Time Travel to Indigenous Peoplesʼ Day 2021!

Travel back in time with the Tongue Unbroken! In episode 8 we listen to a panel presentation made at the University of Alaska Southeast, virtually, for Indigenous Peoplesʼ Day 2021. The panel is made up of powerhouses in Native American language revitalization, including Larry Kimura, Leslie Harper, Miqueʼl Dangeli, Joel Isaak, and Roy Mitchell.

Follow Tongue unbroken on social media at https://twitter.com/tongueunbroken, https://www.facebook.com/tongueunbroken, and http://tongueunbroken.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:15):
They tried to callingses, try to genocide us. I'm still
here with the tongue con rope and Naquiaya, gonna Chee
Yak a t eat to cut you on. We are
getting started. Thankful that you were here. A Yagi, a

(00:38):
chewy question. It's a good day to be shing it.
It's a good day to be indigenous, it's a good
day to be whoever you are. Just because someone is
yemming something up doesn't mean that you have to not
like it. I know sometimes it's instinctual to get mad
if it doesn't include you, if you are the default

(01:00):
thing these days, but that's okay. It's okay. We're talking
to get class the other day about just how to
talk some trash and Um. One time someone sent me
a text and I said, yeah, look on the gun.
I heard that the sun shines through your coffee and

(01:23):
I got really I got mad because I like my
coffee pretty dark. So I said let's fight. So, whatever
you're up to, I hope you are having a good time.
I hope that things are going your way and that
if you're having a tough time, that you're getting through it.
The people are helping you're finding help, you're helping others.

(01:47):
It's loving. That's what doesn't ye get, Donnie. The world
just spins around. Whatever you put out there, it does
come back your way. So today we're gonna hop in
our time machine roll it back about eleven months. Uh,
this time machine is not some fancy fancy car with

(02:10):
doors that opened like wings and a big old thing
built on the back. Our time machine is probably a
nineteen seventy five Ford Fair Lane station wagon with baby
moccasins hanging from the rear view mirror, a quarter that
somehow stopped, an exhaust leak and a car that and

(02:30):
when it gets real cold, there's ICICLES dangling off the
engine and it's just a mystery how it keeps running,
but it does so. About a year ago we were
we had an indigenous people's Day event at the University
of Alaska Southeast and we had wonderful participants, so I
thought we would listen to their voices today, as you

(02:52):
are hopefully gearing up for indigenous people's events. In the
year two thousand twenty two, there are a lot of
holidays and events for colonizers, so let's beef up those
events for indigenous peoples and let's figure out how to indigenize, incorporate,
recognize and protect indigenous people's it's time for the violence

(03:19):
against indigenous peoples, and especially against indigenous women, to end.
It's also time for people to stop acting like they
know our histories and acting like they know our stories
when they don't even listen to us. But with that,
we're gonna just roll right into this. It's gonna be
a bit of a long episode. You're probably in for

(03:40):
about a hundred minutes total, so buckle your seat belts
in this, Rez Ryan, as we jump back about eleven
months and enjoy this conversation. We're back to check in
at the end and to uh, take us to a
couple of commercial breaks. I'm gonna Cheat Your T it's
the listening that keeps US thing going. I really appreciate it.

(04:04):
Here's our conversation with wonderful, influential, game changing human beings.
By to cut, you T, yeah, do a Sakai, claud

(04:31):
hide cut, Sigu cut, yeah, to Arsan in the TA,
to us, Yeahku t cut, Kiko Clinia. Yeah, I played

(05:09):
house and Joy Kayaki, chief behalf of the University of
Alaska Southeast, particularly Alaska Netive languages program. I want to
welcome you all on this indigenous People's Day. Uh. It's

(05:31):
such a wonderful day. We didn't even send our kids
to school. We said, you all stay home, just be indigenous,
but then we didn't realize that there was actually school
today for the kids. So Um, here we are. But
it's such a wonderful day to spend together visiting about
indigenous excellence, and the focus here is on the future

(05:55):
of indigenous language revitalization. So I reached out to of
my beloved and wonderful colleagues to see if they would
just have a conversation with us here. We typically have
a class going on at this time called foundations of
indigenous language education. That class is in existence in large

(06:18):
part due to a program started by the Selaski Heritage Institute.
Is What it's called our language pathway, with the goal
of increasing the number of teachers of Alaska Native Languages, uh,
and looking into teacher certification, teacher licensure and eventually a

(06:39):
master of Arts and teaching indigenous languages. So with us
today we have Larry Kimura calling in from Hawaii. Uh.
Larry was a teacher of mine when I was in
a PhD program and he was our we stayed at
Larry's house and we just we're really fortunate to have

(07:01):
time with him and to visit and to get tutoring
in our Hawaiian and also get tutoring in our advocacy
for language revitalization. I just love and admire Larry and
all the work that he's done. We also have Leslie
Harper coming to us from INITIA, not be on, from

(07:21):
O juboe country. I'm very, very fortunate to to know her,
to be able to work with her and her advocacy
work at a national level with the National Coalition on
native American language schools and programs, and also visiting with
her reminds me of my times when I was attending
the University of Minnesota and learning a lot from initia

(07:47):
Nabi people that I I became friends with down there.
We also have Michael d'angeley uh some slot and Looso,
who's WHO's here with us, calling from British columb Ba
and she does wonderful, amazing work with the Simpshan language
and also with indigenous arts of performative arts, dancing and

(08:12):
also visual arts as well. We also have calling from
denying Annie. Joel Isaac, an incredible language teacher scholar and
also is really leading the way with a lot of
conversations on compacting indigenous education and what could be done

(08:35):
to increase indigenous control of education. And then we have
Roy Mitchell, who's with us as well, who is a
research analyst for the Alaska Native Language Preservation and Advisory Council,
and my experiences with Roy go back to early two
thousand's when he was working in sing it Annie and

(08:55):
really helping us to UH formalize a lot of our
procedures for moving into immersion environments and really trying to
privilege our indigenous languages. And this is the panel. Um,
I think at this time. I'll see if our chancellor,
Karen Carry, would like to say any welcoming remarks on

(09:17):
behalf of her office at us. Thank you, June. Isn't
this a glorious day? We finally get to celebrate our
indigenous people's and I am so thrilled about that and
I am really looking forward to this panel this afternoon.
As you know, who has been working tirelessly on Alaska

(09:38):
native languages here in Southeast Alaska and the number of
students that are engaged in our programs is just skyrocketed
and we feel just so thankful that we are helping
to save the languages. So I'm looking forward to this panel.
Thank you all, all of you for attending. It's great

(09:59):
to see everybody. I wish we could be in person,
but maybe someday soon we will be. So who now
I'll turn it back over to you, but thank you
so much for arranging this and and putting it on.
Really appreciate it. It's gonna Cheeche and I'd like to
thank all of the Alaska Native faculty at U s
who collaborated and figured out what kinds of activities we

(10:21):
could be doing for Indigenous People's Day. Wherever you're at,
I hope you are doing some good stuff for indigenous
people's and to start, let's go around and in a
couple of minutes if you could please just say hello,
introduce yourself and give an opening statement about the future

(10:42):
of language revitalization and then we'll move into our topics.
So starting with Larry H R, hello, ha no Cockol
Mallou man acucobe. On our indigenous People's Day, I guess

(11:06):
it's called now, and in Hawaii were reminded this morning
by our colleague Dr Peter Wilson Uh that Uma was
probably not, I mean, how do I say come upon
by the outside world? Um, by Captain James Cook, of course,

(11:31):
from England, London, England, and and that was less than
h hundred, three hundred years ago, but for some other
indigenous people maybe it was much longer, and so we're
kind of fresh as supposedly Um come upon. I hate

(11:52):
to use the word discovered, because we discovered them too
at the same time. So anyway, I am in a
asociate professor here at the College of Hawaiian language that
was established back in at the University of Hawaii at
the Hilo campus on the island of Hawaii, where we

(12:13):
have our active volcano going on right now. We had
a big earthquake the other day, just yesterday, not from Alaska,
but right here from our island on PA and district.
And so that's my two minutes. Thank you very much,
Louis and Leslie Venem Kunaminoasa giving me great to it

(12:37):
in and am Patoksh Maasa, Jinny doesin do Dadi and
Gomasa getting in on. Yeah, Nina Sa Sauega quick, Masaabwa
King and Diana signed the carnision. I am Leslie Harper.

