2013 Courses
Taking Language Home: Ensuring the Survival and Maintenance of Indigenous Languages Beyond the Classroom
Dates: June 3-28, 2013
We are pleased to announce the following courses that will be offered for AILDI 2013. Typically students enroll in two courses. For registration information click here.
Where Are Your Keys? LRC 495/595
Instructor: Evan Gardner (Professor of Record Ofelia Zepeda)
Afternoon course:1:00-4:30
“Where Are Your Keys?” (WAYK) is a language learning methodology that emphasizes game play using a variety of techniques designed to aid the learner and teacher in effectively and easily exchanging information in the target language. The techniques are simple, bite-size, easy to learn, easy to teach, easy to apply and universally applicable. The techniques are the tools that both student and teacher use to become proficient in basic conversational dialogue that serves as a platform to expand their language ability into more advanced levels. This course will train each participant to develop a core group of teacher trainers who will create language learning opportunities at community language nights, community gatherings and at home settings. Specific methods for community development as well as technique and expertise sharing will be explored in depth and “in action”. Target language curriculum will be developed by each participant and shared with each other providing real world method experience and constructive feedback in a quality, safe and supportive environment.
WAYK AILDI promo from MeewaCinema on Vimeo.
Community Language Archiving LING 421/521
Instructor: Shannon Bishoff, University of Indiana, Ft.Wayne
Morning course: 8:00-11:30
In this introductory course students will develop an understanding of best practices as they apply to creating and maintaining language archives with an emphasis on digital archiving and accessibility. The course includes an introduction to best practices, how to decided what to archive, how to create digital resources, and basic web design to facilitate access to resources in a digital archive. At the end of the course students will have a basic understanding of archival development and an understanding of the resources available to develop a language archive. Students enrolled in this course will be required to bring their own laptop.
Creating Linguistic Products for Native American Languages LING 497B/597B
Instructor: Colleen Fitzgerald, University of Texas, Arlington
Afternoon course:1:00-4:30
Talking dictionaries, teaching grammars, bilingual stories with audio in your language, 501 Verbs of your languages: these are some of the ways you can deploy linguistically-driven projects into your language program. As part of the course, all participants will identify the linguistic and related cultural resources for their languages as well as learn some of the software and stimuli tools out there to assist you in developing such projects. In particular, we will spend time learning a free dictionary-making software (FLEX-Fieldworks Language Explorer) that a number of tribes have used to create online dictionaries with audio and pictures or to create text collections of their stories in bilingual format. We will also look at some of the ways these projects can be creatively deployed, such as in a 'word of the day' format, social media, learning or teaching grammars. Additionally, we will consider how tools for documenting your language can be done in a way to promote language revitalization, for example, as a way to collect language patterns from an elder or as a prop to organize a Master-Apprentice session. Each participant will try out each of these different product possibilities for their own language as in-class assignments, as well as choose one to create a product of their choice for their language by the end of the class. Participants will complete a microteaching lesson, ideally centered around the the same topic. Ultimately, the goal of this course is for you to find a way to draw from linguistics in a way that is useful for your language and its revitalization.
TECHNOLOGY NOTE: Courtesy of UT Arlington's Native American Languages Lab, instructor can provide a limited number of Dell laptops which can be checked out to students enrolled in this course. Ideally those bringing their own laptops should make sure Audacity and FLEx software are installed prior to the first day of class.
Teaching Indigenous Language Through Traditional Ecological Knowledge AIS 431A/531A
Instructor: Teresa Newberry, Tohono O'odham Community College
Combination morning and afternoon course 8:00 - 11:30 am lecture; 1:00 - 3:00 pm practicum
Indigenous ways of knowing related to the natural world is embedded in language and has informed traditional practices of Indigenous peoples. This course will explore the potential of using Indigenous language to fully understand and document knowledge about plants, the environment and other Indigenous lifeways. The course will also provide tools to create TEK language based curriculum and will feature examples of model projects. The class will participate in the Tohono O'odham saguaro harvest and will meet at other appropriate field research sites. The course will also feature several modules that will focus on Native languages and its use related to earth sciences, botany, traditional agricultural practices and astronomy. The modules will feature guest lecturers including Amadeo Rea, Ornithologist and Ethnobiologist; Jim Enote, A:shiwi A:wan Museum and Heritage Center (Zuni) and others.
Required textbooks:
Title: Look to the Mountain
Author: Greg Cajete
Topics in Native American Linguistics ANTH 489/589
Instructor: Luis Barragan, Ph.D Candidate, University of Arizona; Assistant Curator, Huhugam Heritage Center
Morning course: 8:00-11:30
Have you ever looked through a grammar or dictionary written about your language only to become disappointed because the information was written in a way to seem totally incomprehensible? This course will set out to demystify the terminology and organization of grammatical works through the study of morphology. Morphology is the study of the internal structure of words and word formation. In this course students will learn about the major word formation processes (affixation, compunding, reduplication, suppletion), the building blocks for different word categories (nouns, verbs, adjectives) and the types of meanings contained in the pieces that form words in their language. Students will be encouraged to work with published and manuscript descriptions of their heritage language(s) and the course will be tailored to provide an understanding of how to better utilize those materials for language learning and language teaching. This course is intended to complement the introductory Linguistics for Native American Communities course that has been offered by AILDI but it is not required that students have completed that class to enroll in this course.
Language Immersion and Acquisition in the Home and the Community LING 445A/545A
Instructor: Jennie DeGroat, Senior Lecturer, Northern Arizona University
Morning course: 8:00-11:30
This course provides models and strategies for applying language immersion in the home and the community. The course will focus on how to plan home based lessons inlcuding how to prepare for teaching language to babies. Strategies for exposing babies to the language and the role of parents,families, tribal culture and the community will also be discussed. The process of first language acquisition in relation to second language acquisition for children and adults learning their Native language as a second language will also be covered.
Required textbooks:
Title: Beyond Baby Talk
Author: Kenn Apel
Title: Growing up with Language
Author: Naomi Baron
Developing Curriculum Materials LRC 428/528 CANCELLED
Instructor: Lucille Watahomigie, Education Director Hualapai Tribe
Afternoon course: 1:00-4:30
Revitalizing Spiritual Traditions ANTH/LING 476/576
Instructor: Phil Cash Cash, Ph.D Candidate, University of Arizona
Afternoon course: 1:00-4:30
Has your community ever attempted to revive a lost spiritual tradition? Such unique challenges are not at all uncommon in today's contemporary life times. This course introduces indigenous spiritual traditions with a key emphasis on language revitalization in contemporary endangered language communities. The course will examine the cultural and linguistic characteristics of indigenous spiritual traditions and how they are intimately linked to community concerns and trends in contemporary language revitalization. Throughout the course, we will address questions on how indigenous peoples constructed, maintained, changed, retrieved and adapted their spiritual lifeways so as to shed light on the instrumental role of language in human spirituality. Participants will draw from the presented materials and classroom dialogues and apply their unique insights to current challenges on incorporating indigenous spirituality and beliefs into language revitalization contexts. The course is intended to combine theoretical, pedagogical, and community-based advocacy concerns that can potentially lead to greater positive outcomes in language revitalization.
