Category: 2015

Immersion education is recognized as the most effective way to learn and teach a language – especially for very young children. It has become the preferred pre-school model for Native American tribes trying to rebuild a generation of fluent first-language speakers.

One immersion preschool – the Lakȟól’iyapi Wahóȟpi, a Lakota Language Immersion Nest preschool, faces closure unless it can raise more than $200,000 in the next three months.

The Lakȟól’iyapi Wahóȟpi is featured in the upcoming documentary film, Rising Voices/ Hótȟaŋiŋpi. The Nest’s Director, Thipiziwin Young, speaks in the film about the importance of the Nest for families, children and elders. Elder Tom Red Bird rides a bus down from Bismarck every day to help out as a fluent speaker.

A crowdfunding campaign has been set up at https://www.gofundme.com/LakotaNest, but sustaining donors are also sought for long-term support.

The Lakȟól’iyapi Wahóȟpi is housed on the Sitting Bull College campus, located on the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Reservation in North Dakota. It opened its doors in September 2012 with seven 3 year olds as students. Since that time, four more students have entered. The initial cohort are now six years old and in their third year of the immersion program.

The children in this immersion school are 100% immersed in the Lakota language for 8 hours a day, 4 days a week. All instruction is conducted in Lakota with lessons mixing traditional Lakota seasonal and cultural knowledge with best practices in early childhood education.

The students are not only learning the Lakota language and helping to save the language and culture, they are also learning the same early childhood lessons as students in other preschools, just in a different language.  Research from other immersion schools across the world show that students who attend immersion schools often test better than their peers on standardized assessments that are given in English.

Parents, teachers, and community members want to expand the immersion school into kindergarten and 1st grade for the 2015-2016 school year. However, an initial ANA grant to establish the Nest preschool ran out in June of 2014.

“We have been just barely getting by on tuitions and other small grants,” said Thipiziwin Young, Director, “but if the Nest does not locate a funding source their doors will officially close on June 30th. We desperately need allies to bring the Lakota Language back to a healthy state for our children.”

First reviews of the Lakota Audio Series: A Practical Conversation Course Vol. 1 are posted at the NLD-O web site. We are encouraged!

“My experience with the series so far has been that I am now learning the language in a natural way.”

“What is really wonderful is that my children, who are playing around the house, have started to respond to the audio without any prompting from me!”

That’s the kind of learning experience we hope to inspire!

If you’d rather not tote a 10-CD set around,  the Lakota Audio Series has also become available as a .mp3 digital download at CDBaby.com, suitable for desktop, tablet or mobile device. The 10-hour lesson sequence is divided into two parts (1a and 1b), sold separately – so you can use the first half of the course (CDs 1-5) until you feel ready for the second half (CDs 6-10).

The Lakota Audio Series’ supporting booklets and Glossary are also available as an eBook for download. Look for L.A.S.: A Practical Conversation Course, Volume 1 at BookBaby.com.

If you’ve been using the Audio Series, can we hear about your experience?  Please consider writing a review at the NLD-O web site or at the CDBaby.com page.

There’s no end to the interest in the standalone digital version of the New Lakota Dictionary – the NLD-Pro – as both a download and DVDs for both Windows and Mac.

There’s even one rabbit still left in the magic hat: very soon LLC will release the standalone digital New Lakota Dictionary (NLD-Pro) as a true phone app – an entire interactive language archive in your pocket, no wi-fi or cell service necessary.

The Lakota Summer Institute needs an Intern! This is a full-time, on-site position for the length of the Institute: June 1-19, 2015, in Ft. Yates ND. Accommodations at the Prairie Knights Casino Lodge are provided.

Duties are mostly administrative, as assigned by LSI Staff. Interns need excellent personal communication skills, customer service orientation, grasp of the administrative needs of a large educational event, computer skills with Microsoft Office programs and a strong interest in Native American culture and language, especially Lakota.

For a taste of the LSI Intern experience, here’s what UC-Berkeley student Simon Gertler wrote about his stint at the 2013 LSI.

And here’s what we wrote about his service:

Simon first helped build the 2013 LSI web site, and then he dove into the realities of the Institute, helping with registration, serving meals and coffee, and the hundreds of little administrative tasks that put LSI together.

As for his communication skills:

Simon proved he is good at establishing relationships – always asking how he could help, talking to people and making solid friendships.

If this sounds like you, please send a cover letter and resume to help@lakhota.org by February 15.

Mark June 1-19, 2015 on your calendar – the next Lakota Summer Institute is getting underway!

Registration is now open online. Start your registration today!

Join the Lakota community event that gets to the heart of the culture – the language.