(13:00):
I am Ojibwe. I'm from Ojibwe Wauki, Ojibwe country here
in the Great Lakes region in the, you know, center
of this continent. UH, UM, located here on my homelands,
my own Jibwe, where my ojibwey relatives have been for
quite a long time and uh, where we remain. and

(13:26):
Um and from the leach like nation, and that's located
within Minnesota. June is somewhat familiar with Minnesota, has spent
some time out here, so that's really nice connection to
I am a grassroots uh native American languages revitalizer and

(13:48):
we'll get into that some more up the road. We
can talk a little bit more about what we did here. Um.
I'm just really happy and really grateful that you folks
invited me in today, because this is energizing. Uh. This
is reciprocal. I get a lot of energy from listening
to the other folks too. Be Great Quich and UH Mikeia.

(14:11):
I'm a slad hatneys news, some photom news and do
waiou looks, Amadie flicky Ta Kwan Kulbum simum. Some do
I will help Fox some ESOM. Yes, I get one.

(14:31):
My name is some photom newsom and I am from Atacatala,
Alaska and I'm living here on the other part of
our traditional territory that the colonial border cuts through, which
is u by its name, known by its name terrorist,
British Columbia, but it's our traditional territory and I said
that it really just um fills my heart, together with

(14:55):
all of you here today, and in terms of a
statement on in the future of indigenous languages, I um,
I would say that I would love for some of
this conversation to talk about Um what the pandemic has
uh done to our language revitalization efforts. For for US

(15:17):
Um Sim Shan people, the border is a huge issue,
this colonial border. I've been I've been fighting to stay
in British Columbia to continue my uh some aliot revitalization work.
I'm a adjunct professor in the some aliat fluency program
where I just finished teaching fourth years some aliat online

(15:39):
for a year with our elders. We had um four
elders online and one linguists online with all of our
students as I was teaching, and we've just seen it
flourish in all of these incredible, beautiful ways. Um, in
that people have gone inwards. Um. I think that isolation

(15:59):
does that everybody, but for many it led to their
path of making, uh, a clear decision and dedicating their
time to Um, learning our people's language and Um. A
group that that I helped Um to found, one of
the founders of is raising some Aliet, which is a

(16:20):
nursery rhyme group in some Aliot that focuses on essentially this,
this type of circle time experience, Um, that little ones
have with their caregivers, but all in our language. and Um,
I just like that was born out of the pandemic.
It was born out of also my my motherhood. My

(16:40):
my baby was four months old at the time that
the first lockdown happened and Um, all of the support
system went out from underneath all of us. and Um
it's just it's actually been in blessing the way that it's.
It's heightened our efforts in many ways that made them
more accessible. So that's what I have on my goal.
My Art Have Sting, Oh right, and Joel do kid LE,

(17:08):
Fedora calendar, Pennington, Chicha, Sharon, Isaac Shutta, David Isaac Shuta,
Danny Ena, yes DASHTNA, Joel Isaac, She Danny Enashlon Sheet,
Kenai Sugoo, Hikaya Ki Landa and really, uh. So I

(17:28):
just Um start off. I wanted to. It's a respectful
way of asking permission to speak and acknowledging everybody else
in the room. And, UM, starting off with my grandmother.
Her name is four calendar Pennington. Um, my mother's name
is Sharon Isaac. My Dad's name is David Isaac, my
Danny Ina Tonina name is yes, which means salmon skin,

(17:52):
and my English name is Joel Isaac. I live here
in Kenai, Um, which is Dannina lands and and uh,
I'm gonna say thank you very much for having me
today with you all. Um, the the future of language realization. Um,
I think that my my kind of quick thoughts on

(18:14):
that are that the time is now. Um, it's it's
been that way for for quite a while, but we've
reached a critical mass um phase and I think it's
time for we have the energy and the support to
take some very big steps, and that's made possible by

(18:36):
lots of people working really hard. Um, and there's some
big steps we have to take in tandem as indigenous people,
but each one of our our language groups also. I
think is Um is at a stage where we're ready
to take some pretty big steps, and so that's to me,
that's where like the future, the immediate future for language

(18:56):
realization is at. Is it's it's an action we're in
an action time, Um, and that's as as a collective,
but also as an individual. I'm a language Learner and Um,
just me going through that journey. UH, starting to do
phases where I'm like, rather than thinking about stuff in English,
I'm thinking about it in Daina. And how would I

(19:18):
say what I in my head our out loud what
I'm seeing and experiencing? So those are I think that's
Um of kind of little steps that are pretty big.
They feel really big, but then there's also some of
those community big steps that we have to take together. So, Nan,
for for having me and Roy's change. Christ, you have

(19:42):
a stock laugh, not Roy Mitchell, shut city. That's Noth
J one Irish, Jewish, Dutch Hunt Anchorage. Yeah, yeah, we Petunia, California, Miohula, California, Alaska,

(20:06):
on nineteen seventy six UH neck in new Patuon Suley
Um Um Kokon Umuna anchorage mean I saw me caviling me.

(20:31):
My Name is Roy Mitchell. I've I wasn't born in Alaska,
but I lived for most of my life. I moved
up at the age of seventeen, among other things, to
study new Pak language at the University of Alaska for banks,
or is what's called then the University of Alaska, and
I've been a student of Alaska native languages ever since.
And we'll talk about specifics of things later, but I

(20:55):
wanted to say as far as broad overview future of language,
of realization, I'm both pessimistic and optimistic. The pessimism is
if we look at the broad demographics of numbers of speakers,
numbers of speakers is going down across the board. Um.
And I'm also optimistic because within these broad declines we

(21:17):
also have kind of moved my hand over here, I
guess we also have small ways in which numbers there
were new speakers coming to be UH, new second language
speakers and now some new first language speakers. So uh,
I have some optimism on the inside and some optimism
uh sprinkles on the outside of my pessimists cheese eat

(21:40):
that day. That can cheese. We're back in the now, folks.
We're gonna check out some ads and a little break here.
Then we'll go back to the past, the long ago days. Chee.
What's having, Babe? This colonization got you down. You gotta

(22:02):
get on this decolonization through. Yeah, it's time with language
revitalization all across North America, the end of the language
coming back into the hands of future generations, where it
all belongs. Rise up and had their voices. We heard
the beat all the colonial forces that try to hold

(22:23):
you deck. So thinking of my role as I'm just
going to facilitate this panel. So I want to listen
to you, folks, and I'm gonna ask you a few questions,
and I guess we'll start with with this one. Is

(22:46):
One time I went into the office of cake and
I said I wanted, I need to meet, we gotta
talk about this PhD thing I'm trying to do. As
I went into her office and she had a desk
and then she had some couches and she said, are
we gonna meet? Are we gonna talk story? And I'm
hoping we're gonna do it just mostly just kind of

(23:07):
talk story. So I hope, as panel asts. You all
are feeling relax and welcome. If if we could do
things in a better way these days, we would have
you to our community, we would feed you, would love
you upuld bring out songs and dances in your honor.
But the colonial side of things. We have now seventy

(23:30):
minutes to go through what I hope we're gonna try
and hit four kind of topics Um and so it
means we we can't totally relax. We gotta stay a
little bit confined. But whatever happens happens. So in the
same order we just went in, please share your experiences

(23:50):
and language revitalization in your current areas of focus, starting
with Larry AF two minutes again. That's a big question.
Five whole minutes, but if you need to take long no, no, no, no,
I don't want to take up other people's time. We
all have to share. So Uh. Well, you know, basically

(24:14):
we were teaching Hawaiian as a course in uh in
Hawaii because of our history being an independent country, it's
a kingdom, and when the United States overthrew our kingdom
and we went into becoming a territory, and I think
Alaska beat us out and becoming the forty nine state.

