Post by blackcrowheart on Mar 18, 2008 11:12:26 GMT -5
Students take up tribal language Harbor Springs High offers class to
help revive Odawa speech and teach tribe's culture, history.
www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080227/SCHOOLS/80227\
0324
<http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080227/SCHOOLS/8022\
70324>
[http://cmsimg.detnews.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=C3&Date=20080227&Ca\
tegory=SCHOOLS&ArtNo=802270324&Ref=ARQ=100&MaxW=290&MaxH=290]
<http://cmsimg.detnews.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=C3&Date=20080227&Ca\
tegory=SCHOOLS&ArtNo=802270324&Ref=AR>
<http://cmsimg.detnews.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=C3&Date=20080227&Ca\
tegory=SCHOOLS&ArtNo=802270324&Ref=AR>
Cheyenne Worthington, writing in Anishinaabemowin, says she's taking the
course at Harbor Springs High to learn more about her heritage.
(Christina Rohn / Associated Press)
HARBOR SPRINGS -- A groundbreaking new course is being offered at Harbor
Springs High School -- Anishinaabemowin, the native language of Odawa
Indians.
The class, a collaboration between the Little Traverse Bay Bands of
Odawa Indians and Harbor Springs Public Schools, began last September.
No other public school system in the state is offering an American
Indian language course for credit toward graduation, the Michigan
Department of Education says.
Twelve students signed up for the course and 11 remain, including Harbor
Springs junior Taylor Fisher, who is one-fourth American Indian.
"I'd have to say this is one of my more interesting classes," he said.
"I'd probably take it again just to get some more of my heritage in
there. My native history is a big part of what I do, and it's nice to
take a class at a school that cares about a certain history."
Crooked Tree junior Cheyenne Worthington, who is one-fourth Odawa and
one-eighth Chippewa, said she is taking the course to learn more about
her history.
"I wanted to partly because I really wanted to get into, and know, the
culture. There's so many people that ask me questions about it and I
can't answer them because I don't know myself, so I'm trying to learn
it," she said. "Plus, my dad used to speak it (Anishinaabemowin) up
until fifth or sixth grade, before he had to learn English, and just me
speaking what I learn here brings back what he knew."
Carla McFall, LTBB language program coordinator, said this class is a
step toward the tribe revitalizing the language.
"This really got some young people involved and interested," McFall
said. "The elders are really proud that they're (the youth) taking the
time to learn and revitalize the language."
Tecumseh Adams, a Harbor Springs junior who is one-half Odawa, said he
feels this course is practical for him.
"It sort of gives me a sense of belonging, like I know where my roots
are in a way it brings a good variation of history and language," he
said.
Susan Jacobs, principal at Harbor Springs High School, said she had
recognized the need for such a course for several years.
"Native American students do not feel part of our system because very
little about the system honors who they are," she wrote in a 2006 letter
to the Harbor Springs Public Schools Board of Education.
She contacted Ray Kiogima, a tribal member and elder, about offering an
Odawa language course at the high school. Kiogima had co-authored a book
entitled, "Odawa Language and Legends," which translates more than 1,000
common words and phrases from Odawa to English.
Kiogima set up a meeting between Jacobs and tribal members.
"The tribe thought it was wonderful; everybody thought it was great,"
she said. "We wanted to give the Native American students exactly what
we give to the white children. We wanted to do something within the
curriculum that implicitly said, without saying a word, that 'You are
just as valued as anybody else.' "
Jacobs said 11 percent of her student population is American Indian, and
she says she measures the school's success by them.
Jacobs said by summer 2006, the tribe had agreed to hire a curriculum
designer, Ann Stander, and an instructor, Doreen Peltier, who is fluent
in the language and comes from Manitoulin Island in Ontario, Canada.
Helped by an anonymous $15,000 donation, Harbor Springs High School has
provided the classroom and materials, which had to be crafted originally
because there were no textbooks.
"It was not a very recorded language; it was all oral, mostly done
through storytellers," said Cheryl Halfacer, director of Indian
Education at Harbor Springs Public Schools.
Peltier, the course instructor, said she has used her creativity.
"I'm making it up as I go," she said. But the students are catching on.
"I'm so proud of these young people; they pick it up so fast," she said.
