Wonderful news! The Klallam Language Program has received a 3-year grant from the Administration for Native Americans. "The goal of this grant will be to strengthen and broaden our community of Klallam Language speakers by transcribing recorded stories; developing lessons from these stories, and training a middle school Klallam Language teacher," says the Language Program director, Jamie Valadez. "This grant will also create job opportunities for Tribal artists, as the stories will be illustrated and published." The full press release about the grant is on the Elwha Facebook page. our other Washington tribes received Language Preservation and Maintenance Grants from ANA: Samish, Squaxin Island, Makah and Kalispel.
Recently other tribal language programs around the country have also been in the news.
In Michigan a new law allows schools to hire tribal elders as language teachers to help in language preservation.
In Massachusetts, Jessie Little Doe Baird has received a prestigious MacArthur Foundation fellowship for her work in creating the Wôpanâak (Wampanoag) Language Reclamation Project.
In California, a student from Haskell Indian Nations University has created an audio program for teaching Koyoongkawi, the Mechoopda Maidu dialect. The tribe hopes to load the audio on iPods for distribution to members to want to learn the language.
In Alaska, the Native Village of Afognak has been working on a five-year Alutiiq language revitalization project and have created an iPhone, iPad and Blackberry application of audio & videoflash cards toteach the language.