(24:36):
We became the fiftieth state in nineteen fifty nine. So
Hawaiian was language was being taught at our University of
Hawaii very early on in the auts and sciences program
established in nine and so. And that was because we

(24:59):
in our territory government, we still had uh representatives from
the Kingdom and they were very much concerned. Why is
that that we're having uh, Greek, Latin, German and French
and not Hawaiian. So that was started back in nineteen

(25:21):
twenty one. However, Um our language was not taken seriously
until we nineteen, maybe nineteen, late nineteen sixties, nineteen seventies,
when uh we recognized we had less than maybe two

(25:44):
thousand native speakers, mostly all, of course, in their senior years.
And this is a familiar story with many places. And
we needed to bring our language back into the homes
with our children, and the closest we could get to
that is the establishment of the APUNANALEO schools, which we

(26:06):
were in touch with with our cousins in New Zealand,
the Maori people. They started in eighty two, we started
in eighty three, and this is what has linked us
as participants I myself. This is my fiftieth year teaching
at the University of Hawaii System, since nineteen one. Thank

(26:28):
you for a thank you. Let's sleep. And so when
you said, uh, what's you know, my Gosh. But what's
important in Hawaii is that connecting to our community as
fast as we could and working with the children, the

(26:49):
youngest we could get to us, of course, two and
a half years to three years old. We also have
since established one too, only currently very it's and tip
to do different toddler from say, you know, nine weeks old,
and now we're taking we're taking them more like, I think,

(27:09):
more like eight months so because that requires a little
bit more personnel and and uh, you know, uh, all
of those other requirements of physical requirements besides personnel requirements.
But anyway, we the the the ideal for us in
Hawaii was working together at the at the university level

(27:36):
or tertiary level, down into right to the very beginning,
at the earliest you could get to in preschool age.
Of course, I mentioned also infant toddler. Now earlier, early
childhood education is becoming very important, not just for Um
of course, educational purposes, but what our country is going

(27:59):
through right now with this covid and uh and the
mindset of our our leaders about the importance of education
and the sooner the sooner the better. Also. So, fortunately,
we pursued an educational program rather than just, say, daycare

(28:22):
or a, you know, babysitting kind of program, because we
wanted to re establish our language as the medium of
instruction in formal education. And that's how it started, back
from uh well, we got established in eighty three and
our first schools and then by nine seven we got

(28:45):
into the Department of Education in the Public School System
in the program that is still being called the Hawaiian
mergence program but we like to call it a Hawaiian
medium and we have right now over twenty twenty six
sites right now, not all of them complete K to twelve,

(29:06):
but we have six K to twelve sites and the
rest are uh school within the school uh and, and
the main challenges we have right now there's just having
enough teachers. The enrollment has stadily increased. So we know

(29:27):
that over this period of years that our program has
um become Um successful enough in in the area of
the standard of education as well in the standards of
what with foremost, which is the bringing bringing life back
to our language and it's connection to our people as

(29:51):
a Hawaiian identa and identified people. So Um, the Um as,
as Canados, we have established, of course, are a little
program from a just a program in the arts and sciences,
now into, of course, our bachelor's and Rp, our NASTERS

(30:12):
and PhD programs. Of course, we also involved with of
teacher training for Hawaiian emerge on what Hawaiian medium, I
should say, which is becoming very, very important, and we
have also a Hawaii language center that helps to maintain
Um uh, creating curriculum material to support all of this

(30:37):
and then getting enough fluency growing within our adult population
that are producing our new generation of children and producing
now natives speaking children from the home and into the
system that we've established through the educational programs, from Kay
Uh Kay twenty, we'd like to say, pee tent need

(31:00):
pre school to twenty up to college. So Um, there
are many challenges, of course, that are still facing us
and we not reclaiming, but more like revitalizing, bringing more
life into our language, and that would be in the
area of of getting in what we're focusing, one of

(31:22):
the areas we're focusing and is what we are called.
The Sciences. Hawaii has some unique, Um um possibilities in
using a language more in this area of science. So
that's kind of a brief update. I don't know if
that was your question, but I tried to do that

(31:42):
very quickly. Mike Hollow, hollow, noisy lastlie. I need Um. Again,
trying to be brief with this. Do Your Room to
our other folks to Um, you know, experiences in language revitalization. Where, Um,

(32:03):
I'm at in Ojibwe country. We two have this border
that crosses our land right we're in you know, we've
got our relatives on the America side and the Canada
side of this border that crossed us. Um. We're spread
out over a pretty large range of of this land. Um.

(32:25):
So there's a lot of ojibwe folks and a lot
of our related tribes out here. Um, and we, some
of us live more closely together. But where we can be,
you know, a day away from folks, two days away
from folks, you know, Um, depending on which end of
which end of Ojibwe country we travel from. So just

(32:50):
a quick frame up. Um I was I was born.
Story is not going to be that long, but I
kind of started understand, UM, my own perspective on some
of this stuff when I looked at the community that
that raised me up, Um, the era of self determination

(33:11):
coming from the US Congress, you know, signing that law
into place, Um, throughout the nineties, seventies and Um, our
home community folks saying, Oh, this self determination thing, now
we're going to be able to run our own educational programs,
our own health programs. You know, kind of get that
that middleman out of the way. Let's see, you know,

(33:33):
what the native communities really can do with that. And
so our communities, my my folks, my aunties and uncles,
my parents generation, you weren't busy putting together plans to
operate our educational systems from our perspective, in in our
reservation and our communities. And you know, this was kind

(33:58):
of a new idea when this first came out in
the late nineteen seventies. Instead of just being you know,
the government, the Bureau of Indian affairs, runs these schools,
or you go to the public school that's run by
the state of Minnesota or Wisconsin. You know, this was
all of a sudden. You know, this is the allowance

(34:18):
that natives had been asking for they were like get
out of the way, let us run our educational systems again.
Let's let us run our health systems too. You know,
we keep talking about these treaty obligations. So that that
era of community members working together to come up with

(34:39):
ideas on how to implement education and how to implement
these systems that look like us. That was me as
a little kid, watching the adults kind of gather up
and do this and try to figure out, you know,
what's important to us as Ojibwey people here at Leach Lake,
what should be included in, you know, a culture based

(34:59):
education setting. That isn't happening, you know, from the American
Public School Setting. And so, you know, I just say
that because I have a perspective that you know these
possibilities and that believes in in our own local determinations
of that. Um and so, you know, we got some

(35:25):
culture based education into some of our education systems throughout
the nineteen eighties and nineteen nineties, but they were, you know,
they were like small steps in and Um, things were
really changing really quickly as far as our our language
bearers and our culture bearers and our communities go. Um

(35:46):
and I think too with like roads, getting in better
to our communities and, you know, media, Um, preaching our
communities even even more. Soon, you know, Um, we made
some steps in getting some culture based education and then
I think people maybe relaxed a little bit. And Uh,

(36:12):
and then we saw our communities just kind of relax
and say, well, we got some classes going, we got
some culture classes and some art classes at some high
schools and, you know, maybe we have a few language
classes here and there. That sounds pretty cool. But Um,

(36:32):
then there came this whole American education like push throughout
the ninety nineties and throughout the two thousands, you know,
to Um, you know, really push this no child left
behind stuff. And and our communities were a little too
relaxed maybe and just kind of went with it and said, okay, well,
we'll just do whatever the State Department of Ed says.

(36:54):
We're happy with a ojibway art class off here in
the edge, you know. Um, however, some of US folks
in our community were not satisfied with just having a
language class off on the side or after school, you know.
and Um said, this isn't quite what my family or

(37:16):
my home looks like. My home and my family is
you know, much more, much more in tune with our
ways of being and and if we're gonna be in
these compulsory school settings, if we're going to be in
these compulsory places, you know, this should look up, this
should look a lot more like us. I was able to.