"It's craziness in here for that hour, but I just love it. I do hope
(the language course) continues; I've heard talk of expansion next
year."
help revive Odawa speech and teach tribe's culture, history.
www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080227/SCHOOLS/80227\
0324
<http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080227/SCHOOLS/8022\
70324>
[http://cmsimg.detnews.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=C3&Date=20080227&Ca\
tegory=SCHOOLS&ArtNo=802270324&Ref=ARQ=100&MaxW=290&MaxH=290]
<http://cmsimg.detnews.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=C3&Date=20080227&Ca\
tegory=SCHOOLS&ArtNo=802270324&Ref=AR>
<http://cmsimg.detnews.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=C3&Date=20080227&Ca\
tegory=SCHOOLS&ArtNo=802270324&Ref=AR>
Cheyenne Worthington, writing in Anishinaabemowin, says she's taking the
course at Harbor Springs High to learn more about her heritage.
(Christina Rohn / Associated Press)
HARBOR SPRINGS -- A groundbreaking new course is being offered at Harbor
Springs High School -- Anishinaabemowin, the native language of Odawa
Indians.
The class, a collaboration between the Little Traverse Bay Bands of
Odawa Indians and Harbor Springs Public Schools, began last September.
No other public school system in the state is offering an American
Indian language course for credit toward graduation, the Michigan
Department of Education says.
Twelve students signed up for the course and 11 remain, including Harbor
Springs junior Taylor Fisher, who is one-fourth American Indian.
"I'd have to say this is one of my more interesting classes," he said.
"I'd probably take it again just to get some more of my heritage in
there. My native history is a big part of what I do, and it's nice to
take a class at a school that cares about a certain history."
Crooked Tree junior Cheyenne Worthington, who is one-fourth Odawa and
one-eighth Chippewa, said she is taking the course to learn more about
her history.
"I wanted to partly because I really wanted to get into, and know, the
culture. There's so many people that ask me questions about it and I
can't answer them because I don't know myself, so I'm trying to learn
it," she said. "Plus, my dad used to speak it (Anishinaabemowin) up
until fifth or sixth grade, before he had to learn English, and just me
speaking what I learn here brings back what he knew."
Carla McFall, LTBB language program coordinator, said this class is a
step toward the tribe revitalizing the language.
"This really got some young people involved and interested," McFall
said. "The elders are really proud that they're (the youth) taking the
time to learn and revitalize the language."
Tecumseh Adams, a Harbor Springs junior who is one-half Odawa, said he
feels this course is practical for him.
"It sort of gives me a sense of belonging, like I know where my roots
are in a way it brings a good variation of history and language," he
said.
Susan Jacobs, principal at Harbor Springs High School, said she had
recognized the need for such a course for several years.
"Native American students do not feel part of our system because very
little about the system honors who they are," she wrote in a 2006 letter
to the Harbor Springs Public Schools Board of Education.
She contacted Ray Kiogima, a tribal member and elder, about offering an
Odawa language course at the high school. Kiogima had co-authored a book
entitled, "Odawa Language and Legends," which translates more than 1,000
common words and phrases from Odawa to English.
Kiogima set up a meeting between Jacobs and tribal members.
"The tribe thought it was wonderful; everybody thought it was great,"
she said. "We wanted to give the Native American students exactly what
we give to the white children. We wanted to do something within the
curriculum that implicitly said, without saying a word, that 'You are
just as valued as anybody else.' "
Jacobs said 11 percent of her student population is American Indian, and
she says she measures the school's success by them.
Jacobs said by summer 2006, the tribe had agreed to hire a curriculum
designer, Ann Stander, and an instructor, Doreen Peltier, who is fluent
in the language and comes from Manitoulin Island in Ontario, Canada.
Helped by an anonymous $15,000 donation, Harbor Springs High School has
provided the classroom and materials, which had to be crafted originally
because there were no textbooks.
"It was not a very recorded language; it was all oral, mostly done
through storytellers," said Cheryl Halfacer, director of Indian
Education at Harbor Springs Public Schools.
Peltier, the course instructor, said she has used her creativity.
"I'm making it up as I go," she said. But the students are catching on.
"I'm so proud of these young people; they pick it up so fast," she said.
"It's craziness in here for that hour, but I just love it. I do hope
(the language course) continues; I've heard talk of expansion next
year."