Smoke signals., January 15, 2012, Page 7, Image 7

Smoke Signals 7
JANUARY 15, 2012
' Photo by Ron Karten
Tribal member and Cultural Resources Program Manager Kathy
Cole takes out the first off this latest shipment of Chinuk Wawa
dictionaries with Tribal member and Cultural Education Specialist
Brian Krehbiel standing by. A group of about nine Tribal staff
members, many from Education and Cultural Resources, came down
to the old Willamina Middle School on Friday, Jan. 6, to help unload
the latest shipment of dictionaries from publisher Our Town Press
in Salem. This truckload carried 3,1 20 copies of the 5,000-book run.
With 1 2 books to a box and 65 boxes to a pallet, the dictionaries
were unloaded in less than 30 minutes.
Chinuk Wawa classes offered
The Tribe's Cultural Education Department offers adult Chinuk Wawa
language classes from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Monday and Wednesday in Room 207
of the Tribal Education Building.
Language classes can be taken for college credit or for fun.
For more information, call 503-879-2249 or 503-437-4599. B
CDiDBiiulk Farm Sly Night
set for Jan. 31
A Chinuk Family Night will be held at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 31, at the
new Youth Education Center.
The evening will include Chinuk-based activities and conversation.
Dinner will be provided and each attending family will receive a Chinuk
family activity to take home.
For more information or to RSVP, contact Esther Stewart at 503-879-1443
or esther.stewartgrandronde.org. B
Smoke Signals photo
reprint policy
See a photo you like in Smoke Signals?
Want a copy, or several copies?
Want to see if a photo that was taken but not printed in Smoke
Signals because of space limitations might be something you'd like
hanging on your living room wall?
Tribal members can order either 8-by-10 or 5-by-7 inch copies of
photos taken by Smoke Signals staff members regardless of if they
were published in the newspaper.
Charge is $1 for each print ordered.
Reprint orders must be pre-paid with a check made out to Smoke
Signals. A photo reprint order form is available in the Publications
Office of the Tribe's Governance Building in Grand Ronde, or can
be mailed upon request. All photos contained in Smoke Signals'
current archive are available for purchase, but people interested
in going through the archive must make an appointment to review
photos for possible purchase. No rush orders will be permitted and
requestors must allow 30 days for delivery.
Requestors must be Tribal members.
In addition, reprint requestors must agree that the reprint is
for personal use only, and not for use in an ad, or for commercial,
political or promotional purposes.
Smoke Signals reserves the right to decline a reprint request.
To request a reprint order form, write to Smoke Signals at 9615
Grand Ronde Road, Grand Ronde, OR 97347, or call the Publica
tions Secretary at 503-879-1453 or 800-422-0232. B
Tribal education is making way into mainstream
WAWA continued
from front page
to produce a small book in the
language of Grand Ronde's Tribal
ancestors. "Something most adults
could probably do by end of the
year," she said.
Ebensteiner put toge er a book
about bears while Tribal member
Codie Haller, a sophomore, created
a book on giraffes.
Cole also has taught the language
to both pre-schoolers and adults in
Tribal Education classrooms. Years
ago, she taught the language for
two years to a kindergarten class
of 28 at Willamina Elementary
School.
Little by little, Tribal education
efforts are making their way into
mainstream settings. The success is
coming on the tails of many Tribal
education and culture programs.
Among the students, for example,
Jade Colton is granddaughter of
former Tribal Elder Jackie Whisler,
who started Chinuk Wawa classes
at the Tribe and walked on in
2007.
"That makes it special," said
Cole.
For Colton, her language and cul
tural education had an early start
with the help of her grandmother.
Jade's sister, Tribal member Jus
tine Colton, has been similarly mo
tivated. She is now taking Chinuk
1
Photo by Michelle Alaimo
Tribal members Kayla Grijalva, left, Codie Haller, middle, and Zoey Holsclaw,
right, play the card game Go Fish during their Chinuk Wawa class at
Willamina High School in Willamina on Thursday, Jan. 5. Kathy Cole, second
from right, Cultural Resources Department program manager and Tribal
member, who teaches the class, looks on. The students were required to use
Chinuk Wawa during the game, which was a good exercise with helping them
learn numbers in the Tribe's native tongue.
Wawa classes at Lane Community
College.
Both sisters participated in in
ternships at the American Museum
of Natural History in New York
City, where Tomanowos, the an
cient Willamette meteorite, is on
display.
Their father, Tribal member
Mike Colton, who works at Spirit
Mountain Casino, has asked them
to teach him the language as their
skills improve.
Tribal member Zoey Holsclaw, a
sophomore in the class, has been
involved in the Tribal Canoe Fam
ily. Her sister, Ali, also a Tribal
member, teaches Chinuk Wawa at
the Tribal Education Department.
Tribal member and sophomore
Rilee Mercier took the course in
Tribal pre-school years ago, but
signed up again because she "want
ed to learn more about the lan
guage." She also continues to learn
about Tribal culture through Tribal
Youth Education programs.
"Every person is different," said
Cole, "but it takes dedication.
That's for sure. We're surrounded
by English, so you really have to
make a choice that you're going to
speak Chinuk."
"The goal is getting families to
speak it at home," she said. That is
encouraged in adult Chinuk Wawa
classes and at quarterly Chinuk
Family Nights, which are funded
by a grant.
"It's going great," said Cole.
"They're learning very quickly. In
fact, I have to keep creating new
curriculum. They're really picking
it up."
The class includes Tribal history
and culture as well as language,
and includes stories about Elders
who have come before today's stu
dents. One of the things that make the
class better, said Ebensteiner,
is Cole's interactive style, which
prompts student participation.
"I've also taken some of Eula Pe
tite's lessons and translated them
into Chinuk lessons," Cole said. B