(37:40):
I didn't even take Ojibwe language class in high school
where it was offered, because at the time, a hundred
thousand years ago, when I was a young lady in
high school, it it was an elective, but it was
not uh, foreign language credit, Um, that we needed to
graduate from high school. Um, there was Spanish and German

(38:03):
offered in our high school, maybe French, Um, but our
ojibwe language classes right here on our own lands didn't
qualify for, you know, High School graduation credit. So I um,
you know, took some after school classes, but I didn't
even get to take, you know, classes in my language

(38:24):
until Um, I was college age and and much older
and I got really interested in that and our college
classes could only take us to a certain like really
high beginner level and I said I'm going to I
want to learn more. So I um designed I'll master

(38:49):
apprentice language learning program with some elders from our communities
and I spent a little over a year full time
with some Ojibwi language speakers, just apprenticing to them and
we partnered with some other folks in reservations around us.

(39:09):
So young adults, Um, who wanted to learn the language. Um,
we tried to keep it even, males and females, so
we can, you know, we can have some gender balance
and you know, everybody could have the experience. And we
operated that for a couple of years and then, Um,

(39:31):
it was also raising my child in Ojibwe language and
then there came the compulsory school age. So I said, well,
I don't want to send him in the Public School.
So we we um heard about we heard about some

(39:53):
stuff that these Hawaiians were doing with getting their children
together with their with their language, and one of our
community members, so think of us over here in Minnesota,
you know, didweit country, way up in northern Minnesota on
our reservation, saying how should we, how can we make this?
What is it called? An immersion school? What is it

(40:14):
a language? It's just all the Hijibwi language all the time.
And somebody said, yeah, they do it in Hawaii. Oh,
how do we learn about that? And this was in
the late es, early two thousands, and somebody at our
planning session, at our round table planning sessions, that call

(40:35):
Hawaii and they pointed to me and so I was
given the task to pick up the phone and say
Hello Hawaii, like I had to find people. It was
just we heard something on the air, something in the wind.
This was something that was, you know, happening and going

(40:56):
really well for, you know, the Hawaiians. It was just funny.
I just laugh at that story where people are like
called Hawaii, you know, and the steps we had to take, Um,
to figure out who and where and what was really
happening and how we would even contact our relatives over there.

(41:17):
Who would the folks who would become our relatives, and
just making cold calls, Hello Hawaii. What do we do
for language? You know, Um, we've gotten so since the
early two thousands. We've we've worked together, we've modeled a
lot of our activities on what is happening there and
in other places, Um, around the country, and we did

(41:41):
start a language immersion school. We grew it from a
kindergarten through a grade six here at our reservation appar
at each late Um I helped with some folks and uh,
and then, Um, through all of that, we just kept
coming upon, Um, Paula, see barriers, you know, people kept

(42:02):
trying to say, what are you doing in your Indian language?
You can't do that, can you? And we were like well, yeah,
of course we can. This is who we are. We're
self governing people, right, but always people poking at us. So, Um,
I've worked a lot on public policy, and we can
talk about that in a little bit too. Um, always

(42:24):
chipping away at public policies that are trying to stop
us from using our languages. Um, I I look for
the ways to open those doors and stuff. And so
now we have this National Coalition of Native American language
schools and programs, Um, and we work with folks, really
cool folks, all over the place and Um, you know,

(42:46):
work on supporting our rights to do this in our languages.
Sorry for taking so long. I want to hear from
the rest of you too. Me, which it reminds me.
I believe Joshua Fishman said something. If you don't have
a pro indigenous language policy, it's probably an anti indigenous

(43:06):
language policy just by default. And so it was something
like them, to be preparaphrasing, and I just want to
say half a day too. I any Tomoro people who
are out there. I saw AEU tenant pungy is posting
the chat and we used to hang out a lot
in Hilo. Uh some Shodom newsom so my Um really

(43:28):
teaching at University of Alaska Southeast there in Juneo from
two thousand and sixteen to two thousand and seventeen, put
me on the track that I am now. My PhD
is in Northwest Coast first nations art history. As PHINIS
UM shared, I focus a lot on our visual and
performing arts. And when I was interviewing for the job

(43:51):
at U S, and he kind of attest to this too,
when they asked me if I would be open to
teaching my language, I cried. I cried during academic job interview.
How unprofessional, but it was because, Um man, it just
hit me right in my in my goal, right in
my heart, because every day on the commute from where

(44:15):
I lived in Vancouver, this hour long commute, I was
listening to my elders and my my ipod Um. I
kept some Allia with me everywhere. Um, and I taught
it in our dance group, Um after and before dance practices.
I did kind of many lessons Um but when I

(44:37):
argued for some Alia, because there's two Um you had
to have to foreign languages to get a PhD in
art history and I had already had some Alia count
as one, and this was before reconciliation. So now universities
would be all over this. I said take my act
full assessment and for my phd, let me go up three,

(45:00):
pre four levels. You know, I just want to get better.
My language is critically endangered. All of these languages that
you have as an option for me are not, and
they wouldn't, they won't budge on it. So I ended
up taking German and it was like a German research class.
I felt like like I had a decoder ring and
I was just like decoding because I wasn't seeing anything

(45:21):
in the language. I was just learning to use it
as a researcher. Not a waste of time, but it
was a part of getting my PhD. And so when
they asked that question, my uncle might be Arnold booth,
was critically ill and he was, you know, nine five
years old at the time and we knew he wasn't
going to be around much longer and he was my

(45:43):
longest standing some alice teacher, and so I came to
you a s and immersed myself and poins classes as
I was teaching my first year and Um taught my
first universe see level some Alia class. Well, um supporting

(46:04):
and being a part of the efforts of grassroots, root
based group who's phenomenal doing amazing some aliaf revitalization for
our people, the Juno language learners, who are now just
doing all of this. They were pioneers of some aliaf
social media, prior to it being a regular thing to

(46:26):
see our languages online. and Um, it just came to
a place where I did a study across Alaska. I
went to Anchorage, Um Ketch him, Mounto, Cauntla, trying to
figure out what was, what some of the barriers are
in our language revitalization efforts and how I can use

(46:46):
my new position at uas to help us get over
any any hurdles that I I possibly could um bring
resources together to to do that. So I put together
a grammar into because it seemed like many of us
are getting to this point in our fluency where, you know,
we just needed some a boost, essentially, to get where

(47:10):
there in our composition abilities and our speaking abilities, and
I brought over Dr Margaret Anderson, who is on linguists,
and Elma Nelson, who is a fluent speaker, first language
fluent speaker, who has relatives in in our community, so
she is very familiar with the way that our people

(47:30):
Alaska speak and our people in BC speak, and it
was life changing. The entire experience of being at us
was life changing because I realized that at that time
we had five first language fluent speakers left in my
community and we had about, probably about fifty in BC.

(47:55):
And essentially I've made one of the hardest decisions I've
made in my life, which was to leave us because
I needed to take this time to study with our
first language fluent speakers while they're still here. So I
left Alaska and I came back to British Columbia and
I've I've called this time my post doc because there

(48:18):
was nothing. I looked at everything. I lived in BC
way too long to be able to Um apply for
a full right or anything that would actually be, you know,
true academic post dock and I accepted a job as
at Axegetia school, which is an independent first nations k

(48:39):
through twelve school at in kits and callum where I
taught some Ali k through twelve and developed curriculum and
trained Um eas in our language while working with our
first language fluent speakers and developing my material to teach
university levels from Aliott at the University of with in

(49:00):
British Columbia, all simultaneously. This before I had my son. Yeah,
and at that same time I took the model of
the Junia language learners, which is essentially come together once
a week, have some fish spread on crackers and coffee
and visit in some Aliott and just go. Essentially it's

(49:21):
a really just beautiful model of collaborative learning where everybody
is a learner and everybody as a teacher. and Um,
I brought that to the two Sphian communities here kids
and cameleman kids last and I helped to start learners
groups and all all of that all at once. So
I just was working these crazy, crazy days. Um, and

(49:45):
then I got pregnant, which was miracle because we didn't
think we could have children. So my baby is born
of some Alliott language learning efforts and he um primarily
speaks some aliet. He's just it's just a using to
hear babbling in some alias, which it was my my two,

