JULY 1, 2003
Smoke Signals 3
Northwest Indian Language Institute Comes To Grand Ronde
The program offers seven teachers to the 16 students attending.
Story and photos by Ron Karten
In Grand Ronde, pre-schoolers learn Chinuk
wawa in an immersion class. Culture Language
Specialist Tony Johnson hopes to see the pro
gram expand so that students will have contin
ued opportunities to learn the language as they
grow.
Tribal member Nicholas Bishop graduated
from high school using Chinuk as his foreign
language. He had worked his senior year in
the Chinuk wawa immersion program, said his
mother, Tribal member Vikki Bishop, and made
it pay for his education while also making his
tory. (Vikki Bishop is the Director of the Early
Childhood Education program for the Confed
erated Tribes of Grand Ronde.)
"This is the first time that's been done in Or
egon," said Janne Underriner, Program Direc
tor of the Northwest Indian Language Institute
(NILI), the source of much success in bringing
Native languages back to life here in the North
west. The program is meeting this summer at the
Grand Ronde campus. From its start in 1997
until this year, the two-week program set to end
July 2 in Grand Ronde's Education Center had
been held at the University of Oregon. This
year, the program accomplished one of its long
standing goals, said Underriner to offer the
program on an Indian Reservation.
Seven teachers from Tribes across the region,
including Grand Ronde's Chinuk wawa lan
guage expert, Tony Johnson, are working with
16 students mostly Tribal language teach
ers, said Underriner.
Daily classes have been offered in speaking,
reading and writing Chinuk wawa and the
Yakama Indian Nation dialect of the Sahaptin
language. The Chinuk wawa classes were freely
available to all Grand Ronde Tribal members.
Takers included Tribal Elder Don Day, who
also is Vice Chair of the Tribes' Cultural Re
source Committee. His interest in the language
complements his archeological studies at the
University of Oregon. "It will give me a better
understanding of the artifacts and the ancient
culture," he said.
Sessions also covered linguistics, teaching
methods and materials development.
Underriner helped develop this program at the
request of Tribes. At the time, she was a gradu
ate student at the University of Oregon, study
ing linguistics.
"My work went from language analysis to work
ing within the communities," she said.
"We asked them to teach us the skills we need
to teach our language," said Johnson. The pro
gram also has helped the Grand Ronde program
"with independent evaluations of student and
teacher progress."
Underriner called the Grand Ronde Chinuk
wawa language immersion program "a huge
success story. Have you been in and heard those
kids speaking Chinuk wawa?," she asked.
But the success here in Grand Ronde is not
the only example of a Native language program
that NILI has fostered among Northwest Tribes.
The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs have
developed a Native language program teaching
all three of the languages spoken in their com
munity, including Northern Paiute, Kiksht (Up
per Chinookan) and the Warm Springs dialect
of Sahaptin. Classes include children from kin
dergarten through fourth grade. In addition,
the Warm Springs Tribes have a Native language
radio program for the community.
"I wish all the Tribes could have a radio pro
gram," said Underriner.
The Klamath Tribes are working with an El
der to keep the language alive, and the Tribes
have been able to put the language classes in
the public school system.
Underriner cited other success stories.
"You can get a degree in the Sahaptin lan
guage at Heritage College in Toppenish, Wash
ington," she said.
"Lane Community College has put together a
Native studies program that focuses on lan
guage, and if you're interested in studying one
language, their goal is to find teachers for that
language," she said.
In addition, the state of Oregon has developed
"a specialized teacher license" for teachers of
Native languages.
The program has focused since inception on
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Focused Tribal member Leslie Riggs (foreground)
and Yakama and Chehalis Tribal member Greg Sutterlict
concentrate on a lesson during this year's Northwest
Indian Language Institute.
these summer sessions but Underriner is seek
ing funds to support "on-site workshops in the
fall and spring because teachers need to follow
up." Presently, NILI is able to offer Tribes one-for-one
scholarships, meaning that for every two
Tribal members that attend, NILI pays for one.
This year, NILI provided $7,500 toward stu
dent tuitions. Tuition for the intensive two-week
program, which provide six credits at under
graduate and graduate university levels, was
$950.
"We have used NILI for numerous on-site
trainings in the past and will in the future," said
Johnson. The success of the program, he said,
comes from "the involvement of really great
people. There's a lot of laughing and a lot of
learning going on."
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Preserving The Language Judith Fernandes, a teacher in the Northwest Indian Language Institute (NILI), leads a class at the NILI workshops held in Grand Ronde from
June 15 July 2. The institute brought in Indian language teachers from across the Northwest. This was the first year the program found a home on a reservation.