Moving toward problem solving without English
(Written by Tracy Pecore – Editor)
On December 15-17, 2011, Ho-Chunk tribal members (comprised of apprentices, teachers, and members of the traditional court) made their way to the Mohican Northstar Casino; not to play their favorite penny machine or to check out the craps table, but to attend the Wisconsin Tribal Language Teacher Training Workshop titled, “Accelerated Second Language Acquisition” (ASLA). The main purpose was to learn a new technique for effective language instruction and acquisition in the classroom which was led by Dr. Stephen Neyooxet Greymorning.
According to the University of Montana Website, Dr. Greymorning holds joint positions in Anthropology and Native American Studies. Professor Greymorning's research interests include Native American language maintenance and restoration, Indigenous sovereignty issues and contemporary Native American issues.
After receiving his Doctorate from the University of Oklahoma in 1992, he served as the Director of the Arapaho Language and Culture Project for the Wyoming Indian Schools. He has also been a faculty member at the University of Montana since 1994. While maintaining academic interests in Native sovereignty issues, his work in developing strategies toward Native language restoration has continued. In this capacity Neyooxet serves as the Executive Director of Hinono'eitiit Ho’oowu' (Arapaho Language Lodge) in Wyoming, a position that has been instrumental in his development of a break-through method for second language instruction and acquisition called Accelerated Second Language Acquisition (ASLA).
With assistance from University of Wisconsin Stevens Point Native American Center’s Director Andrew Gokee, who coordinated and organized the event in collaboration with the CREATE Wisconsin American Indian Student Achievement Network, the training would not have been able to take place. Gokee said, “Dr. Greymorning is in high demand and is not an easy guy to nail down.” With a limited number of participants able to register, some were turned away due to reaching maximum capacity. Luckily, sixteen of our Ho-Chunk tribal members were able to join in and attend.
Upon checking in, all participants were required to sign an agreement that acknowledged Dr. Greymorning as the developer of the ASLA methodology, assuring in writing that participants will agree to respect his copyrighted materials. According to Gokee, Dr. Greymorning developed his unique language instruction methodology over a period of eight years.
Gokee made mention that some language instructors may have entered into the training a bit skeptical. He explained however, that “seeing is believing”; to really understand the technique and to know it was going to work took patience, and seeing it in action. Acquiring language through this method is not through memorization, this approach “attempts to replicate natural language acquisition through the use of imagery,” explained Gokee. For example, Dr. Greymorning described how a baby learns their first words. They understand words before they can say the words themselves, through association with images. They know that their mom’s face means “mom”, and they associate meaning with mom’s image.
The following is a very basic description of the methodology:
ASLA is comprised of 20 Skill Sets, however through the 3 day training, only the first six sets were covered. Each skill set scaffolds off the previous skill set(s) to produce a sequence of experiences which assist the learner in acquiring the desired concepts. All concepts are represented by pictures which attaches images to the associated word or phrase. The images form a landscape that in a way replicates that of the natural world. It should also be noted the instructor insist on no repetitive drilling, which might encourage the student to think in English. In time the students begin to acquire additional language concepts while thinking in the target language.
From Day one to Day Three, a total of 180 images were learned in the Arapaho language through this process, which began with four simple pictures. Going back to “seeing is believing”, Ho-Chunk tribal member Cecil Garvin put Dr. Greymorning to the test. While using the same imagery, Garvin tried his hand at utilizing the technique, but this time in Ho-Chunk. Assuming the role of student, Dr. Greymorning was able to demonstrate that his technique works; in a matter of minutes he was understanding and speaking several Ho-Chunk words.
The purpose of the ASLA training is to assist tribal language teachers with producing proficient tribal language speakers. It stands to reason that if we begin to produce more proficient tribal language speakers, we might someday hear our tribal languages used more regularly.
Kerejusep, otherwise known as Eli Youngthunder, commented on the need to increase regular use of the Ho Chunk language: “As we all know, Indigenous people around the world are losing their culture by means of discontinued use of the native language. Ho-Chunk is no different. With the loss of language comes the loss of culture and identity. The goal is to revitalize and make the language a living language to be used on a daily basis, not a separate entity to be used in isolation.”
Ho-Chunk tribal member and language apprentice, Rita Kingswan said, “the Black River Falls and Tomah High School will be using what we learned this coming semester, and they'll be trying to use the technique at the Immersion Daycare as well.” She also noted that some apprentices/teachers that have their own Hocak classes are also going to attempt to use the method.
In closing, Kerejusep said, “The session was helpful and gave us another tool to use on students, family and ourselves. The overarching concept, immersion, I agree with. It is important that we as the teachers use the language more than we do, and this would be good practice. My personal concern was keeping a students’ attention on a daily basis using the same method, however I have not tried so I cannot disagree. As stated above, this will be another way for us to learn and/or teach the language.”