(50:05):
to my sister who said, Um, he doesn't babble like
my grandkids, and just listen, listening to him like it
sounds nothing like English. And so it's just been this incredible,
very difficult journey because, as I said, Um, with all
of the policies that Canada has put forward, and there's

(50:27):
millions of reconciliation dollars, they have yet to do anything
about the border issues. The fact that the J treaty
goes one direction. So if I was born in Canada,
and I was I decided to do this work in
the US, I could go and be recognized as an
American citizen. Gibe the gross blood quantum thing, but that's
just what Americans are about, right. They're just obsessed with

(50:49):
blood quantum. But at least that's an option for those
of us that are born on the in the states.
Me Immigrate like everybody else, and so I am still
an immigration limbo. And because the key through twelve job
that I had, um doesn't uh, is not high enough

(51:12):
on the ratings for immigration, and being an adjunct is
not high enough on the ratings for immigration. Um For
me to immigrate here to continue to do the work
of learning and teaching and supporting our resurgence. Um, I've
had to accept a tenure track job a couple of

(51:33):
months ago that starts in January at the University of
the Fraser Valley. So I'm in a position that many
people could teach indigenous language find themselves of how do
I make this sustainable? And that goes to policy changes. Lestly,
and and I knows that as well, Um, because you

(51:55):
know he teaches in the Yukon and it makes it
tough to stay in longer than you know, just a
couple of weeks at the most. But these border issues,
these infringe on our ability to work collaboratively. There are
amazing people on both sides that we get into these

(52:16):
situations where we hit that indigenous border wall really hard
and it takes a lot out of us and many
people have walked away because of it and I really
feel that zoom has really helped us overcome a lot. Um.
Some of the work that I was hoping to do

(52:36):
Um for people in Alaska has happened over zoom. Through
clinkinon hid essential counsel. We were able to get sponsorship
from them to New York. First, another grammar intensive but
one that was focused Um specifically on bringing our elders
over here again online, Um to our learners in Alaska

(52:56):
and most recently, my raising Alix that I talked about,
is finding a home outside of the houses that these
songs are sung in. So all of these beautiful Simphana homes.
Um is now a part of the kids and Calum
head start program. So I've been training them for the
past three months and um I'm still supporting New University

(53:19):
of Alaska's efforts through the indigenous pathways program. I'm mentoring
Um Hookunsk and going to even, who are both online,
meeting with them regularly for the past over a year now.
and Um. So there's just a lot each of us

(53:39):
can do. A lot of sacrifices that takes to do it,
but within our time those sacrifices are are nothing compared
to the long term sacrifice that would be the things
that would be lost within Um our languages if we
didn't do this work. So, by our sum for everyone
in your incredibly inspiring efforts, something's gonna Happen. Folks, stick

(54:07):
around for the exciting conclusion of this wonderful conversation with
incredible human beings. We were blessed to have them with us.
Got About a half an hour ago after the ad break.
What if you stick around, there's more de colonial secrets.
Gonna Cheeh, we'll be right back. Once I thought about

(54:33):
a million birds all around the world sharing their songs
and thinking about the way they've lived and they're gonna
live and this is the way. Yeah, yeah, Cook Up,
to see you too, glow. M Hm. Um. So I

(55:06):
there's kind of two areas that I um thinking about
the question of my experience in the English realization and
there's I'm just thinking like that tailing into those policy pieces.
Um So, one of the things that I do is
I'm the tribal lye on for LASCO's Department of Education
early development, and so I spend quite a bit of
time in the K twelve, Western kg twelve arena and

(55:29):
talking with tribes and native NGOs Um all over the
state and all over the US on language and culture
and they're they're fairly inseparable. and Um so that's that's
one of the things that focusing energy on. Um I,

(55:49):
as with anything policy based. Um It's one of the
things I was reflected last night. We had a wrapped
up a five year language project that I've been working
with my tribe here at end of September and we
had a fiery at last night and just kind of
celebrated some of our Um, some of our celebrations, because
the covid hit during the middle of it. So it's

(56:10):
like we should we should do something outside and Um,
so we had we was talking. I was thinking about
one of the things that honey had said Um previously
in our conversations. Are at a conference. Um, and just
like keep the politics out of language revialization or language work,
and policy inherently has this politics woven into it and

(56:33):
it's one of the ways that education has been weaponized
against our languages. And so, just as one of those
things that they sometimes I struggle with, like how much
energy goes into policy, how much energy goes into the
language work itself? And so Um, two of the things
that there are kind of like policy based that I've

(56:54):
been working on with the department and our partners. Um,
one of them were came out this morning and it's
the Cook and let Tribal Council is working to develop
an analysis and recommendation on native education models for Alaska,
and so there's Um looking at what are those native

(57:16):
education models and having support to do that. kind of
worked where it's Um looking at policy pieces but brooded
in what do the communities need, versus a Western government
agency saying here's what you should do, and so that's
been part of the what. What? What do we do?

(57:37):
No partnerships ever perfect. We always could be doing other
and different things. But like thinking about what are those
targeted ways that we get the policy matters that are
critical up to the levels that need to be discussed
to make those policy shifts. So that's one of those
things that I'm pretty excited about. That's like it's going
to be starting here, um, as like today. Um. The

(58:00):
other is the state education, state tribal education, compacting, which
is not a new idea. Um. It's been around for
a long time, the idea. But Um, and I think
it was July Um, that was where the department is
partnering with a F N to scope out what compacting

(58:20):
might look like in Alaska. Um. So that's again no
partnerships perfect, but it's definitely a big step to be
able to have an entity really focus on it. Um.
Part of some of the work I've been doing with
the department Um and with the State Board has a
subcommittee on tribal compacting Um. So there's these pieces about

(58:42):
building capacity within the Policy World Um that help get
rid of or help lessen the barrier or make them
shorter so that we can actually climb through over those Um.
So that's one of one of the things that I
think about with the language work. The other thing that
I've been that I do um for my personal likenin

(59:03):
a language work is we've done strategic planning within our
community and figuring out what are our strengths, what are
our weaknesses, what do we have, what don't we have
and what's possible in our linguistic reality, because it'd be great.
Like we all we want conversational it's like, well, we
don't have two speakers in the same room. We don't

(59:24):
have two speakers that have connectivity to talk. So doing
an immersive conversation thing, I can't raise the debt. So
that's one of the like we just don't go there. Um,
we try to, and so one of the ways that
we developed is a conversation, creating stories where people are

(59:44):
talking to each other. So we're creating conversation from one
first language speaker who we have a deny a family,
to fictitious denia family and and he talks to Cheetah,
she her grandma, she talks to her brother, all these
things that our first language speaker has done as a child.
We have a way for her to be creative in

(01:00:06):
storytelling in a deny a way. So we're not just
taking books and translating them. Um. The other thing like,
so we're focusing quite a bit on literacy. So this
is like one of those things, like we have our
first baby board book, Um, which I'm pretty excited about.
So it's like we have gone through and it's like

(01:00:26):
what do we call our letters, because we have letters
in Dnina that we don't have in English, and it's
like what do you call them? And so we're going
through those kind of like basic steps of literacy, Um.
And that's just kind of that's the thing that we're
focusing on. Um. And then thinking about access. And again
we're focusing on Brent materials. So we have like little
pocket dictionary that's coming out. Um. This is the proof.

(01:00:49):
So like within the next year we'll have thousands of
these floating around. So it's just like. That's kind of
the the immediate focused pieces for me and the communities
that I work in, the policy to community, the Geneina
language community, Um and yeah, I just appreciate the time
and being able to hearing the people to share their stories.

