Fueled from a recent trip to the Cochiti Pueblo in New Mexico and the Southern Ute of Colorado in May, Principal Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear is forging ahead with his language immersion program – whether the Nation’s employees are ready or not.
His plans are to implement a program very similar to that of the Southern Ute and Cochiti, who have immersion day cares and Montessori schools for their tribal members, ages birth to six.
“So when I stepped outside of the classrooms, I heard the children speaking English and some Ute, but in the classrooms it’s only the Ute language,” he said of the Southern Ute Montessori school. “They told me it’s very important to have two fluent speakers present, in the room so the children can see interaction between two fluent speakers. They do have a lot of teachers talking to groups of children, one on one, but it’s important the students see the interaction of the language.”
At the Cochiti Pueblo a delegation made up of Standing Bear, his Senior Advisor Debra Atterberry, Wah-Zha-Zhi Early Learning Center Director Clair Wood, Language Department Instructor Janis Carpenter and Education Task Force Chair Melvina Prather visited their day care and Montessori school.
What the delegation witnessed at Cochiti Pueblo were children under the age of three in a “language nest,” Standing Bear said. No English was allowed once they entered the day care facility. The children were taking naps and traditional pueblo songs were playing as they slept. When they went to visit the Montessori school for ages 3-6 years, they witnessed only pueblo spoken inside the classrooms, and unlike the Southern Ute children, the Cochiti children spoke only pueblo on the playground as well, even though they didn’t have to.
“I am making it clear the immersion programs we witnessed at Cochiti Pueblo are a model for us. These children reside in English speaking homes because, like us, they have been immersed with television, radio, Internet, school, church and nearly every activity in the language of the conquerors,” Standing Bear said. “Our culture is so intertwined with our language, they can never be separated. If we lose our language identity, our culture will be lost as well. Language and culture change with the times for any Nation. A Nation is defined as a community of people with a common language, a common culture, a common history, and a common territory. These are the elements which set us apart from other tribes and other Nations.”
The Cochiti Pueblo don’t have the financial resources as the very successful Southern Ute, but they are rich in tradition and culture.
“They’ve been there, they tell me, for about 10,000 years, so they believe they’ve had their language all this time and they said this generation is not going to be the generation that loses it. So they have taken steps, where they used to take it for granted that the language would be passed on, they now understand it must be passed on and they must be proactive and they believe you must have full immersion,” Standing Bear said. “These children all learn math, science, American history, all kinds of skills for the regular world but they were telling us they use dual language curriculums that first arose with the Spanish or the Hispanic speaking children.”
In referencing change, the chief has instructed the Osage language department to reach out to the Omaha and Ponca tribes to supplement the Osage language where words have been lost. He believes this will enable current Osage speakers to become fluent.
A bit frustrated an Osage immersion program hasn’t already launched, he appointed Atterberry over the education programs such as the Wah-Zha-Zhi Early Learning Center and the ON Head Starts on June 19, to facilitate the immersion programs within the departments.
“No more planning, no more meetings, no more talk, it’s time to produce,” Standing Bear said. “Short story is we’re behind schedule, but I haven’t lost the mission.”
By
Shannon Shaw Duty
Original Publish Date: 2015-07-06 00:00:00
