Indigenous Language Reclamation

WEBINAR ANNOUNCEMENT

DETAILS: This webinar provided an overview of initiatives in the area of Indigenous language reclamation. Panelists shared about research projects and programs designed to support Indigenous children in connecting to language, heritage, and culture. Webinar attendees heard about what Indigenous-led research said about intergenerational language learning, land-based pedagogy, and the importance of Indigenous languages for early childhood learning.

Q&A UPDATE

Question: When a people lose their language, how do they find it again?

Mary Hermes: You can find your language or one you are connected to by looking to the land of the place you inhabit. Finding other people and classes (online and through tribal colleges) is great.

Question: What is the National Science Foundation document that Mary spoke of?

Mary Hermes: The National Science Foundation science grants are called Documenting Endangered Languages. The document is “Understanding Learning Mechanisms and Language Acquisition Through Intergenerational Conversations in Southwestern Ojibwe, a Native American Language.”

RESOURCES

Forest Walks publications

Engman, M. M., & Hermes, M. (2021). Land as interlocutor: A study of Ojibwe learner language on and with naturally occurring ‘materials’. Modern Language Journal, 105(S1), 86-105. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12685

Hermes, M., Engman, M. M., Meixi, MacKenzie, J. (2023). Relationality and Ojibwemowin in forest walks: Learning from multimodal interaction about land and language. Cognition and Instruction. https://doi.org/10.1080/07370008.2022.2059482 

Hermes, M. Meixi, Engman, M. M., & McKenzie, J. (2021). Everyday stories in a forest: Multimodal meaning-making with Ojibwe Elders, young people, language, and place. WINHEC: International Journal of Indigenous Education Scholarship, 2021(1), 267-301. https://journals.uvic.ca/index.php/winhec 

Position paper on Language Reclamation + Relationality (Henne-Ochoa et al. 2020) + commentary

Perspectives: Doing Indigenous language reclamation. Modern Language Journal, 104(2), https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/modl.12643

Additional Articles

Engman, M. M., McGurk, Ó., & MacKenzie, A. (2023). Teanga sa chistin: A qualitative study of bilingual families, baking bread, and reclaiming Irish in the home. Teanga, 30, 169-200. https://journal.iraal.ie/index.php/teanga/article/view/5460/5568

Engman, M. M., & Hermes, M. (2023). Co-operative learning with language and land. American Association of Applied Linguistics (AAAL) Newsletter, June 2023. https://www.aaal.org/feature-articles-june-2023-aaaletter#Article2

Engman, M. M., McGurk, Ó., & MacKenzie, A. (2023). Teanga sa chistin: A qualitative study of bilingual families, baking bread, and reclaiming Irish in the home. Teanga, 30, 169-200. https://journal.iraal.ie/index.php/teanga/article/view/5460/5568

Engman, M. M., & Hermes, M. (2023). Co-operative learning with language and land. American Association of Applied Linguistics (AAAL) Newsletter, June 2023. https://www.aaal.org/feature-articles-june-2023-aaaletter#Article2

Hermes, M., Engman, M. M., Meixi, MacKenzie, J. (2023). Relationality and Ojibwemowin in forest walks: Learning from multimodal interaction about land and language. Cognition and Instruction, 4(1), 1-31. https://doi.org/10.1080/07370008.2022.2059482

Guerrettaz, A. M., & Engman, M. M. (2023). “Indigenous Language Revitalization.” In Paula Groves Price (Ed.), Oxford Encyclopedia of Race and Education. New York: Oxford University Press.

Educating Transnational Students: Languages and Identities across Borders

WEBINAR RECORDING

RECORDED: Tue, Oct 31, 2023

DETAILS: Schools in the United States are increasingly populated by students whose lives cross national borders, both physically and virtually. These transnational students face challenges and possibilities related to their multiple languages and identities, especially in educational spaces. This webinar explores the existing research and practices around multilingual transnational students. Our panel engages with thoughtful questions and offers creative solutions for educators and policymakers to support successful academic outcomes for transnational students.

RESOURCES REFERENCED:

Film: Una Vida, Dos Países: Children and Youth (Back) in Mexico

Book: Living, Learning, and Languaging Across Borders: Students Between the US and Mexico

Critical Biliteracies without Borders: Translanguaging and Culturally Sustaining Approaches

View the recording below.

RECORDED: Tue, Sep 26, 2023

DETAILS: The Sol y Agua research-practice partnership is a team of teachers and administrators from El Paso Independent School District and researchers from the University of Texas at El Paso, and our work aims to center the biliteracies and experiences US-Mexico borderland students in their learning of computer science. In this webinar, we share how students’ extensive knowledge of border crossing and their translanguaging skills figured centrally in the team’s planning process but receded to the margins in practice when the curriculum was piloted and how collaborative reflection and revision of the curriculum helped us to bring biliteracies back to the center. We share some of the ways that we did this, identify pressures that made it difficult, and discuss the Continua of Biliteracy as a tool that can help keep focus on students’ biliteracies in both planning and practice. Check out the Sol y Agua game mentioned in the webinar at this link.