Red Cloud Indian School, a private school on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, developed the first comprehensive K-12 Lakota textbook curriculum in conjunction with the American Indian Studies Research Institute (AISRI) at Indiana University from 2008-2014 as part of the Lakota Language Project (LLP). The curriculum is designed to teach students to speak, read, and write Lakota and to gain basic fluency in the Lakota language; the project strives to create language proficiency in all students by the time they graduate and cultivate a deep appreciation and understanding of Lakota history and traditions. This project is a contribution to the Lakota language community, and it is our way of adding to the many efforts of language revitalization and sustainability. Now in the second phase of its development, the project not only continues to support language instruction at every grade level, but it also serves to help integrate the language across all content areas at RCIS and in the community. I will highlight our successes and best practices, address issues and shortcomings, and speak to our goals for the future.
Melissa Strickland began working on the Lakota Language Project (LLP) as the Site Coordinator & Teaching Assistant in 2012 while a graduate student at Indiana University (MA Folklore, 2014). She currently serves as the LLP's Project Coordinator and remotely oversees the daily operations of its staff. Melissa continues to act as a consultant for current AISRI language projects, working from the Institute one to two days a week. She remains active in the Pine Ridge community and help coordinate the annual Lakota language summer camp (https://www.redcloudschool.org/lakota-language-camp).
Part of Reports from the Field Speaker series
Lakota Language Project at Red Cloud Indian School - Melissa Strickland
Thursday, November 15, 2018, 3:00 PM – ,
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