(01:01:09):
So then so and Roy. Yeah, so, uh, my experiences
and current focuses. I started off as a learner, uh,
second language learner of new pack at the university. Um,
dropped out of school for a while early in my
master's program I lived for seven months in continue and

(01:01:31):
for part of that time I worked as a substitute
teacher in the high school. Well, excuse me, through twelve
and UH. So I got to see interestingly, Um, what
was the model? I'll describe it as the prototypical model there,
which was the new pat granny would come to each
classroom pushing her cart and she'd have fifteen minutes a

(01:01:52):
day and she had pictures of animals and they talked
in English about, well, what's our aim for this animal,
and they did coloring and they would write it out
and they would say it Um, which is a good
way to learn words. Um. But as I started had

(01:02:15):
the beginnings of glimmers of but that's not going to
lead to conversational ability. Um. Uh. A few few years
later I was living in nome. It finished my antro
degrees and also a bachelor's in UPA and uh I
was asked by the Community College if I would team
teach a conversational and back class and I said No. Uh.

(01:02:41):
For one, the dialect differences are huge. Uh. They're they're
like between English in England and Scott's in southern Scotland.
It's like yeah, there may be the same language, but
you won't understand the other person if you were not
familiar with it. Um. And the other thing is I
had realized that I needed something different and I encountered

(01:03:02):
a short article, uh, regarding a communicative language approach, TPR,
and so I went back to the community college president,
back when I had community colleges in Alaska, I said,
if if you can help me find in a new
back speaking elder who would be willing to try something new,
I would love to try team teaching. And that's what

(01:03:23):
I did, first with Margaret Signa uh and then later
with Irene Armstrong, and I believe that was the first
use of TPR to teach an last native language. Starting
in Spring Lady Two uh, and the students loved it
and so we took it on the road and we
did some in services for some school districts and we

(01:03:44):
started doing demos at the Bilingual Multicultural Education Conference and
an anchorage. Uh. So that's one of the big things
for me then was okay, we need to have language
teaching methods that use community, that communicate in order to
teach people how to communicate, because for me anyway, that's
the bottom line. There's other uses for language too, but

(01:04:04):
one is to communicate, uh, and it turns out humans
kind of learned to communicate, uh, except through communicating. So
there's that. I was also involved later on in the
late eighties and early nineties in Bethel with getting uh
you pick immersion school going, which is now named in

(01:04:25):
honor of the original lead teacher who's still there. She's
been teaching kindergarten for over fifty years now in Bethel
Um uh, Lady Jones, uh, and that's still a fantastic
way to do it, to get new speakers. I got
very interested in social linguistic aspects because my my, uh,

(01:04:47):
I have degrees in anthropology and I realized it's not
just enough to learn how to speak a language, but
the social factors going on can be even more powerful,
and that's why I sent me down. You see Berkeley, uh,
sitting with people. Um, they're Um, like like lean Hinton, Um,

(01:05:10):
who's done wonderful still still is doing amazing things. And
with John Comfort's he to some extent, but also his students,
have done a lot with trying to figure out so
so seal linguistically, what's going on when a community as
a community, is losing its language and replacing it with
something else. Uh. And that got me and that's where
I learned about language policy and planning. So so these

(01:05:33):
are the things that I've been working with. I'm still
involved in one way or another with all of these
language teaching methods, curriculum design, uh, what needs to be
done to get immersion schools doing going, and also very
excited with uh, think the master apprentice or Miss Mentor
apprentice approach. For me, one of the big concerns is,

(01:05:55):
depending on the situation of the language community, certain things
will be brilliant first moves and others will be impossible. So,
you know, lots of people say, Hey, let's have an
emergence school but we have no fluent speakers. So then
that's not where you start. You need to start on
another track. Uh, there's things that required. So some things

(01:06:16):
have to come first. So the master apprentice approaches is brilliant. UH,
in a way it's absolutely nothing new. People have been
doing that for thousands of years. You move into a
new community and you live with someone who makes that language.
So it's fun to discover needs again. Um, and those

(01:06:39):
are the things that I think of, that I work
work with and I want to see more of. You know,
it's change. Goodness, Cheeche. So in our kind of last
twenty minutes here and I just want to say like
I don't want you folks to feel too rushed. I
know we're we're just scratching the sir, but we'll have

(01:07:00):
options of continuing this conversation. There's lots of ways we
could do that. We could do part two. I'd be
happy to do individual interviews. I'm making a podcast on
language revitalization that I think I'm going to call the
tongue unbroken, so that we can have sort of these
because I always feel like we're running out of time

(01:07:21):
even just to do the stuff and just to sit together.
So I really want to thank you each for sharing
your time with us. The next topic, and it doesn't
matter if we don't get to all four. I was
just trying to think of things that we could just
sort of move through, but just sharing some ideas. What
have been the most effective strategies in language revitalization? We'll

(01:07:45):
turn it back over to Larry. Do I have or
do we have time to think about that and Um,
but you know, basically, if I overlook this, because it's
been going on uh since uh, you know, we've had
what is this twenty third high school graduation in uh,

(01:08:09):
Hawaiian language education, Hawaiian medium education, in other words were chat,
the student from pre school or maybe from kindergarten, age five,
all the way up to graduate high school has graduated.
Now we have had uh we're looking forward to our
twenty third graduation. Are We just celebrated twenty years of

(01:08:33):
establishing a because when we establishing a K to, what
is that sixth grade? Because when we started, you know,
we were starting, we had just two little sites and
one site had maybe about seven children to start that

(01:08:54):
start the site off. The other one had maybe about
the same, maybe a little more eleven twelve, but just
from that I call it the yeast, and then the
rest of the families that came in to join in
this east. You know, I'm getting into baking now. But again,

(01:09:16):
as I'm hearing from Lessti and others, the policy only Hawaiian,
no English, and that on our in our education we
do not. Well, we had to at the beginning translate
what was available, but we do not want to just
translate a Western system of education. However, the integrity of

(01:09:44):
education is great because we need to live our language
for today and for tomorrow. Therefore, there are so many
new things that we have to catch up with, just talking,
just language wise, and how do we deal with this
connection to a global world at the same time holding

(01:10:07):
onto our little spot in the in the wider world,
as our own spot and therefore always being how Cansan
and being strong and stronger for those kinds of concepts,
because we can be easily swallowed up, and so I

(01:10:27):
think that kind of a balance, because it's just not
one way only. LET'S A it's being a part of
everything at the same time, which is very, very big,
challenging job. But the main, the main part is to
maintain a philosophy of a wine education meeting the standards

(01:10:52):
of what we are and toountering in the the standards of,
you know, of Uh Common Education Education throughout the world,
I guess, so that we are seeing that our language
can and thrive and live for today and tomorrow as well.

(01:11:15):
And so as as generations seem to move along. You know,
twenty years go by very quickly for an age of
a child. And how much of that connection can we give,
a provide while we've already been separated to begin with
from our strong foundations of traditional language and culture? So,

(01:11:39):
of course, here in Hawaii, as we're seeing the last
of our native speakers less than thirty, we are, documentation
has become very, very crucial. So I hope you we
are all UH preserving our languages in that way. I
mean we have not digitization and and that is just

(01:12:01):
marvelous what we're doing now with two so all of
that kind of work and h and the challenge to
bring this forward in the new technology, a new the
curriculum that can be always revamped, you know, not always
the same. It's going to revamp and change, but in

(01:12:23):
this change sticking to our foundational so every year we
have our has a. What do you call it? Ah
Nou Kia, always Um. What is the mission? What is
the mission? And the mission is to remind us this year,
the Pie, Pie, whole year of Hakku, which is set

(01:12:45):
up the stones for a new foundation, because our stones
from the past have been kind of crumbled the way.
But we need to rebuild that. But when we rebuild,
we were building upon our solid found nations, are a
traditional knowledge and language brought for a new a new

(01:13:07):
a new home, a new house to live in. So
these are some of the kinds of I guess you
call them initiatives. Not Initiatives, but just standards, Um philosophies
that we are possibly reminding ourselves to do in our language,

(01:13:27):
our way of seeing the world, and to participate in
a healthy way with the rest of the world and
ourselves first being healthy so that we can't participate in
badly wrestling. It's it's so good when we get together
and visit like this and like the things I've been hearing.

