In February I received a random email. Qwina said he watched the videos on you tube and vimeo and decided to take WAYK for a spin! He taped the first sessions and sent them to me to look over. I was astounded by Qwina’s ability to wield techniques and work through the USC’s first rides up through “mine/yours”. I was even more astounded by Qwina’s willingness for me to critique his set-up and flow without ever having met me or ever having received any WAYK training.
I asked if we could post the video for everyone to see, and happily, he and his class agreed. To be honest, they have been bugging me to post it for a few months now!
So for all you other community language classes who are shy… get out the recorder and give WAYK a shot!
Send the video unedited for me to look over and give you pointers, and then we can talk about posting an edited version if you and your community deem that appropriate. Either way we will have a great conversation. email to evan@whereareyourkeys.org
–Evan
[vimeo http://vimeo.com/49400731]
Manahu (Hello), my name is Qwina West, I am the Inyo County Language Coordinator for the Nüümü Yadoha Program, and this is one of our Paiute Language Classes here in Bishop CA. This video is my second time teaching WAYK in Paiute, four out of the six student is their first time learning this technique. I seen this technique for a couple of years now on the internet, but every time I would see it, I did not understand it right off, so I would not watch them through. So I ran across the site “Where Are Your Keys” and watched this video (“Where Are Your Keys?” is difficult to explain but easy to demonstrate. Check out Evan Gardner, the game’s original developer, in this first-time players’ tutorial.)
The second time I sat down with my Fluent Speaker and told her this is what I want to teach, we sat down together and watched the video, and she loved it! This concept of teaching is similar to our old ways of teaching children. At this time, I watch the video twice all the way through and made notes and used the Universal Speed Curriculum, and started teaching the first class only two of my students showed up the second class six showed up and they had FUN LEARNING LANGUAGE and that is very important to me.
I videotaped both classes and took up Evans offer about sending in a video. Evan watched them both and gave me advice on what I needed to work on more. If you need a change in your teaching or you see that your students are getting burned out, try this method and have fun with it. As our Elders would say, “Don’t be ashamed” just do it. Watch the video all the way through and copy/mimic everything you see, than watch it again and turn the sound down and do it in your language.
