The search for a more comprehensive and conscious curriculum for Spanish heritage language learners and Spanish native speakers (SHL/SNS) is a task that many educators are making a priority due to the diversity in the classroom. This paper focuses on presenting the theoretical framework and approaches that have facilitated SHL/SNS instruction in…

Preserving the Navajo language, or "Diné bizaad," is of profound importance for all Indigenous people in the United States, as Navajo is one of the more widely spoken Native languages yet is still facing the early stages of endangerment. Currently, the Navajo Nation, like other tribes, lacks a significant presence of community-based…

This study investigates correlations of course level, gender, and ethnic identity labels with attitudinal dimensions toward Spanish by Spanish as a Heritage Language Learners in New Mexico. Participants in first-semester (n = 327) and fourth-semester (n = 174) Spanish as a Heritage Language courses rated twelve items designed to index language…

In compliance with the Indian Education Act (NMSA1976 Section 22), the purpose of this Tribal Education Status Report (TESR) is to inform stakeholders of the New Mexico Public Education Department's (NMPED) and Local Education Agency's (LEAs) current initiatives specific to American Indian (AI) students and their educational progress. This report…

This compliance report provides information regarding American Indian students' public school performance and how performance is measured. This information is shared with legislators, educators, tribes, and communities and is disseminated at the semiannual government-to-government meetings. The New Mexico Public Education Department (NM PED) is…

Although the definition of heritage language learner (HLLs) has been widely explored, researchers tend to base their definitions on learner proficiency. While such a premise is a safe and conservative way to identify heritage students, it pays little mind to inclusivity. Indeed, it may place the university in the role of cultural gatekeeper,…

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…

After initial instruction in written and spoken Tiwa, young adult participants in the summer language program at San Antonio Pueblo began authoring their own pedagogical materials as a learning activity. Charged with writing pedagogical dialogues to aid in language learning, the students created "the first Native soap opera," as the…

In compliance with the Indian Education Act (NMSA1976 Section 22), the purpose of the Tribal Education Status Report (TESR) is to inform stakeholders of the New Mexico Public Education Department's (PED) current initiatives specific to American Indian students and their educational progress. This report examines both the current conditions and…

A national movement is afoot to revitalize the hundreds of native languages that once flourished across North America and the Hawaiian islands. Experts say that because the majority of native language speakers are passing away, almost all of these languages could be gone by 2050. While universities have been a reservoir for the study and research…

Across Indian Country, people can hear voices speaking ancient words, in a Cochiti extended family in New Mexico, a Navajo community school on the Arizona desert, a Native Hawaiian kindergarten, a Salish/Kootenai summertime ceremony, on the North Dakota plains, and in a Blackfeet math classroom in Montana. Unlike other language instruction…

Language shift among New Mexico Pueblo Indians threatens the loss of their oral-based cultures. Language revival for many Pueblos has resulted in school programs in which students are easily accessible and teachers are accountable to tribes rather than the state. Finding "Pueblo space" for the Native language in school, where it was…

The report describes, in the form of transcribed interviews, cross-cultural programs in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Montana, New Mexico and Arizona identified in a May, 1973, study-tour of cross-cultural education focusing upon people of Indian ancestry. The primary goal of these visits was to identify promising procedures and accomplishments in…

This source book provides information on school, college, and community programs that teach American Indian languages in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. These programs were identified through leads provided by a nine-member regional task force of Native educators and language activists; consultation with federal and state…