(01:13:48):
You know the themes, even just from a little bit tonight.
You know we're like capacity building and policy inclusion, which
sounds really clinical and really you know, it can found Um,
you know, really kind of outside of our communities in
some ways, Um, you know, but really that's where we're at.

(01:14:13):
Two what has been, Um, really effective for us is
recognizing that there are multiple approaches we need to take
and that that that we need a lot of community
members participating in language revitalization. Um. For a while it was,
you know, it was like, oh, hey, focus on the kids,

(01:14:34):
kids in school, and folks were like, well, what about
their parents? What about you know, the real common sense
kind of questions. When the kids go home from school,
who are they speaking the language with? You know, so really,
you know, engaging that parent age generation and saying what
can we do to support you in language learning? That's
why like the master apprentice type Um, you know, really

(01:14:57):
really intensive, you know, whe to three thousand hours of
you know, really intensive instructional time dedicated towards that Um,
you know, regular ongoing Um classes and learning spaces in
real life, contemporary situations that are available to even the

(01:15:21):
parent age generations in our communities is really important. Um.
And so building that capacity just in people who know
how to speak our languages in real life everyday settings.
And it sounds so common sense, but it takes a
lot to get there right. So building the movement and

(01:15:42):
the campaigns around that and then also ensuring that we're
building the policies to support that language. We have to
build up personal policies in our homes that support language
rich environment. Um. For me it's an Ojibway, language rich environment.
I raised my son in Ojibwe. He was one of

(01:16:03):
the first kids in about fifty years who spoke our
language as his first language. Um. There was literally like
a handful of people out of our you know, out
of our tribe here at least, like who had who
had spoken our language from childhood and maintained it. Um.

(01:16:23):
So really saying I'm going to intently do this, you know,
and our family supporting that. Um. Now we have another
new ojibwe language speaker in our community, Um, and he's
going to be able to give that to his kids
whenever he gets around having them. But also public policy,

(01:16:46):
making sure that we are the folks writing the policy,
we're not just trying to carve ourselves into and distort
and contort ourselves into something that doesn't make sense to us.
For too long, native for all over the place have
been ignored or erased in the policy arena and said,

(01:17:07):
you know, just do what we tell you kind of thing,
but where we write our own policies and say these
are our priorities, we are going to you know, from
our own local cultural perspective, this makes sense. We understand
our excellence, our ways of knowing and being Um, and

(01:17:27):
we're gonna uphold those standards. In a lot of places
they probably exceed what the state policies, you know, require, Um,
and so making sure that our community members are there
and articulating that and saying these are the pieces that
we're going to carry forward and, you know, making sure

(01:17:49):
that the conditions exist to Um put those into place
and to continue to assert those policies. Chee, which some
showdom news. Oh, I asked. It's such an inspiring panel.
Um have just been I teach some alias at Um

(01:18:10):
over the past four years at every level of human development. Um, yes,
with our Keith through twelve school and now doing this
work and the head start, but then having my own
baby and learning from, you know, the very beginning with
language act position looks like, and I think that Um

(01:18:30):
students Um to get really hung up on what, when
they're becoming teachers, what methods that they're interested in and
they want to use and I my biggest suggestion to
them is to get to know your students first, because
there's so many things that just won't there's no I
haven't seen approaches that work across the board for every

(01:18:52):
different type of learning and to know as many as
you can but not feel obligated, to feel like you
have to commit to I'm just going to use a
gray morning method, I'm just going to use where your
keys or TPR R T P R S and and
all of that. I never in my because I'm trained
as a dancer in our traditional ways and I always

(01:19:14):
knew our songs through dance. I never thought I would
sing and I just you know, I still get relates
off fairly embarrassed when I have two solo saying to
teach my nursery rhymes. But Um, people find that as
a good manomic device. Adults find it as a really
gentle um learning device. That makes some Giggle, you know,

(01:19:40):
but they find themselves singing through to remember what the
name of clothes are, to remember how to say wash
your hands. And so now I so one thing that's
been really Um that I've wondered about and I want
to do more work on because of things I've run
into adult learners. What I love about learned teaching little ones,

(01:20:04):
that I realized right away after leaving U A S
and going right into a key through twelve school, is
that you just get right to some Ali. If you
just get right to the language, you don't have to
create time and space within a classroom environment to talk
about the Traumas of our Palmization, to talk about the
Traumas of our language laws and how the reclamation process

(01:20:26):
brings out in people who have experienced and whether it's
directly or through intergenerational on trauma being haven't gone through
abuse and all all manifestations Um true because of speaking
our language. And what I felt like in my very

(01:20:52):
first university class, because I had a boarding school survivor
in that class who shared with us for the first
time allowed he said the person's name who who had
abused him in our community, in our village, and I thought,
I need to go back to school for counseling, I

(01:21:14):
need to go back to school, like I felt like
I don't have the tools for this. I need to
find the tools, and so I've been really interested and
I would love if anyone has any resources on learning
about trauma and formed approaches to indigenous language teaching, because
I've tried to create assignments. I know it sounds so

(01:21:36):
like the worst thing you could say. I've tried to
create an assignment around it, but I've tried to create exercises,
I should say I give give people space Um within
their own UH. I give a learning journal that they
set their goals for the week that they if there
are words in the language, I bring up experiences, positive

(01:21:59):
and negative, that they want to remember when they go
back and think about their learning journey. But I just
really feel like we all need more, and especially in
Canada as we go through this process to a reconciliation,
which the majority of the time is just re traumatizing

(01:22:21):
those that have suffered the worst, that we need tools
that we determine useful for us in this process of
resurgence and reclamation. So Um. I think that creating safe

(01:22:41):
space is one of the most effective things Um that
I've experienced, and Um is really important to maintain and
that can be physical safe space, it can be emotional
safe space, like in a learning Environ, all those different
factors that come into it, and I think that's one

(01:23:04):
of the pieces Um when going through and kind of
like strategic planning. What what are your revitalization goals, Um is?
Are you working with elders? Are you working with kids?
Are you working with family? Are you looking with it
just adults? Just like going through, because safety for someone
who's gone through all of those life experiences to be

(01:23:26):
one of the last people on Earth who speaks the language,
safety for them might look different than safety for a
five year old. Um, and when you put those two
together that also creates a different kind of environment. That
just really taking the time to be an in tune
and go slow enough on those kinds of parts and

(01:23:48):
give the time that it takes to figure that out, Um,
and that bringing in and expanding um the work as
an another form of like considering safety for the workers
who are doing that. So the analogy that I think
about is when you have a sphere that's small, you

(01:24:10):
have this volume surface area ratio that's highly efficient for
a circle, but if it's the flat thing, when you
when you draw a bigger circle, it grows a little bit.
It's still bigger on the outside than it was on
the inside before. When you make that into three dimensional
space and then you grow by a little, the amount
of volume that that increases is huge, but you don't

(01:24:33):
see it because the surface area is still super efficient
and each time you increase your radius, the amount of
work that it takes that core to do in order
to have that it grow. It puts a lot of
pressure and strain. So those those core movers in the
whatever revitalization work is being done, they might have different

(01:24:54):
support or safety needs to where their lives don't get
broken apart completely trying to keep things going, and so
I think that's one of the really effective strategies is
to be very honest about what that looks like. Um,
we have that's being very direct with it. I talked

(01:25:15):
to my elders and the different people that we work with,
like does this make everyone feel safe, and these kinds
of questions and these kinds of environments and we're doing
a classes. If we don't feel comfortable, if if we
don't have that support, what does support look like for
us as instructors? And then we have those conversations with
the students, because it's not just about us as instructors,

(01:25:38):
and so that we're able to understand how to keep
that classroom environment and that learning to happen in a
good way, and I think it goes with the learning,
it goes with the teaching and the strategic planning. Whatever
method whatever strategies you come up with and your phases
and your pillars and all the different things that you
can do for strategic planning, if it doesn't fundamentally have

(01:25:59):
that Pert, active, safe quality, Um, it won't be as
successful in the long run. So that's just, I think,
the most effective thing for me. Yeah, yeah, well, I
know you're hanging out with wonderful people, when it feels
like you just don't have enough time. So here we
are at the wrap up phase, but we'll figure out

