Emily Nanaeto, Christian Wright and 14 of their Stroud High School classmates begin their school day talking about everyday things — not in English, but in Sauk, the language once native to the Sac and Fox tribe.

The introductory Sauk class is being taught this semester at Stroud and Shawnee high schools in cooperation with the Sac and Fox Nation's Sauk Language Department.

The class is offered at Stroud High School for the first time this year and will continue in the spring semester, said Terrie Kinsey, Sauk Language Department coordinator for the Sac and Fox Nation. The class was launched last year at Shawnee High School.

Oklahoma's American Indian tribes and the state Education Department are striving to keep native languages from becoming extinct.