Native Language – Esther Martinez Immersion (EMI)

Alaska Region

Alaska

Grantee: Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska

Project Description: The goal of the project is to increase Tlingit language use and sustainability by increasing proficiency in youth ages 3-5 through the establishment and operation of a Tlingit language nest. Language sustainability will be through the development of family support, as well as, teacher training and certification.

Location: Juneau, AK

Juneau, AK ANA T/TA Region: Alaska

Alaska Program Area: Native Languages Esther Martinez Immersion

Native Languages Esther Martinez Immersion Project Period : 7/1/2018 - 6/31/2020

: 7/1/2018 - 6/31/2020 FY 2019 Award: $278,482

Grantee: Chickaloon Native Village

Project Description: The Chickaloon Native Village Tribal Citizens, Ya Ne Dah Ah Tribal Students, Chickaloon Village Traditional Council and staff members will preserve and increase fluency of the imperiled Ahtna Athabascan language through the development and immersion implementation of Advanced Ahtna language curriculum and Ahtna proficiency guidelines and assessment standards. This will be done through certification of beginning-to-intermediate staff and student Ahtna language teachers.

Location: Sutton, AK

Sutton, AK ANA T/TA Region: Alaska

Alaska Program Area: Native Languages Esther Martinez Immersion

Native Languages Esther Martinez Immersion Project Period: 7/1/2018 - 6/31/2021

7/1/2018 - 6/31/2021 FY 2019 Award: $299,675

Grantee: Clare Swan Early Learning Center

Project Description: The goal of this project is to build community capacity to support Alaska Native Children's health and empowerment. This will be accomplished through enhanced access to opportunities to learn and speak the Yup'ik language that are embedded in Early Head Start and Head Start organizations serving Alaska Native families in Anchorage, AK. Currently, there are no formal mechanisms that exist to support alignment of services across this sequence of immersion programs, including student recruitment, student transitions, coordination of instructional support materials, and coordination of family outreach. There are also no Yup’ik (Yugtun) language instructional support materials designed to foster continuity across the full early childhood development sequence (birth through age 7). This project will enroll 84 children, ages 0-5, who will receive 500 hours of language instruction through high quality early childcare and education. Adult language learning aids, summer learning bags and an instructional enhancement kit will be developed and distributed to site-based Yup’ik immersion classrooms to support Yup’ik (Yugtun) Language learning of children. Clare Swan Early Learning Center will also provide the enrolled children with at least one opportunity to participate in a school transition activity and opportunities to attend a Yup’ik (Yugtun) Immersion Community event with their families/caregivers.

Location: Alaska

Alaska ANA T/TA Region: Anchorage, Alaska

Anchorage, Alaska Program Area: Native Language – Esther Martinez Immersion

Native Language – Esther Martinez Immersion Project Period: 7/1/2019 - 6/30/2022

7/1/2019 - 6/30/2022 FY 2019 Award: $300,000

Grantee: Yakutat Tlingit Tribe

Project Description: Yakutat has not produced one first-language Lingit speaker in the last seven decades and are facing a rapid loss of language and culture with only one fluent speaker remaining in the community. The Yakutat Tglingit Tribe (YTT) will be increasing language proficiency of 10-15 students and the intermediate adults who will serve as Language Nest Teachers. They will also be producing a Teacher Workbook, which will include all curriculum and teacher resources developed by the YTT over the last 15 years. Two Language teachers will be completing the requirements towards the Child Development Associate (CDA) Degree.

Location: Yakutat, Alaska

Yakutat, Alaska ANA T/TA Region: Alaska

Alaska Program Area: Native Languages Esther Martinez Immersion

Native Languages Esther Martinez Immersion Project Period: 8/1/2017 – 7/31/2020

8/1/2017 – 7/31/2020 FY 2019 Award: $299,768

Eastern Region

Massachusetts

Grantee: Wopanaak Language and Cultural Weetyoo, Inc.

