Past U.S. policies toward Indian and other Native American languages have attempted to suppress the use of the languages in government-operated Indian schools for assimilating Indian children. About 155 Native languages are spoken today in the United States, but only 20 are spoken by people of all ages. The Native American Languages Act of 1990…

Many American Indian youth confront a choice of forfeiting their cultural heritage in favor of academic achievement. The newly established American Indian Magnet School in St. Paul (Minnesota) addresses this issue by integrating American Indian methodology and ideology across all curriculum areas through effective teaching and sensitivity to…

Anishinaabe (Ojibwe or Chippewa) elder Maude Kegg relates stories of her childhood nearly 90 years ago on the Mille Lacs Reservation in central Minnesota. The Nonremoval Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa to which she belonged accommodated their way of life to altered land and new neighbors, but retained their rich religious and social life. Traditional…

The history of language policy in the United States is explored, focusing on the rights of language minorities. The first chapter presents constitutional and ethnolinguistic background information and gives an overview of the main categories of language rights. Chapter two describes the extent to which the federal government has or has not made…

This document was developed for use with American Indian students receiving tribal language instruction. The material is based on the content and format of the 1996 "Standards for Foreign Language Learning: Preparing for the 21st Century." The U.S. national standards recognize that language and culture go hand in hand and are organized around five…

The New York State Department of Education contracts with 13 public school districts for the education of children residing on American Indian reservations. In addition to reporting on all students, the 13 districts must now report the following data on Native American students: (1) scores on standardized achievement tests, Regents competency…

This curriculum was written to give American Indian children an appreciation of Native American culture and two oral languages, Gros Ventre and Assiniboine. It is intended to create a comfortable cultural atmosphere while teaching K-4 children to say some words in their native language. The major content objective is to give children a repertoire…

Yurok Indian legends in Yurok Unifon text include English translations of the entire texts in order to produce fluent reading for English speakers and a continuous text for Yurok readers. Although corresponding sentences are numbered, translation is not word-for-word or sentence-for-sentence. The five stories refer to a time when animals could…

Project BETA is a Title VII program serving recent immigrant students in three New York City high schools: Koreans at William C. Bryant, Haitians at Springfield Gardens, and Vietnamese at Theodore Roosevelt. Project students receive instruction in English as a second language (ESL) at each site, and Vietnamese students at Theodore Roosevelt…

The Computer-Assisted Bilingual/Bicultural Multi-Skills Project at Jamaica High School completed the first year of a 3-year funding cycle in June 1984. The Project served 101 students of limited English proficiency (LEP). Most were Hispanic or Haitian, but other ethnic groups were also represented. The students tended to be from rural, poor areas…

In 1984-85, Project BITEC was in the second year of a 3-year funding cycle at New Utrecht High School in Brooklyn, New York. The program provides courses in English as a second language (ESL), native language arts in Spanish, Italian, Chinese, and Vietnamese; and bilingual (mostly in Italian and Spanish) instruction in mathematics, science, and…

This multi-site instructional program (Project MAS) provides instruction in English as a second language and native language arts, as well as bilingual instruction in mathematics and science to approximately 400 Spanish-speaking schools. It serves third through eighth graders at four sites in the Bronx. Its instructional and non-instructional…

This program, Project CAUSA, provided instruction in English as a second language (ESL), native language arts, and content-area courses, in addition to a career and vocational training program focused on office and computer skills, to a selected group of 141 Hispanic and Italian immigrant students of limited English proficiency (LEP). Students…

An Ontario program providing sets of problem-solving activities for native French speakers helps students in grades 7-12 enrich their language proficiency in both French and English. The guides developed as part of the program emphasize language as a tool for thought, social interaction, and artistic expression, and focus on the integration of…

In 1984-85, the Bilingual Program in Auxiliary Services for High Schools provided instruction in English as a second language (ESL), native language development, and basic education, in addition to a job counseling and placement component, to approximately 1,900 students at 15 sites in New York City. The program served speakers of Spanish,…