To identify the most effective teaching strategies for use with Cree-speaking children, 1six student teachers taught lessons in 25 grade one-four classrooms in eight northern Manitoba schools using six strategies organized under four major approaches. Most effective were group problem solving at elementary levels and individual assignments at…

The use of traditional stories in American Indian language programs connects students' reading to their lives and familiarizes learners with the rhythms of the oral language. Puppet performances are one way of connecting reading programs to the Native oral tradition. A high school reading lesson in a first-year Hupa language class uses many…

This paper describes the use of Theatre of the Oppressed (TO), a movement of radical theater and popular education designed for communities sharing common oppression, to help First Nations people return to and stabilize their mother tongues. It suggests that for many First Nations people, relearning their languages involves confronting histories…

Requests from teachers, interested individuals, organizations, and schools brought about the compilation of this general guide designed for teachers and non-educators concerned with Indian students. It is the result of numerous workshops conducted on the campus of Idaho State University. The document presents general information about geographic…

Across the United States, most American Indian children speak English as a first language. This fact allows a unique strategy for teaching an indigenous language as a second language. In all indigenous language programs, formal introduction to linguistics, specifically phonetics and phonology, can provide methods to help children "unlearn" aspects…

Sets forth the five-year development history of Bay Mills Community College's Nishnaabemowin Language Instructors' Institute, which provided a pathway for regaining the Ojibwe or Chippewa language of the Anishnabeg people. Presents an early history of efforts to preserve the language and the development of a three-summer holistic curriculum for…

Many practices in Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) schools were negative, but this paper emphasizes the positive efforts that were made throughout their history, especially in regard to teaching English. The Carlisle Indian School, which opened in 1879, encouraged the use of English through an English language student newspaper and frequently…

Advocates change in the way American Indian languages are taught in schools and by tribal elders, specifically that they should be taught orally in the classroom. Asserts that American Indian languages must be taught in the context of everyday conversation, not as isolated words, and that new words should also be invented in response to the…

To examine the influence of Western perspectives on indigenous language teaching, a two-dimensional framework of approaches to language teaching is presented. A horizontal continuum concerning the nature of language ranges between form and function, and a vertical continuum concerning the nature of language learning ranges between construction and…

This article reviews experimental studies comparing bilingual and English-only reading programs for English language learners. The review method is best-evidence synthesis, which uses a systematic literature search, quantification of outcomes as effect sizes, and extensive discussion of individual studies that meet inclusion standards. A total of…

Discusses the 13 papers in this special issue on American Indian and Alaska Native language education and literacy, the object of which is to critically examine the relationship of pedagogical change to larger sociopolitical and cultural processes affecting native language, bilingual, and bicultural programs. (three references) (MDM)

This resource guide for teachers of elementary Mohawk contains the following elements: (1) an outline of language learning levels, (2) a description of developmental traits of elementary school students, (3) an indication of elementary school curriculum areas that can be taught in Mohawk, and (4) a development of the language component of the…

This teaching grammar is designed to be used with adult students. Although primarily conceived for classroom use, it could be used by students learning on their own. A section on reading and writing Mohawk precedes the twenty lessons, each of which has basically the same format: (1) conversation, (2) introduction to the systematic variations of…

How can teachers make sound pedagogical decisions and advocate for educational policies that best serve the needs of students in today's diverse classrooms? What is the pedagogical value of providing culturally and linguistically diverse students greater access to their own language and cultural orientations? This landmark volume responds to the…

Based on data collected through classroom observations during site visits in February 1977 to project schools in Wisconsin (Freedom, Pulaski, Seymour, and West DePere), this document evaluates a project on Oneida language instruction. The project evolved from an expressed interest by Oneida Tribal members, elementary school children, and…