With biliteracy as the goal, dual-language immersion programs offer the potential to increase literacy skills across multiple learner demographic characteristics.

This paper gives an overview of ongoing revitalisation efforts for Kanien'keha / Mohawk, one of the endangered Indigenous languages in Canada. For the Mohawk people, their language represents a significant part of the culture, identity and well-being of individuals, families, and communities. The endangerment of Kanien'keha and other Indigenous…

This paper tackles the important question of practitioner engagement and is the first to present an overview of relevant Gaelic medium education (GME) research. Following the formal inception in 1985, GME is now more widely available across Scotland. An overview of GME is presented and situates provision within the other Celtic minority languages…

Many educators have sung the praises of Indian Education for All, Montana's constitutional mandate, and heard the successes of Montana's Indigenous language revitalization efforts which reverberate around the globe. Teaching Indigenous languages is especially, challenging since there are limited numbers of fluent speakers and scarce resources…

Culturally Responsive Education has been widely proposed as a mechanism to improve the academic achievement of minority and Indigenous populations. Instruction in heritage languages has been shown to produce desirable outcomes both on linguistic and academic measures. However, culturally responsive and immersion instruction faces a number of…

In North America, and worldwide, Indigenous languages are disappearing at an alarming rate. There are, however, models of success for language revitalization in immersion language programs, usually found in tribal colleges and universities. Whether the language learners are tribal college students greeting one another in their native language,…

In 2016, Dr. Martin Reinhardt and Dr. Jioanna Carjuzaa produced a series of three webinars concerning Indigenous language immersion programs. The first webinar focused on broad curriculum development ideas including core relationships, guidelines and principles for effective pedagogy, and models. The second webinar focused on the elements of…

Ojibwemotaadidaa Omaa Gidakiiminaang (let's speak Ojibwe to one another here on our Earth) is an Ojibwe language immersion program funded by Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College (FDLTCC, Cloquet, MN) and with grants from the State of Minnesota. With a development team that included FDLTCC President Larry Anderson, among others, participants…

In 1999, under federal government legislation, Mi'kmaw communities in Nova Scotia won the right to manage the education of their children for the first time in a century. With support from Mi'kmaw Kina'matnewey, an education authority that provides central services, local Mi'kmaw schools deliver language immersion courses, culturally-appropriate…

This brief provides an overview of three federal laws that address native-language education and illustrates how these federal laws produce different results when coupled with state laws and other regional circumstances. For the purposes of this brief, native-language education refers to American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians and…

This paper describes the historical and social foundations of the Navajo Headstart Immersion program. The researchers have worked as teachers, teacher educators, and parents in these programs. They reflect on the need for new partnerships among tribes, tribal colleges and universities to prepare teachers and to develop curriculum materials for…

Why would anyone want to spend thousands of hours away from home and pay hundreds of dollars in tuition to acquire one of the world's most difficult languages? For Anishinaabe people, that is an easy question to answer. The Ojibwe language is the thread that ties communities together and unites all Anishinaabe as one people sharing a common…

At the Punana Leo everyone, "'Anakala", uncle--a male teacher, "'Anake," aunty--a female teacher, and the "keiki," children all play important roles in the educational program of the school. Each and all are responsible for the learning that takes place and the success of the program. In this article, the author…

Established in 1983 by a group of parents and teachers, the 'Aha Punana Leo ('APL) was formed. A grassroots organization, 'APL was established to respond to the dismal plight of the Hawaiian language. Just a mere 25 years ago, the Hawaiian language was on the verge of being lost forever. Through the dedicated efforts of a small group of friends…

This article describes a journey and a rediscovery of what it meant and means to speak from a Cree worldview. The way I was raised created my identity as a "nehiyaw" and to my having a Cree worldview; however, I lost these concepts when I started school and moved to the city. Later, in my adult years, I began re-learning my own history and…