Indigenous Language Immersion Schools for Strong Indigenous Identities.

This article examines evidence from indigenous language immersion programs in the United States and makes the case that these immersion programs are vital to healing the negative effects of colonialism and assimilationist schooling that have disrupted many indigenous homes and communities. It describes support for immersion programs by American Indian leaders and how these programs are furthering efforts to decolonize indigenous education and helping further United Nations policies supporting the rights of indigenous peoples. The fit between place-, community-, and culture-based education and immersion language programs is described with examples from Apache, Ojibwe, Dine (Navajo), Hawaiian, and Blackfeet language programs illustrating how traditional indigenous values are infused into language programs to help build strong positive identities in indigenous students and their communities.

[1]  Wayne Holm,et al.  Navajo Language Education: Retrospect and Prospects , 1995 .

[2]  Jon Reyhner,et al.  A Description of the Rock Point Community School Bilingual Education Program. , 1989 .

[3]  Craig B. Howley,et al.  Indian Nations at Risk: Listening to the People@@@Indian Nations at Risk: An Educational Strategy for Action , 1994 .

[4]  K. L. Woodward,et al.  A question of life or death. , 2001, Newsweek.

[5]  Evangline Parsons Yazzie.  Missionaries and American Indian Languages. , 2003 .

[6]  M. Stein.  Raising America: Experts, Parents, and a Century of Advice About Children , 2003 .

[7]  M. Fox,et al.  Status And Trends In The Education Of American Indians And Alaska Natives. NCES 2005-108. , 2005 .

[8]  Jerry Lipka,et al.  Transforming the Culture of Schools: Yup'ik Eskimo Examples. Sociocultural, Political, and Historical Studies in Education. , 1998 .

[9]  T. Skutnabb-Kangas,.  Linguistic Genocide in Education--Or Worldwide Diversity and Human Rights? , 2008 .

[10]  J. Bingham,et al.  Between sacred mountains : Navajo stories and lessons from the land , 1986 .

[11]  W. Mankiller.  Every day is a good day : reflections by contemporary indigenous women , 2004 .

[12]  D. J. Hernandez,et al.  From Generation to Generation: The Health and Well-Being of Children in Immigrant Families. , 2000 .

[13]  Wayne Holm,et al.  Rock Point, A Navajo Way to Go to School: A Valediction , 1990 .

[14]  R. Loewe.  The Scalpel and the Silver Bear , 2000 .

[15]  M. C. Coleman.  American Indian Education: A History , 2006 .

[16]  Rosemary C. Henze.  Review article of Jerry Lipka, Gerald Mohatt, and the Ciulistet Group, "Transforming the Culture of Schools: Yup’ik Eskimo Examples" , 2000 .

[17]  Eric Puybaret,et al.  Universal Declaration of Human Rights , 2006 .

[18]  D. Adams.  Education for Extinction: American Indians and the Boarding School Experience, 1875-1928 , 1995 .

[19]  Sandra J. Fox.  Creating a Sacred Place To Support Young American Indian and Other Learners in Grades K-3. Volume I. 2nd Edition [and] Volume II. , 2002 .

[20]  Jerry Lipka,et al.  Transforming the Culture of Schools: Yup¡k Eskimo Examples , 1998 .

[21]  S. P. Breckinridge.  The Problem of Indian Administration , 1928 .

[22]  C. Eastman.  The Soul of the Indian , 2020 .

[23]  R. Nichols.  Education for Extinction: American Indians and the Boarding School Experience, 1875–1928: Adams, David Wallace: Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 393 pp., Publication Date: October 1995 , 1996 .

[24]  J. Reyhner.  Education and language restoration , 2006 .

[25]  Sandra J. Fox.  Creating Sacred Places for Children in Grades 4-6. , 2001 .

[26]  Florian Tom Johnson,et al.  Tséhootsooí Diné Bi'ólta' , 2006 .

[27]  Associates.,et al.  The problem of Indian administration , 1929 .

[28]  M. Babiy,et al.  Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious or Linguistic Minorities , 1996 .

[29]  L. Vinci,et al.  Encouragement, Guidance and Lessons Learned: 21 Years in the Trenches of Indigenous Language Revitalization , 2009 .

[30]  Vine Deloria,et al.  Power and Place: Indian Education in America , 1991 .

[31]  M. Eleanor Nevins,et al.  Learning to Listen: Confronting Two Meanings of Language Loss in the Contemporary White Mountain Apache Speech Community , 2004 .

[32]  Marie Arviso,et al.  Tséhootsooídi Ólta'gi Diné Bizaad Bíhoo'aah , 2001 .

[33]  George E. Tinker,et al.  God Is Red: A Native View of Religion , 1994 .

[34]  B. Johnston.  The Rise and Fall of a Dakota Immersion Pre-school , 2002 .

[35]  A. Hulbert.  Raising America: Experts, Parents, and a Century of Advice About Children , 2003 .

[36]  W. Noyes.  United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization , 1946, International Organization.

[37]  K. Hale,et al.  Book Review: The Green Book of Language Revitalization in Practice , 2001 .