'" ' ' i ' ' ' Jy. '- If"'. . "v. " ;" , ' ' . H-'S' - " - ! - 1 , . v . - ..... v"-. ':.,t -ys r ".x ' -' -a y ..... ...... ... .... , I nif'l. . , f "V- , it".'. , ,2 K I v I ' i ...... Watch Me Learn Tribal youth Michael Reyes works on his drawing next to his nametag, which has his name both in English and Chinuk. All the children have similar nametags helping them to identify themselves in Chinuk.