ANA Messenger - Winter 2017
ANA Messenger - Winter 2017 January 23, 2017
Language and Culture Edition
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Grantee Highlights
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Past Grantee Highlight |
HHS Tribal Affairs
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Talking Stick
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What We are Reading Now |
Getting to Know Us
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Grantee Highlight: Rural America Initiatives
Organization: Rural America Initiatives How did your project come about – how was it determined? Our Board of directors has made teaching language and culture a goal in our long-range plan. If we are to survive as a people and as a culture, we must revitalize our language. We attempt to integrate language and culture into all our projects. In 2014, we conducted a language survey to find out how quickly we were losing our Lakota Language. Some of our findings are that 37% of our elders 50 years and older are still fluent, but only 1.5% of our children under age 18 are fluent. On average, only 6.2% of our people under age 39 are fluent. The rate of loss of our language is estimated at 3% per year. This means that our elders are not teaching their grandchildren how to speak Lakota. We are only two generations from losing our language entirely. Who was instrumental in the development of the project? Our Ateyapi (Fatherhood) mentors were most involved because they work directly with the students and regularly observe the behavior of our students. Our students are hungry for identity. They come back and become involved with the program because they lack stable adult relationships at home. Most of our staff are sundancers and pipe carriers. They have learned the values by actively participating in the ceremonies. Also they are partially fluent in language and would like to become fluent. This project helps them help the students as well as themselves. How did you address the “synthesis” of ideas? I did a little reading about a phenomenon called Bryde’s “Crossover Effect”. Back in the early 1970’s there was a psychologist named Dr. Bryde at the University of South Dakota. He observed that Indian students performed above the national mean on standardized tests as elementary school students but “crossed over” when they entered junior high school and scored under the national average on the same standardized tests. He hypothesized that when Indian students started forming their identities as adult Indians, they judged themselves as being less capable than their white peers. Others have since tried to build on his initial studies. In general, increases in one’s identity cannot be linked to increases in achievement. However, increases in self-esteem have been linked to increases in achievement. In this project, we are attempting to measure changes in self- esteem in response to increase in Lakota Language proficiency. If we can empower our students by teaching them Lakota Language, we can help them be successful in school and in life. Of course, mentoring is a complex process, difficult to analyze, but we know it works! Who are the key project staff members? The key staff are the Lakota Language instructor and trainer, and three language trainees. The language instructor, Rhonda Yankton, learned Lakota at home as she was growing up. She uses an established curriculum, developed by the Lakota Language Consortium under a grant from ANA, to teach the three language trainees to teach 450 students. She also teaches weekly language classes to community members and parents. She uses email and texts to provide teaching materials so these adults can teach their families at home. The three language trainees are already partially fluent in Lakota. They grew up in households which spoke Lakota everyday but are just now making it a priority to become fluent. They act as teacher aides in five middle schools during the day and teach language daily after school. They also take upper level language classes at Oglala Lakota College in the evenings and will become certified Lakota Language instructors by the end of the project. One financial manager and project director, with 25 years’ experience, relieves the language staff from having to worry about the business aspects of the project. Where is the project located – what Tribes/service area do you serve? The project is located in Rapid City, South Dakota. We are surrounded by eight Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota reservations. Pine Ridge, Rosebud and Cheyenne River Lakota families make up our primary target group. There are about 2,500 Native American students in our schools and about 19,000 Native American people in our community. We comprise about 25% of our city’s population. What are the main project objectives/goals of your project? A) To utilize an already developed curriculum from the Lakota Language Consortium Incorporated to teach 450 middle-school-aged students one hour of focused immersion per school day to achieve beginners fluency by the end of three years as measured by standardized pre- and post-tests. B) To train 300 parents, 60 staff members and 100 community members to teach Lakota language at home using a developed curriculum to achieve beginners fluency by the end of three years as measured by standardized pre- and post-tests. We have contracted with a professional evaluator to document our outcomes. How has your project benefited the community overall? Attendance at our weekly community language classes is regularly at 