Project Description: The Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project is comprised of the four communities in the Wampanoag Nation. After having no speakers for generations, this project will provide Mukayuhsak Weekuw language nest students with more than 500 hour of Wôpanâak instruction at a new Grade 2 - Grade 4 language survival school, called the Weetumuw School. This school seeks to foster academic growth in social studies, history, science, math, health, gym, art, and Wôpanâak literacy as well as social-emotional wellness so children will continue to retain and expand Wôpanâak language fluency through culture-based education. WLRP uses a modified (“Wôpified”) Montessori Method called Wôpessori. The school’s objectives include training teachers, setting up classrooms, and establishing and implementing a Mukayuhsak Weekuw Wellness Plan to address student social-emotional development and learning.

Location: Mashpee

Mashpee ANA T/TA Region: Eastern

Eastern Program Area: Native Languages Esther Martinez Immersion

Native Languages Esther Martinez Immersion Project Period: 7/1/2019 - 6/30/2022

7/1/2019 - 6/30/2022 FY 2019 Award: $299,519

Minnesota

Grantee: Bdote Learning Center

Project Description: The Dakota and Ojibwe languages are threatened in Minnesota and the lack of immersion programs in these languages for 5th and 8th grade youth, when language skills solidify, exacerbates this issue; the Kaota and Ojibwe Middle School Immersion Curriculum project will address this problem through three strategic objectives. The project goal is to increase Ojibwe and Dakota language acquisition and fluency among Minneapolis American Indian children by building a 5th through 8th grade middle school immersion curriculum so that elementary immersion students can transition into middle school. Operating as a language survival school, the project will develop, pilot, test, and implement a 3.5 hours/day 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade integrated immersion curriculum. The project will implement 595 hours of language immersion per year to 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. Additionally, the project aims to develop or translate 50 books in Dakota and 50 books in Ojibwe.

Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota

Minneapolis, Minnesota ANA T/TA Region: Eastern

Eastern Program Area: Native Languages Esther Martinez Immersion

Native Languages Esther Martinez Immersion Project Period: 08/01/2017 – 07/31/2020

08/01/2017 – 07/31/2020 FY 2019 Award: $241,255

Grantee: Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians

Project Description: The Red Lake Ojibwe Teaching Bundles Project will create an Ojibwe Language curriculum based on the traditional seasonal lifeway of the Ojibwe people, specifically tied to Red Lake's culture, tradition, dialect, community, geography, and history. Twelve bundles will be created for each season (Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring), where they will be used to teach 60 children ages 3 and 4 years old at the Waasabiik Ojibwemotaadiwin Immersion Language Nest located at Red Lake Tribal College’s childcare wing and available for parents, guardians, and family members. Each bundle will include: illustrated word lists and coloring pages; physical samples such as bark, rice, shells, rocks; recipes; games; storyboards showing seasonal activities; materials and instructions for family activities; conversation exercises; and videos of seasonal activities and events with conversation and voice over in Ojibwemoowin.

Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota

Minneapolis, Minnesota ANA T/TA Region: Eastern

Eastern Program Area: Native Languages Esther Martinez Immersion

Native Languages Esther Martinez Immersion Project Period: 7/1/2019 - 6/30/2022

7/1/2019 - 6/30/2022 FY 2019 Award: $300,000

South Dakota

Grantee: Lakhotiyapi Okahtan Wichiochage, Inc.

Project Description: This project goal is to revive Lakota language use by creating an immersion school for kindergarten through second grade students in Eagle Butte, SD. The project includes adaptation of curricula used by several community partners, and development of assessment tools for each lesson. LOWI will target 60 children within the 3 year project period.

Location: Eagle Butte, SD

Eagle Butte, SD ANA T/TA Region: Eastern

Eastern Program Area: Native Languages Esther Martinez Immersion

Native Languages Esther Martinez Immersion Project Period: 7/1/2018 – 06/30/2021

7/1/2018 – 06/30/2021 FY 2019 Award: $299,605

Grantee: Thunder Valley CDC

Project Description: The Iyapi Glukinipi Owaya (IGO) 2021’s project goal is to, “Revive common use of the Lakota language and infuse it in all aspects of planning for the future” through the development and implementation of a high-quality Lakota immersion education program at the Red Cloud Indian School, serving children from K thru 4th grade to become fluent Lakota speakers at age and grade appropriate levels while being prepared for the next level of education.

