In September, Emily Fox did a feature at Michigan Radio on efforts to preserve a dying Native American language. The initiative is focused on preschoolers.
“Anishinaabemowin is the language that was spoken by tribes in Michigan for millennia,” Fox says, “and it’s near extinction in the state. Many Michigan tribes don’t have any fluent speakers left, while those that do are only reporting between one to three fluent speaking elders.
“Michigan tribes are doing what they can to bring the language back. Some are doing language immersion weekends. Some are creating programs to learn Anishinaabemowin online.
“A lot of tribes are teaching community language classes, or bringing it to the public schools and day care centers.
“The Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe in Mt. Pleasant only has one fluent Anishinaabemowin speaker, but they have been able to pool enough resources together to have a four-day-a-week early childhood language immersion school since 2009.
“Isabelle Osawamick, with the Language Department for the Saginaw Chippewa tribe, says the teachers at the Sasiwaans Immersion School only speak in Anishinaabemowin. The language is used in class lessons and in every daily activity. …
“She says with immersion, the kids start to understand Annishinabemowin quickly.
“ ‘I’ve seen them listen and in a matter of two months they comprehend 100%,’ Osawamick says.”
Click here to read the details and to listen to the recorded broadcast.
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