{"id":16206,"date":"2017-04-06T23:10:52","date_gmt":"2017-04-06T23:10:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/testv45.demowebsitelinks.com\/ColleenKeane\/?p=16206"},"modified":"2023-09-15T00:23:32","modified_gmt":"2023-09-15T00:23:32","slug":"dine-language-gathering-calls-for-nationwide-effort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/testv45.demowebsitelinks.com\/ColleenKeane\/2017\/04\/06\/dine-language-gathering-calls-for-nationwide-effort\/","title":{"rendered":"Din\u00e9 language gathering calls for nationwide effort"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY COLLEEN KEANE<\/strong>
\nSPECIAL TO THE TIMES<\/p>\n

ALBUQUERQUE<\/strong> \u2014 When Jennifer Wheeler was a little girl growing up in Many Farms, Arizona, she spoke only Navajo at home.<\/p>\n

When she stepped on the school bus, she focused on speaking English until she was dropped off back home at the end of the school day.<\/p>\n

She said she was following her grandmother\u2019s advice.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpeaking the Navajo language she told me in her most gentle way, \u2018When you step foot on that bus, you can switch your thought and speech to English. You can speak English all you want at school. And that\u2019s great. I encourage that. But, when you come home and get off that bus, switch back to Navajo,\u201d\u2019 said Wheeler.<\/p>\n

Growing up, Wheeler often sat next to her grandmother, Elizabeth Wauneka, as she read Bible verses in Navajo. At the time, it was the only book avail- able in the Din\u00e9 language.<\/p>\n

Wheeler said that her grandmother learned how to read and write her native language in the 1900s while attending Good Shepherd Mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy the time we came along as grandchildren, she read Navajo proficiently. I was the only one interested. So, she started teaching me how to spell words and identify high-tone, nasal, and glottal sounds,\u201d recalled Wheeler.<\/p>\n

With that foundation, Wheeler said her grandmother encouraged her even more, saying, \u201c\u2018You already speak Navajo, learn English the best that you can and utilize both of them, value both of them. In the future those two languages will sustain you.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a child in mid-school in the middle of the reservation, I had no clue what she meant by that,\u201d said Wheeler.<\/p>\n

But, as time went by, her grandmother\u2019s wisdom served her well.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy ability to be literate in the Navajo language allowed me to be a better speaker, writer, and reader of the English language,\u201d said Wheeler.<\/p>\n

Wheeler is the Navajo language and culture education specialist for the Navajo District of the Bureau of Indian Education. She holds a doctorate in English.<\/p>\n

Wheeler shared her story to stress to parents that teaching the Navajo language at home is as important today as it was when she was growing up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really wish that my people would understand that learning Navajo will not negatively impact their children\u2019s academic success in the Western world,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

As Wheeler shared her memories, numerous Din\u00e9 language teachers listened closely at the first large-scale Din\u00e9 Language Symposium hosted by the BIE\u2019s Navajo District.<\/p>\n

The gathering was held last Friday at the Embassy Suites.<\/p>\n

More than 150 teachers, staff and administrators from BIE, public and tribally-controlled schools attended, along with partners from tribal and state universities.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook at all these teachers!\u201d said Wheeler referring to their bi-literacy and professional status.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe prove that growing up knowing our language gives many opportunities,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

In addition to organizing the symposium, Wheeler implemented the first Din\u00e9 language assessment at all 31 BIE schools in the Navajo District last fall.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe proficiency in general among the Navajo District is very low,\u201d said Wheeler.<\/p>\n

Preliminary results reveal that about 95 percent of the students lack fluency in the Navajo language.<\/p>\n

But, Wheeler added, while the statistics are alarming, the data can help mobilize language revitalization.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can use the current data to really motivate us to continue teaching Navajo,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Barsine Barney Benally, a Din\u00e9 College professor, said that historical data helps students in the Din\u00e9 Teacher Education program engage in teaching and learning.<\/p>\n

In her session, she said that students are required to create a color-coded historical time- line of language loss in their families.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have to go back and determine why their family members lost Navajo,\u201d Barney told the group of Din\u00e9 language teachers in her session.<\/p>\n

The different colors in a sample timeline represent various levels of fluency: red, no fluency; green, fluency; pink, relearning; purple, trilingual, to name some.<\/p>\n

Benally said the activity helps students engage in learning and teaching the Din\u00e9 language because it provides an understanding of language loss that she said was often caused by boarding school placements, isolation and trauma.<\/p>\n

The symposium explored numerous other classroom strategies: learning the Din\u00e9 language through song; how to engage families in school culture, curriculum development, immersion techniques; acquisition of rich verb forms, mathematical model drawing; and major movies dubbed in the Din\u00e9 language made possible through support from the Navajo Nation Museum.<\/p>\n

But, Wheeler said, the effort to revitalize the Din\u00e9 language needs to expand past the class- rooms to halls, playgrounds, neighborhoods, bus rides and homes, as well as to academic standards, policies and laws.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really need to roll up our sleeves and save our language,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The Department of Din\u00e9 Education, the Bureau of Indian Education, several tribal colleges, school districts, community schools, and the Navajo Nation Museum provided support for the symposium.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis wouldn\u2019t have happened without them,\u201d said Wheeler.<\/p>\n

Wheeler said that wide collaboration is needed in order for change to take place.<\/p>\n

She said that state laws require teachers to spend most of their day instructing the common core \u2013 math, English, and science \u2013 which leaves little time for Navajo language teaching and learning.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a challenge. Students need Navajo language classes every day. Every Navajo child deserves the right to learn their language,\u201d said Wheeler.<\/p>\n

Offering more collaborative experiences, Din\u00e9 College is hosting the 2017 Din\u00e9 Language and Culture Revitalization Summit May 22-24, 2017, in Tsaile, Arizona.<\/p>\n

For more information, con- tact the BIE Navajo District at 928-871-5932 or visit navajolan- guagesummit.com<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

From left to right, Din\u00e9 language educators Dawna Charley, Indian Wells Elementary School; Barsine Barney Benally, Din\u00e9 College; Kimberly Becen- ti, Navajo Prep; Maggie Benally, DODE; Jennifer Wheeler, BIE; and Edie Morris, Wingate Elementary, stand in unity during the first BIE Din\u00e9 language symposium.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY COLLEEN KEANE SPECIAL TO THE TIMES ALBUQUERQUE \u2014 When Jennifer Wheeler was a little girl growing up in Many<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16207,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[88],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/testv45.demowebsitelinks.com\/ColleenKeane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/testv45.demowebsitelinks.com\/ColleenKeane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/testv45.demowebsitelinks.com\/ColleenKeane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testv45.demowebsitelinks.com\/ColleenKeane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testv45.demowebsitelinks.com\/ColleenKeane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16206"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/testv45.demowebsitelinks.com\/ColleenKeane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16227,"href":"https:\/\/testv45.demowebsitelinks.com\/ColleenKeane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16206\/revisions\/16227"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testv45.demowebsitelinks.com\/ColleenKeane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/testv45.demowebsitelinks.com\/ColleenKeane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testv45.demowebsitelinks.com\/ColleenKeane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testv45.demowebsitelinks.com\/ColleenKeane\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}