Location: Porcupine, SD

Porcupine, SD ANA T/TA Region: Eastern

Eastern Program Area: Native Languages Esther Martinez Immersion

Native Languages Esther Martinez Immersion Project Period: 7/1/2018 – 06/30/2021

7/1/2018 – 06/30/2021 FY 2019 Award: $282,775

Wisconsin

Grantee: Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin

Project Description: The project goal is to expand language and community involvement in the Menominee language. The project highlights three objectives, including training 18 new Early Childhood language teachers, creating a virtual reality language experience for community members, and developing three language nest classrooms serving a total of 18 birth to five year old children.

Location: Keshena, WI

Keshena, WI ANA T/TA Region: Eastern

Eastern Program Area: Native Languages Esther Martinez Immersion

Native Languages Esther Martinez Immersion Project Period: 7/1/2018 – 06/30/2021

7/1/2018 – 06/30/2021 FY 2019 Award: $204,823

Pacific Region

Hawaii

Grantee: Kai Loa, Inc.

Project Description: The Kamakau Association for Increasing Lifelong Opportunities for Advancement (KAI LOA) seeks to increase the Hawaiian language proficiency of instructional staff at Ke Kula ‘o Samuel M. Kamakau, a PreK-12 Hawaiian language medium laboratory public charter school, by implementing The HOOKIPAPA project. The focus will be on building capacity for language immersion instruction for two administrators and three instructional staff in order to measure the oral proficiency of Kamakau students, increase faculty Hawaiian language proficiency, and develop six Hawaiian language learning resources for staff, parents, and students. Ke Kula ‘o Samuel M. Kamakau currently serves 158 students and 96 families.

Location: O’ahu, Hawaii

O’ahu, Hawaii ANA T/TA Region: Pacific

Pacific Program Area: Native Language Esther Martinez Immersion

Native Language Esther Martinez Immersion Project Period: 7/1/2019 - 6/30/2022

7/1/2019 - 6/30/2022 FY 2019 Award: $298,433

Western Region

Arizona

Grantee: Hualapai Indian Tribe

Project Description: The Hualapai Head Start Language Immersion Program will establish a Language Nest to implement a site-based educational program that provides sustainable language instructional and curricular services to children enrolled in Head Start and their parents or Legal Guardians. The medium of instruction will be the Hualapai language. The project will adapt the historically successful language development materials that were created from a former Hualapai Bilingual Program that existed at the elementary school on the reservation. In the first year of the project, an immersion language instructional curriculum for the Head Start Program will be developed and trial immersion instruction. By the end of the 2nd and 3rd years of the project, 57 Head Start children ages 3-5 will receive 512 hours annually of immersion instruction. Additionally, the project will provide 20 language trainings to 30 Head Start parents, and form a Language Parent Advisory Committee. This immersion program will assist in reaching community members’ long-term community goal of using the Hualapai language as a means of conversing.

Location: Peach Springs, Arizona

Peach Springs, Arizona ANA T/TA Region: Western

Western Program Area: Native Languages Esther Martinez Immersion

Native Languages Esther Martinez Immersion Project Period: 7/1/2019 - 6/30/2022

7/1/2019 - 6/30/2022 FY 2019 Award: $219,823

Montana

Grantee: Fort Belknap Community Economic Development Corporation

Project Description: Fort Belknap Community Economic Development Corporation's project will strive to improve indigenous language capability among Nakoda and Aaniiih children through the development of a language nest for Pre-k and Kindergarten students. This nest will be within Fort Belknap Community Economic Development Corporation’s Aaniiih Nakoda Community Child and Education Center and serve as a hub for the regeneration of the Nakoda and Aaniiih languages within the Ft. Belknap Indian Community. Project objectives include increasing the number of trained and certified language teachers; providing a minimum of 500 hours of language immersion instruction to 75 children; and providing resources to enhance intergenerational learning and exchange as a means to fulfill the community’s long-term vision of preserving and protecting the languages for future generations of Aaniiih and Nakoda.

