Language is easiest to learn before age 5. The Cherokee Nation supported production of a toy that teaches young children basic Cherokee words. When figures that come with the toy are placed into it, a computer chip activates a voice speaking the name of the figure in Cherokee. Learning takes place on visual, auditory, and tactile levels. (TD)

Two Navajo men reflect on their quest for literacy and their struggle with cultural maintenance and acculturation. Jimmy Eltsosie, who has lived on the Navajo Reservation all of his life, realized he had to learn English to survive in both worlds. Phil Hale, who grew up in California, learned Navajo in order to live and work on the reservation.…