The challenge of designing the ultimate Turkish hunting kit has captured the obsessive part of my brain for the last week. What is a “hunting kit,” you ask? It’s a collection of objects carefully chosen to introduce a language to a learner. One example is the Unangam Tunuu hunting kit. In one of our first… Read more »
When I first learned about Where Are Your Keys, and that they offer summer internships in Unangax̂ Territory, I was really excited. I am an Unangax̂ that grew up away from my homelands, and I saw this an opportunity to learn my language, visit my homelands for the first time, and build stronger relationships with other… Read more »
It’s about time that I shared one of my big plusses from my 2017 Summer Intensive experience: “hunting” Quechua, thanks to Rachel Sprouse. It makes learning to hunt a lot more real for me since Quechua is a language I’ve been trying to learn (on and off) since 2013. My first link to Indigenous languages in the Americas was… Read more »
One of the most useful things that I have worked on during my summer with WAYK that I will bring back with me to help with my own languages is a “Fluency Freeway.” In its basic form, a Fluency Freeway is a long sheet of paper taped on a wall that keeps track of all… Read more »
Will Monroe, who made a short cameo appearance in Anchorage for the 2018 Summer Intensive wrote about his summer experience in July 2018. Aang, everyone! Will Monroe here, and I’m back in Alaska working with Where Are Your Keys for the second time. In 2013, WAYK introduced me to the Kodiak Alutiiq community. Since then, I have started… Read more »
My favorite part of the WAYK Summer Language Intensive on St. Paul Island has been getting to witness an amazing team of young people who are taking language revitalization into their own hands. I feel very lucky to have been able to learn from the Unangam Tunuu language team and to witness their many years… Read more »
My favorite thing from the 2017 Summer Language Intensive on St. Paul Island was becoming more comfortable learning and teaching language in immersion, by which I mean staying in the target language and avoiding English. In the past, I tended to divide language learning and language use. There is an essay by Greg Thomson, “Leave… Read more »
I would like to give a shout out to the Unangam Tunuu Speaking Listening Teaching Team (UTSLT) on St. Paul Island. 2017 was WAYK’s third year partnering with the Aleut Community of St. Paul Island, and I was brought here to be patient and supportive student for the UTSLT members. As a fellow Unangax̂, and… Read more »
We’ve put together a list of some of the most common questions we get about WAYK internships and Summer Language Intensive projects. We hope that anyone who’s interested in applying for an internship with WAYK can find the answer to some of their burning questions below. If you have a question that’s not answered, please… Read more »
This summer, we are once again fortunate to offer WAYK internship opportunities during the 2019 Summer Language Intensive. The internship positions are sponsored by our host community, Tsleil-Waututh Nation, in North Vancouver, BC. Participating in a WAYK summer project is one of the best ways to be fully immersed in the work of language revitalization,… Read more »
It can be hard to imagine what a language revitalization summer looks like, but working to keep a language vital is a full-time endeavor. Here’s an updated look at what to expect from the WAYK Summer Intensive schedule in 2019. As with any program centered around language learning, it’s essential that we have daily contact with… Read more »
What you can expect as a summer participant: You will learn how to use WAYK. One of the main purposes of the WAYK Summer Intensive is to provide comprehensive training in WAYK skills, something that is difficult to demonstrate or even explain in a week-long workshop or a few language lessons. A good way to think about the… Read more »
WAYK is very excited to announce—after months (and years!) of planning with the host community—that our 2019 Summer Intensive will take place in North Vancouver, British Columbia! This will be WAYK’s 9th summer project with a partner community. In 2019, we will continue our partnership with Tsleil-Waututh Nation (TWN). Due to the location and history… Read more »
In my last blog, I wrote about the obstacles to maintaining an immersion bubble. In this blog, I ask how the immersion bubble, as a kind of “language policy”, can further the interests of an Indigenous language community. There are two related benefits to immersion bubbles, as I see it. One benefit is that they… Read more »
The idea of creating an “immersion bubble” is probably nothing new in language learning. Nor is it new within the field of language revitalization in the 20th and 21st centuries; creating immersion bubbles has been a goal of many revitalization movements at least since the kōhanga reo pre-school immersion initiatives in Aotearoa (New Zealand) in the… Read more »
Take notes like a pro, or like a 5th grader, so long as you do it! In 2015, during my first summer with WAYK, Evan and Susanna gave me a hunting book to use for tracking the chinuk wawa I was learning. I’ll be honest: I didn’t really like or use it. I found it… Read more »
I first met Evan and Susanna at a handful of WAYK workshops, which were each about two to five days long: three workshops at the Alaska Native Heritage Center in Anchorage and one at the Songhees Wellness Center in Victoria, BC. Because of my attendance at these workshops, I was lucky enough to find out… Read more »
My name is Timothy A. Zaochney and I’m from Atka, Alaska. I’ve been doing the Niiĝuĝim Tunuu language program for three years. I’m joining the team this summer in Anchorage as an APICDA intern. I got involved in the language program when Evan came down to Atka for the first time in 2013. I’m interested… Read more »
Hi, my name is Junior Golodoff. I’m from Atka, Alaska. This here is my third year with the Summer Language Intensive. I’m joining the team as an APICDA intern. What got me involved with the language is my friends because without them I probably wouldn’t be here. What got me interested in the language was that… Read more »
My first introduction with Unangam Tunuu came during the fall of 2015, when I heard of classes at the Aleutian Pribilof Island’s Association building here in Anchorage. The need for understanding the words and the sounds was something that I was excited about. The classes at that time worked with my schedule, so I continued… Read more »