Location: Minnesota

Minnesota ANA T/TA Region: Eastern

Eastern Program Area: Native Languages Esther Martinez Immersion

Native Languages Esther Martinez Immersion Project Period: 7/1/2019 - 6/30/2022

7/1/2019 - 6/30/2022 FY 2019 Award: $273,473

Grantee: Little Big Horn College

Project Description: Little Big Horn College proposes a three-year project to develop a Native Language immersion school (language nest) where students, ages kindergarten through second grade, will receive age-appropriate learning instruction while fully immersed in the Crow language. The school will enroll a cohort of 20 kindergarten aged students each year of the project. At the same time, they will be developing curricula and training teachers to offer the subsequent grade level for the first and second cohort during years two and three of the project. In addition, the project will target the parents and families of enrolled students by providing learning opportunities to reinforce language learning in the home.

Location: Crow Agency, Montana

Crow Agency, Montana ANA T/TA Region: Western

Western Program Area: Native Languages Esther Martinez Immersion

Native Languages Esther Martinez Immersion Project Period: 08/01/2017 – 07/31/2020

08/01/2017 – 07/31/2020 FY 2019 Award: $298,861

New Mexico

Grantee: Keres Children's Learning Center

Project Description: This project's goal is to strengthen the community's daily use of Keres across historical, traditional, contemporary, household, and formal contexts and stimulate cross-generational Keres fluency. The project's first Objective aims to develop a Mentor-Apprentice immersion program for parents of students at the existing Language Nest. The second Objective is to open a Mobile Outdoor Immersion Classroom and develop an accompanying curriculum using traditional outdoor activities.

Location: Cochiti Pueblo, NM

Cochiti Pueblo, NM ANA T/TA Region: Western

Western Program Area: Native Languages Esther Martinez Immersion

Native Languages Esther Martinez Immersion Project Period: 07/01/2018 – 06/30/2021

07/01/2018 – 06/30/2021 FY 2019 Award: $297,623

Washington

Grantee: Kalispel Community of the Kalispel Reservation

Project Description: Kalispel Language Survival School Expansion will expand K-2 Kalispel Survival School to include grades 3-5 on the Kalispel Indian Reservation in order to provide a continuous immersion experience for Kalispel children and allow the acquisition of language fluency by age 11. This project will provide at least 500 hours of Kalispel language to 15 students who will attend Kalispel Survival School for primary level education. The project will also seek to establish a 501 (c) 3 non-profit to establish a Native language coalition between the Kalispel and Salish peoples in Washington and Montana.

Location: Cusick, WA

Cusick, WA ANA T/TA Region: Western

Western Program Area: Native Languages Esther Martinez Immersion

Native Languages Esther Martinez Immersion Project Period: 7/1/2018 - 6/30/2021

7/1/2018 - 6/30/2021 FY 2019 Award: $299,989

Grantee: Salish School of Spokane

Project Description: The goal of the project is to increase the Salish School Survival School Program at the Salish School of Spokane by providing high quality immersion education for 15 6th through 8th-grade students. The current language immersion program is offered from pre-school to 5th grade with a student body consisting of 45 pupils. Each student will receive over 1000 hours of language instruction every year focusing on subjects like Salish literacy and math. The project will also provide Salish language training for students’ parents, thereby increasing intergenerational use and transmission of Salish language and culture.

Location: Spokane, WA

Spokane, WA ANA T/TA Region: Western

Western Program Area: Native Languages Esther Martinez Immersion

Native Languages Esther Martinez Immersion Project Period: 7/1/2019 - 6/30/2022

7/1/2019 - 6/30/2022 FY 2019 Award: $300,000

Grantee: Spokane Tribe of Indians

Project Description: The Spokane Language Survival School will continue their language journey by growing the Back to the Heart Language Nest School to include a Language Survival Immersion School giving each student over 500 hours of language instruction per year. This expansion aims to increase the fluency level and cultural knowledge of six language teachers and 26 students of the Spokane Language; develop an Indigenous comprehensive Math, Reading, and Science curriculum for students aged 7-10; and create traditional story books, language/culture units that will be accessible on the language/culture website and social media pages.