Where Are Your Keys? has worked with many Native and non-Native communities and educational groups throughout North America including professional teaching organizations, individual language departments, schools, school districts, and universities. The services that WAYK provides are tailored to the needs of the community, the number and fluency of the learners and teachers, and the time and financial resources available.  Here are profiles of some of the communities that we’ve partnered with.

Doyon Foundation, Interior Alaska

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WAYK began its partnership with the Doyon Foundation in 2013 with a regional, multilingual workshop. Malinda Chase, the director of the Language Revitalization Program, works closely with a Language Revitalization Committee to develop and promote projects that serve the region’s nine Athabascan languages. In the fall of 2014, WAYK traveled throughout the region and presented introductory workshops in three communities. We worked with Denaakk’e (Koyukon) speakers in Tanana, with speakers of Dihthâad Xt’een iin aanděg’ (Tanacross) and Née’ aaneegn’ (Upper Tanana) in Tok, and with speakers of Denaakk’e (Koyukon), Dinjii Zhuh K’yaa (Gwich’in), and Deg Xinag in Fairbanks. Learners and speakers of Ahtna (a neighboring Athabascan language) also attended WAYK trainings hosted by the Doyon Foundation. WAYK and Doyon worked together with the Interior-Aleutians Campus at the University of Fairbanks to provide credit for workshop participants.

Photo and program description courtesy of Susanna.

Unangam Tunuu, Aleutian and Pribilof Islands

WAYK’s partnership with the Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association (APIA) is in its third year. The WAYK team is working with APIA to revitalize Unangam Tunnu, the Aleut language. Millie McKeown, APIA’s Cultural Heritage Director is leading the project, with support from a regional core team. In the past year, WAYK has traveled to four of the thirteen communities that APIA represents (St. Paul, King Cove, Unalaska, and Atka) in an effort to map and build curriculum for the two major dialect groups (Eastern and Western/Atkan). WAYK has also been working with novice and intermediate speakers in these communities to accelerate their own language acquisition and hone their teaching skills, so they can hand off language to other community members. While projects vary between the individual communities, one example of a community’s work that will support the region at large is tanamawaa.com, a reference website being developed under the guidance of Aquilina Lestenkof on St. Paul.

Photo and program description courtesy of Susanna.

Spoken Latin, Rusticatio Virginiana

For the past four summers, WAYK has been working with the spoken Latin community at a program called Rusticatio Virginiana. Sponsored by SALVI (Septentrionale Americanum Latinitatis Vivae Institutum, or the North American Institute for Living Latin Studies), Rusticatio, a full-week, fully-immersive program, is designed to further SALVI’s mission of using communicative methods for the purpose of teaching and of acquiring the Latin language, as participants at Rusticatio read, talk, play, cook, and eat together in Latin. In addition to WAYK, other current pedagogical methods such as Rassias, TPR, and TPRS are utilized at Rusticatio. WAYK is especially implemented for the support of “tirones” in the program, i.e., those students or Latin teachers who are new to speaking the language.

Photo and program description courtesy of Susanna.

Hǝn̓q̓ǝmin̓ǝm̓, Tsleil-Waututh Nation

The WAYK team is helping the Tsleil-Waututh Nation (TWN) near North Vancouver revitalize the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language. The community’s language project is being lead by the head of the TWN language department, Gabriel George, who is also heavily involved in cultural work with the band; Victor Guerin, a language consultant from Musqueam (a nearby band that shares hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ as their heritage language); and Khelsilem Rivers, a Sḵwx̱wú7mesh speaker who has worked with WAYK for about 5 years. WAYK volunteers from across the globe have visited the TWN community to support their implementation of WAYK techniques for developing their own fluency and cultivating a community of teachers. The language program includes bi-weekly classes for TWN staff, training for high-school-aged leaders, and weekly evening community classes.

Corrina Keeling provided the graphic recording of the TWN language team’s goals. To see the above image in its entirety, please click here.