Tribal college president to talk on Native languages

Richard Littlebear and others are fighting an uphill battle. It's a struggle against traditional English curriculum — an effort to preserve the stories of Native American cultures.

Littlebear, a Cheyenne speaker and president of Chief Dull Knife College, said Native languages are important conversational tools and can teach about traditional tribal life. He will be visiting the University of Montana Thursday to speak about the struggles of finding ways to teach in a dual-language context, the historical importance of preserving native languages and the necessity of bilingualism.

"One of the obstacles to teaching Native languages are parents who may have bought into thinking that English is the only way," he said.

Native languages are difficult to teach because very few textbooks and other course materials are available, especially for the languages that are on the verge of disappearing, Littlebear said.

UM is working to combat those difficulties with accredited languages like Blackfoot.

Annabelle Chatsis, a Native American Studies Professor, teaches Blackfoot in a traditional teaching format like many other language courses.

She said students have been very receptive. "It's really up to the instructor to demonstrate the knowledge with the tools they have."

It's a complicated language that requires in-depth study from students, she said, because it's different even from uncommonly taught languages like Russian and Japanese. She said the biggest challenge in teaching Blackfoot is the lack of adequate reference materials, so she works in tandem with the linguistics program on campus to create more.

Dr. Mizuki Miyashita, an associate professor of linguistics, teaches a seminar every spring on the linguistic side of the Blackfoot language. She also formed the Blackfoot Language Group in 2007 so students of linguistics could work directly on the language and develop course material.

For the past few years, students have worked to write a children's book in the Blackfoot language about an elk and a blue bird, which will soon be converted to an online animated version.

Chastis said she uses the book as reference material in her classes.

"I really rely on the students from the BLG because they are actually doing hands-on work with the language," she said.

Many students and professors are working to preserve other Native languages at UM, but not all are accredited as a language course.

Stephen Greymorning, joint professor of Native American studies and anthropology, teaches a spring class on the Arapaho language which originated in the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. Greymorning's class doesn't meet accreditation requirements for a language class, but he treats it as a language course.

He also teaches five students in a new class aimed at expanding on the first. The class was a response to students who asked him to teach an independent study.

"How often do you get students forcing teachers to teach a subject?" he said.

Unlike Chastis' course, Greymorning's class is taught entirely orally.

Only a dozen or so people can speak and write the Arapaho language, but he said that grammar and letters are "really only useful in higher academia."

Greymorning and Chastis both said they look forward to hearing Littlebear's thoughts on the expansion of teaching Native languages.

"Right now we are just taking baby steps. This is a whole new concept," Chastis said. "It will be interesting to see his presentation if he does have any ideas or strategies to further this initiative."

Littlebear's lecture "The Challenges of Native American Bilingualism in the American Education System," is at 4 p.m. Thursday in Law Building Room 101. Sponsored by the UM President's Office, the lecture is part of the Native American Studies Stott Lecture Series.

tom.holm@umontana.edu