100 or more. There is an excitement among parents to learn what their children are learning. Families are attending as a group. There is an attitude which is positive toward learning and reviving the language. In year one, we have taught 150 6th, 7th, and 8th graders books 1 and 2 of the curriculum. We have policemen, health care workers, social workers, and teachers coming to learn some language and culture to better relate to their target groups. Our Native American student drop-out rate has been reduced from 63% in 2010 to 33% in 2016. This is the lowest that our drop-out rate has ever been. We have three mentoring programs which cover grades 4th through 12th. This project takes partial credit for the drop-out changes. What are the future plans to continue your efforts? We will seek both federal and private funding to continue this project. We do get some local support but it is not enough to continue a full project. Even without funding, our four certified language instructors can teach for our local schools. They can in turn teach others to teach the language. We have hired an evaluator to document the effect or impact of our language project. Documenting positive results can help to find future funders. What advice would you offer to someone planning or implementing a project similar to yours? For others starting similar projects, I would advise them to identify proven curricula so they do not have to start from scratch. Creating a curriculum is a separate project. Teaching the curriculum is the way to preserve the language. A language has to be active and alive to be passed on to succeeding generations. That means that students should learn by doing, by speaking and by teaching others. Partnering with your local schools gives you access to large numbers of kids. Trying to recruit students to a new project may take a year or two and if you only have three years funding, you may not have enough time to complete your project. Also identify other programs or agencies with whom you can collaborate. Shared resources may last longer and reach more participants.
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Grantee Highlight: Para I Probechu'n I Taotao-ta, Inc
Organization: Para I Probechu’n I Taotao-ta, Inc. (Guam)
“Through the art of Kantan Chamorrita and the intergenerational interactions of Elders and the Fafanague (group leaders) of Gumas (dance houses) – Chamorro cultural practitioners 30 years and below will be able to improve their ability to speak Chamorro language.”
What are the future plans to continue your efforts? |
Grantee Highlight: Yurok Tribe
Yurok Tribe
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Grantee Highlight
Chief Dull Knife College
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Talking Stick
Affordable Care Act Information for American Indian and Alaska Natives: Why You Should Take Action!
I want to tell you how the Affordable Care Act has helped my sister Cheri. Just before her birthday in September 2015, my sister found out she has lung cancer. The odds for beating her cancer are not good, but getting the right treatment in a timely manner is critical to prolonging her life and giving her a chance at beating the odds. At first she continued her health insurance with COBRA, which allows workers who lose coverage to continue under a group plan for a limited time, but it was expensive, nearly $500 a month, plus the deductibles and co-pays. She was spending thousands of dollars for her care, all while no longer working. But when you are fighting cancer, this can be a bargain!
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Getting To Know Us
Sonya Begay
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Talking Stick
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Talking Stick
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HHS Tribal Affairs
Awareness during Human Trafficking Prevention Month
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HHS Tribal Affairs
Request for Public Comment
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What We Are Reading Now
"More Encounters with Star People: Urban American Indians Tell Their Stories" by Ardy Sixkiller
Native Americans believe in visitors from different planets from within the universe. These stories were previously passed on verbally within the families and not published in any formal manner. The author set about to collect these stories at the request of individuals she met. Those who shared their stories trusted Sixkiller to collect them and knew she would not divulge names or locations in order to keep sightseers from interfering with the visitors. Visitors often conducted their visits at night in private locations and only occasionally interacted with humans. The main message communicated is that the Earth has received many visitors throughout time, and we are being monitored to assess our ability to take care of the planet and develop weapons. The visitors do not want to see Earth destroyed by our own doing, such as testing weapons and burying nuclear waste in the ground or waters. They often communicate that the only way to progress is through love and respect for each other. If you are interested in reading stories about UFO's and alien visitors, the books written by Ardy are simple and interesting. They give a good overview of why Indians believe in their existence. The message is clear and I can understand why Indians identify the land as sacred and why we continue to pursue respect for all peoples as the natural way to peace.
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