Before European colonization, there were 14 language families in what would become the State of Oregon, according to National Geographic. Today, that number is down to five.
The trend of language extinction is nation-wide. Ethnologue reports that of the 115 Native languages currently spoken in the U.S., 79 will go extinct within one generation if serious action isn’t taken. One such action is the development of native language immersion programs.
The University of Oregon’s Northwestern Indian Language Institute has partnered with the federal Administration for Native Americans to offer Community Based Language Project Planning, Design and Development, a seminar on native language revitalization, winter term. The seminar will focus on not only language apprehension, but planning and development of future language programs.
Seminar attendees will learn how to develop an effective language-based project based on the needs of the community. The curriculum includes learning how to work with community members to identify long-term goals, creating a project work plan, developing measurable outcomes and determining the level of resources necessary to implement the project. Further, students will learn protocol for working with tribal communities.
The seminar will be co-taught by NILI Director Janne Underriner and ANA regional trainer Dan Van Otten. Up to 20 students will be able to participate in the four-credit Language Teaching department seminar. According to a draft of the syllabus provided by Dr. Van Otten, class time will be split between discussions of elements of community-based planning and activities in project development. Students will be expected to develop a community-based program for their final project. “The most important benefit to the U of O community involves how the knowledge and skills learned by participants could be applied in the work they do after leaving campus,” Van Otten said.
The seminar’s curriculum is based on previous ANA programs with similar missions, seminar planning documents say. But the curriculum has been modified based on input from members of UO’s Native American Student Union, Native faculty and staff of UO and participants in NILI’s Summer Institute, and annual two-week program in June. “What’s different about this is really working with communities to find out what it is they want,” Underriner said of the seminar.
The practice of going beyond Native language learning to project development at UO started in 1997 according to Underriner. At that time, representatives from tribes in Oregon, Washington and Idaho met with UO staff to discuss the needs of the tribes. The tribal representatives stressed the need for not only language training, but language teacher training. According to its website, the NILI was founded in 1997 as a response to that request.
Registration for the seminar is open and will remain so until the first week of classes winter term.
The seminar will be returning to UO summer 2020 as part of NILI’s Summer Institute as either a two-week class or a weekend workshop, according to planning documents.
