Advocates change in the way American Indian languages are taught in schools and by tribal elders, specifically that they should be taught orally in the classroom. Asserts that American Indian languages must be taught in the context of everyday conversation, not as isolated words, and that new words should also be invented in response to the…

In this article, the authors explore the personal, familial, and academic stakes of Native language loss for youth, drawing on narrative data from the Native Language Shift and Retention Project, a five year (2001-06), federally funded study of the nature and impacts of Native language shift and retention on American Indian students' language…

This edited volume provides an overview of issues surrounding language loss from sociological, economic, and linguistic perspectives. Four parts cover general issues in language loss; language-community responses, including native language instruction in school, community, and home; the value of language diversity and what is lost when a language…

One in a series of materials developed to revive the Hupa language and renew knowledge of Hupa culture, this lexicon includes vocabulary, phrases, and stories in Hupa and English. The major portion of the document is an English-Hupa lexicon of basic vocabulary listed alphabetically by the English words. In addition to the Hupa and English terms,…

A vocabulary list provides commonly-used words in the language of the Karuk Indians of northwestern California. Illustrations, handlettered Karuk terms, and English equivalents comprise entries for each of the 156 terms; space is also provided to practice writing each Karuk word. Topics covered include numbers, parts of the body, animals and…

A biography for elementary school students describes Howard Joseph McKee, Jr, an American Indian elder who teaches the Winnebago language and is developing a system for translating it into English. Mr. McKee's photograph and a map of Nebraska reservations are included. A teaching guide following the bibliography contains learning objectives and…

In this summary of a dissertation, results of a study of teachers providing bilingual education at a Navajo border town school are reported. Teaching Navajo language and culture in a bordertown school may require much more than language and culture content knowledge, although it is a prerequisite. Teachers must also be aware of family education…

In response to requests by two communities in Nunavik (northern Quebec), an Inuit teachers' training program has been offered since 1985 to community school personnel by the Universite du Quebec en Abitibi-Temiscamingue. The language used by the students, teachers (or teachers-to-be), and professional resources in the program is Inuktitut. The…

A partnership between Cold Lake First Nations and the University of Alberta, the Daghida Project, aims to revitalize Dene Suline--the local dialect of the Dene language--and the culture that depends upon it. Residential schools had a devastating effect on the Dene language and way of life, disrupting normal linguistic and cultural transmission…

This paper describes Hawaiian language courses that incorporate computer technology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. In the past decade, enrollments in all types of Hawaiian language programs have increased rapidly. The University of Hawaii is committed to extending Hawaiian language education, especially the full development of Hawaiian…

This regional dossier aims to provide concise, descriptive information and basic educational statistics about minority language education in a specific region of the European Union--Northern Ireland. Details are provided about the features of the educational system, recent educational policies, divisions of responsibilities, main actors, legal…

This regional dossier aims to provide concise, descriptive information and basic educational statistics about minority language education in a specific region of the European Union--Brittany. Details are provided about the features of the educational system, recent educational policies, divisions of responsibilities, main actors, legal…

This paper describes how certain types of electronic technologies, specifically CD-ROMs, computerized databases, and telecommunications networks, are being incorporated into language and culture revitalization projects in Alaska and around the Pacific. The paper presents two examples of CD-ROMs and computerized databases from Alaska, describing…

This digest focuses on teaching Spanish to native or Hispanic heritage language students in the United States. Heritage language students are students who speak another language (in this case Spanish) as their first language either because they were born in another country or because their families speak another language at home. The entrance of…

Reasons for which children of Bhutan learn English better than their native language, Dzongkha, are explored, including the overall language situation in Bhutan and its economic and cultural influences. Recommendations are made for increasing the learning and use of Dzongkha while retaining English in the school curriculum. The spread of English…