News & Recent Events

Denver Language Weekend

This week is your final chance to register for the Denver Lakota Language Weekend happening on November 5th and 6th. This two-day course will be in-person at the University of Denver. Lunch will be provided. Registrants have a choice between two learning tracks: beginner and intermediate. The beginner track is for those who are attending a language weekend for the first time or who are interested in reviewing the basics. The intermediate track is for learners who have built a good foundation in their language journey. This track tackles more complex conversations and grammar lessons.

We are excited to be in the Denver area again this year and are incredibly thankful to the University of Denver for hosting us! We can’t wait to see you and to make fun memories together while learning Lakota.

If you are Lakota and are interested in participating in this Lakota Language Weekend, we do have scholarships available so you can attend for free! The scholarship will waive the cost of the registration fee. Scholarship recipients will be responsible for their own travel expenses (Lunch will be provided during the session). Email info@lakhota.org for additional details on how to apply.

Welcoming the Deputy Director of LLC

We are happy to introduce our Deputy Director Alex FireThunder. Alex has been working in Lakota language revitalization in learning, teaching, and most recently parenting in the last ten years. He is an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and resides in the Medicine Root District in Kyle, SD with his wife and their two sons. Alex graduated from Oglala Lakota College with a BSW in Social Work, MA in Lakota Leadership, and Lakota Language Certificate.

Alex taught Lakota for four years at Little Wound School and has been teaching for the Lakota Language Consortium since 2017. He is a musician and song composer of both traditional and contemporary Lakota music. He founded Hóyeya, a platform for promoting Lakota language content, and won a NAMMY award in 2019. He believes language is a key element to a strong Lakota identity and hopes to assist in empowering communities via language revitalization.

Alex has been working officially in his role as Deputy Director for the past two months and you may have seen him at recent events such as the Ella Deloria Release, the L/D/N Language Summit, and ICLCLE Conference. He has since been supporting teachers and schools with training on how to use Owóksape in the classroom and providing support where needed. His years of teaching provide a unique insight into how LLC can better support the efforts of teachers across the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ. We are excited to welcome Alex into his role and look forward to working alongside him!

If you are a teacher or educational institution that is looking for support with Owóksape or navigating the various materials that are available email info@lakhota.org.

The Language Summit

Earlier this month the LLC staff and board had the opportunity to attend Tusweca Tiospaye’s 11th Annual Language Summit in Rapid City, SD. We held a booth for 2 of the 3 days of the summit, listened in on the sessions, and had a lot of great conversations. The theme of the conference was “Uniting the Seven Council Fires to Save our Language”. We met with old friends and made new ones and overall it was an amazing weekend of community. Click here to read more. 

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