LAKOTA LANGUAGE PROGRAM
The Lakota Language Project (LLP) was a collaboration between Red Cloud Indian School (now Maȟpíya Lúta), Pine Ridge, SD and the American Indian Studies Research Institute (now Institute for Indigenous Knowledge). The goal of this project was to develop a comprehensive K-12 Lakota language curriculum. This curriculum was designed to teach students to speak, read, and write Lakota and to achieve fluency in the language.
PROJECT HISTORY
Under the supervision of Superintendent Robert Brave Heart, Red Cloud Indian School received a Grotto Foundation planning grant to assess the current state and effectiveness of its Lakota language program. During the 2007-2008 school year, Red Cloud identified a need for Lakota language materials and a comprehensive curriculum. It was during the Fall of 2007 that Mr. Brave Heart first contacted AISRI (now IIK) about traveling to Red Cloud to meet and discuss the possibility of entering into this partnership. AISRI co-directors, Ray DeMallie and Doug Parks, along with graduate students, traveled to Pine Ridge in January 2008 to attend planning meetings at Red Cloud.
By the third year of the project, the proposed five year project had already received funding for six years of work. The funding came from various sources: The Administration for Native Americans, Grotto Foundation, Endangered Language Fund, Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, Hesemeyer Trust, and individual donors. The largest of these grants came from ANA, a federal agency dedicated to funding projects that will benefit Native schools, communities, and cultural preservation.
To view screenshots from the materials click on the "view lessons" button on the above right.
Components include:
- Printed Textbooks for grades K-12. K-4 presented in a consumable, workbook format, and 5-12 in the traditional textbook format.
- Interactive texbooks for each of the grade levels. All of the vocabulary and dialogues in the book were recorded with speakers, so that interactive, electronic books can be used with or without the teachers supervision.
- Additional multimedia materials were created to accompany each book. These include multimedia assessments, games, exercises, vocabulary drills, historical sketches, and flash card sets.
- Dictionaries to accompany each of the curricula. These are divided into K-4, 5-8, and 9-12. These dictionaries exist in both printed and online, electronic forms.
- Teacher's manuals were created for each grade level. This manual is intended to guide the teachers through each lesson, highlighting objectives, guiding instruction, and suggesting additional exercises.
- Assessment tools that include written tests and quizzes for each lesson and unit in each book, as well as mid-term and final exams for each book. There are also computer based quizzes that have been created to go along with each lesson in the high school material.