(01:26:21):
a way to have more discussions on this. I really
really uh, Chawa inclicity, yeah, at Yah to Ke young
two UK at. Yeah, Um, I really just love you

(01:26:45):
all and I'm so thankful we we were giving each
other respect and just sort of sometimes we lift each
other up because the work is hard. We're just out
there in the mud all day, you know, doing this
doing this work and and making these differences. So the
way I think we'll close it is, uh, if you

(01:27:08):
could tell me in a sentence, what do you think
this future looks like in terms of this balance between
our dreams and the reality that we're going to create.
What do you think this looks like? So we'll go
in the same order and then we'll have closing remarks
from Ronaldo Caddy, Anthony Brown, from us, and then we'll

(01:27:29):
we'll shut the zoom down and thank you, zoom for
not kicking me off at all today. I got shut
down four times this morning. It was interesting to be
frozen in mid story, mid sentence and whatever. So H Mahala,
now you're gonna choose. Howison Larry? Okay, well, see, that's

(01:27:50):
another big question, right. Uh, I think you know, gaining off,
Oh should I say being very optimistic here, and nobody
about having less than maybe thirty children of Uh speaking
and native speaking children under the age of seventeen te back,

(01:28:14):
and this is in the eight nine eighties, and now having,
like you know, right now this very moment in school,
about thirty five hundred, three thousand five hundred children in
Hawaiian merchant schools or Hawaiian medium schools, and and building
up the account again of newborn, newly raised native speaking

(01:28:40):
children from home and having a system set up for them,
educational system, to gain even stronger strength in our language
and cultural identity. It's just wonderful. So very optimistic for us. Uh.
It takes a lot of team work, maintaining to your

(01:29:02):
vision and going for it and it sounds pretty easy,
but I know if, as you're we're talking about it,
there are challenges, but all of those challenges need to
be met and it can be. It can be. So
O my meeting. Go forward, continue forward, mallow and doing law.

(01:29:24):
Thank you for this opportunity and a and Lesley and
t knock. I see t knock over there too, Mahllow
Nouis for this gathering. Aloha. Last Me Nick Don Kia
kick obame with dooma and getting the way win and on.
You know, if we look at the what does the

(01:29:44):
future look like for language revitalization? Um, for us so
jibways and maybe for a lot of other folks, when
we whatever we say in our language is going to
come to be. So we're very Um. We're else so
very careful and very strategic with the things that we say.

(01:30:04):
But what I said was that Um into the future,
you know we're gonna BE CARRYING WE'RE gonna be making
our sound and that that was inclusive a Um, that
we are going to do this, that this is going
to live, Um, that we will find ways to intently
put our languages, you know, keep them on our land

(01:30:28):
and in our lives, whether through Um, yeah, through our
very intent actions. You Know Me, gage, listen to Meg,
you know us. Thanks for listening and visiting. Oh, I

(01:30:48):
go when Um kind of Um. Look, I guess it's
gonna um like I when I'm uh thinking one. Thank
you for this meeting today. I'm go how some bless

(01:31:08):
you all for your words. Um, local SIM get. Go
to them where this is really important. Work at Um
up some nicle. A Dick said, oh good God, uh
Um Chat me, Uh Shaggy, get them a bless them.

(01:31:29):
I just feel are are the pride of our ancestors,
as we're talking Um to each other from all of
these different experiences and language groups that, in many ways
have always been um connected through our ancient trade routes,
and now we have this ancient trade route called Zoom

(01:31:51):
and Um in terms of positivity for our language revitalization efforts. Um.
I'm working with one of our elders online by the
name of Shoe Na Um, who is a Tizza for
for many of us online here and to see what

(01:32:14):
they have experienced, what she has experienced and other Um,
some alive teachers for our age have experienced in terms
of there being very little interest when she started, Um
and very little resources, Um to Um having to walk away,
um due to politics. Um. You know my my beep,

(01:32:38):
Um Arnold booth, all of his resources burned down at
one time, burned his office common fire. We went back
to it and I just feel that that this path
that our ancestors have put us on, that when it's
truly are our calling, our goal, but even if we

(01:32:58):
have to go away, Um, we come back. And that
Shoguna and having these conversations with her about it. She
told me that have faith that if you don't do
this work, if you don't get to something within oursonale revitalization,
someone else will. And I'm seeing it and it's it's

(01:33:23):
UH local. I'm a wee Koiska will get least. It's
just gorgeous to see. I'm lifting up God to t
evan and Hooky and skin. I was in a I
was a mentor this year. So I had an apprentice
through the first people's cultural counsel. My apprentice, Ocean George
Lynne is doing incredible work and so many of our

(01:33:44):
people are are are taking a stand and doing doing Um,
they are sharing their gifts with us and everybody has
different gifts to bring to our language revitalization in all areas.
So I know there's a ton of kind of students online,
and students are always on my guard. So just know
that your gifts are precious and they're different than everybody

(01:34:07):
else's and keep bringing your gifts twice. So I would say, Channa,
you needs it, which is our children will be our
teachers with good thoughts and intentions. Um. So that's kind
of my what the future looks like. Sure, man, you

(01:34:32):
are all such sacred, wonderful people. I appreciate so much
this gathering and I can't tell you how enriching it
is and how precious each of you are worth the
work that you're carrying, and I recognize that it's a
very heavy load. Um My, I think it name that

(01:34:55):
I was born given at birth is entre and my
the other name I'm privileged to carry Nach from a
Kui in in Um and doon, and I bring that
forward in that my my mother Klaw and she also
carries the name Juna, is one of those Um individuals

(01:35:21):
who had that precious Um life of uh think it
language as her her first language, and the challenges that
she faced, and I would venture to say that it
was her knowledge of the language and her persistence that
Um carried her forward. She didn't begin to Um talk

(01:35:43):
more fully about her experiences until Um I was studying
the language, and this was over twenty years ago, and
slowly that door opened um towards some healing, Um, Um
and Um, to the point that also she was stepping
into classrooms and teaching the healing that she experienced. Most signignificantly,

(01:36:09):
I bared witness too, and it came from a ten
year old girl who was listening to her telling a
story and her life story at a camp, a culture camp,
and this little girl went to her and said, I
apologize for my people, for what happened to you, and

(01:36:29):
she gave my mother a hug and my mother gave
her a bear hug back. From that moment on Um,
after her tears, that's when she her her mind shifted
to how how, um she could embrace a different view
of languages. Today. What I heard from the sustaemed panel

(01:36:53):
is that more, more than just the words in the vocabulary,
is that your work is capturing Um, the intelligence, the grace,
the humor, the relationship and kinships, community and belonging. You're
capturing the historical record of our people. You're capturing our

(01:37:13):
geographic significance, the resources that are our ancestors had stewardship
over and, importantly, you're capturing heart and growth and healing.
And for that I can't help but um be indebted

(01:37:34):
to each of you for what you're bringing forward, Um
as precious knowledge to share with others so generously. That
future does have a it sounds like a future of technology,
UM and innovation and Um phone. I think the kickout
that you experienced this morning was raven playing with you

(01:37:55):
after telling his story. So I just want to say
Um and Chee. How doing some newsome and Aloha, Um
for our our dear people and and please keep up
the UH this most important work, and know that there
are so many cheering you on and and in awe

(01:38:17):
of each of you. So with that I will close
and gonna Chege for the opportunity to to speak you,
Yat Tahaway. Okay, Tis to cut you on Itati, thanks

(01:38:44):
for checking US out, folks. That is how this one's
gonna wrap. Hundred minutes of PODCASTS. It is late in
the night and I am ready for bed. This has
been the tongue unbroken, produced by Daniel Goodman and Nay
Lance twitch. Oh check our other podcasts, with the next
up initiative, black FAM beauty translated, partition, gonna Chige Anna, Hostie,

(01:39:10):
Joel Mo, Nique, Yr sentia MEDA. Okay, see you next time.