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If you need to mail in your registration, just print out this document:  2015 LSI paper Registration Form and mail to

Sunshine Carlow, SRST Education Manager

Agency Ave., PO Box D

Fort Yates, ND 58538

Phone : (701) 854-8583     Fax: (701) 854-2175

We’re Bringing Another Advance …

LSI leaps forward again with the introduction of the Lakota Language Handbook – a comprehensive grammar reference that makes the formidable Lakota system accessible and above all, learnable by anyone – it’s not just for teachers or linguists.

The Handbook is the final reference text in the language education infrastructure envisioned by the Lakota Language Consortium’s founders in 2004. What the New Lakota Dictionary began, the Handbook completes. Material from the Handbook was incorporated into a 2014 LSI course, “Teaching Lakota Grammar,” which consolidated earlier courses in Morphology and Syntax. In 2015, “Teaching Lakota Grammar” will be based entirely on the information and exercises in the Lakota Language Handbook, which will be the course textbook for all participants.

 

… Lakota Language Tech …

LSI is a co-venture of Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Sitting Bull College and the Lakota Language Consortium – and in this past year, the Consortium has wired technology to handle the power of Lakota.

Lakota language learners who want to go the tech route to support their study can attend an LSI class about online study and resources for creating your own learning path. That class doesn’t have a name yet, so keep an eye on this news feed for updates.

… and Lakota Human Connection

It’s no secret that LSI has blossomed into an important community-focused event. Families and individuals arrive, hungry for a sense of who else out there is doing this crazy thing called learning Lakota. There’s a palpable sense that something important is happening when strangers play silly games and speak complicated words together.

 

You can support your “Lakota thinking” with these sequenced classes:

• Intensive Lakota for Beginners 1-3
• Intensive Lakota for Upper-Beginners 1-3
• Teaching Lakota 1-5 Methods
• Intensive Lakota for Pre-Intermediates I-III
• Intensive Lakota for Intermediates I-III
• Reading I-II
• Traditional Lakota Flute
• Northern Plains Sign Language
• Neologism Development 1-2

 

Intensive Lakota for Beginners I – III will be offered in the evenings as well, for non-teachers and families.  Thus this course series will be much more user-friendly because the examples and activities are geared towards the interests of a student in Lakota, rather than a linguist.

Once again, Ben Black Bear, Jr. will lead a class in Neologism Development, tracking ways Lakota has changed over time and how it can be consciously adapted to new situations like going to a hospital or playing basketball. Kevin Locke returns with Teaching Traditional Lakota Flute , now with a finished song/lesson book so participants who build and play their own Plains-style flute can practice at home. Dr. Lanny Real Bird will return with the Northern Plains Sign Language course he has taught for the past two LSIs.

Join us! CLICK HERE to begin your registration.

Sitting Bull College will open up its student housing again to provide inexpensive accommodations right on the SBC campus – the site of LSI. Other lodging is available at Prairie Knights Casino or area campgrounds.

SEE YOU IN JUNE!

 

Let Matȟó Waúŋšila Thiwáhe (the Compassionate Bear Family, a.k.a. the Berenstain Bears) help you with your Lakota language study while warming your heart.

SLUMBER PARTY

Ensured by Sister that she knows the meaning of responsibility, Mama and Papa allow her to go to a sleepover at Lizzy’s house.
 However, Mama and Papa are totally unaware that the Bruins have gone out and left a babysitter in charge. When practically every cub in town shows up at the party it gets so out of hand that when the Bruins return they call all the parents to come and take their cubs home. Although Mama and Papa agree that Sister is partially to blame, they also realize that if they had been a little more responsible themselves, they would have found out about the baby sitter early enough to nip it in the bud.

Each Matȟó Waúŋšila Thiwáhe episode comes with free extras for download: a complete script in Lakota, a vocabulary sheet with English translations, and comprehension questions (in Lakota) to check your understanding of the action.

Matȟó Waúŋšila Thiwáhe is a co-production of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Lakota Language Consortium, Berenstain Enterprises and Nelvana Limited. Episodes were first broadcast in 2011 on Prairie Public Television.

Let Matȟó Waúŋšila Thiwáhe (the Compassionate Bear Family, a.k.a. the Berenstain Bears) help you with your Lakota language study on these long cold evenings.

VISIT THE DENTIST

When Sister gets her first loose tooth, Brother teases her that the dentist will extract it with a big yanking tool. After Sister watches 
Brother get a cavity filled, she discovers that her dentist is a very gentle fellow and he assures her that most baby teeth don’t need yanking. They fall out all on their own.

Each Matȟó Waúŋšila Thiwáhe episode comes with free extras for download: a complete script in Lakota, a vocabulary sheet with English translations, and comprehension questions (in Lakota) to check your understanding of the action.

Matȟó Waúŋšila Thiwáhe is a co-production of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Lakota Language Consortium, Berenstain Enterprises and Nelvana Limited. Episodes were first broadcast in 2011 on Prairie Public Television.