Hi, my name is Kira, and I live in Wasilla, AK, but I’m from St. Paul Island. Language has always been a part of my life since I was young; I got into the WAYK program three years ago with my mom and my brother. Since I got started, I have learned to teach beginners… Read more »

Hello, my name is Nathaniel. I am from Atka, Alaska. For those who don’t know where Atka is located, Atka is a very remote island westward on the Aleutian chain. I’m 16 years old and I currently live in Anchorage, Alaska. This fall I will be starting my senior year of high school. I have… Read more »

My name is Alex, and I am from Anchorage, Alaska. I am currently pursuing my Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing at the University of Portland, in Portland, Oregon. I have now reached my sophomore year of the program and will begin going through clinicals next year. I work as a language intern through the Aleutian… Read more »

I finally made it to Alaska. My journey with WAYK is 8 years long this year. It started in 2010, searching for ways to survive the language classes I was taking in school; since then, I’ve worked at WAYK projects in Oregon, California, Vancouver, Beijing…but never Alaska. At long last, in 2018, I made it!… Read more »

When I walked up to the immigration counter in Seattle, the officer looked down at my Canadian passport and asked me if I was heading somewhere sunny and 75. I laughed and said pretty much the exact opposite, I’m going to Anchorage. He laughed and told me that he was certain I was the only… Read more »

Who Am I? waq lis ?aad, gew ?a seesas Joseph Dupris. ni ?a mbosaksaawaskni gi. ?ewskni ?an gi, moatt’akkni ?an gi. Big Pine nuumu ?an gi. Mnicoujou Lakota ?an gi. My name is Joseph Dupris and I am a Chi-Kid from mbosaksaawas (Chiloquin, OR). This is my first Summer Language Intensive with Where Are Your… Read more »

Aang, taanshi, boozhoo! Mekadebinesikwe indigo, migizi indoodem. Ozhawashko-Wiikwedong indoonjibaa, Gakaabikang dash indaa noongom. My name is Kai Pyle and I am originally from Green Bay, Wisconsin. Currently, I’m a PhD student in American Studies at the University of Minnesota, on the Dakota people’s homelands in Bde Ota Otunwe (Minneapolis, Minnesota), where I am working on… Read more »

We are happy to share the first episode of season one of the WAYKcast, a new podcast from WAYK about language revitalization, language learning, and Where Are Your Keys. In each episode, Sky Hopinka will talk with members of the WAYK team and the wider WAYK community. Episodes will focus on broad and focused questions… Read more »

About a year ago I went to a social dance event at my university, and on the very last waltz happened to strike up a conversation with my partner, a guy named Will Monroe. In this brief interaction I learned that Will had learned Alutiiq, an endangered Alaska Native language, through an internship at an… Read more »

Meet the 2018 Summer Intensive team that is joining WAYK in Anchorage, Alaska to work with Unangam Tunuu, an endangered Alaska Native language.

It can be hard to imagine what a language revitalization summer looks like, but working to keep a language alive is a full-time endeavor. Here’s an updated look at what to expect from the WAYK Summer Intensive schedule in 2018. As with any program centered around language learning, it’s essential that we have daily contact with… Read more »

What you can expect as an intern: 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. Communities that invite WAYK for a Summer Intensive… Read more »

This summer, we are once again fortunate to offer internship opportunities during the 2018 WAYK Summer Intensive. The internship positions are sponsored by our host community (APIA), in partnership with TAC, TAF, and a number of other regional organizations. Participating in a WAYK summer project is one of the best ways to be fully immersed… Read more »

WAYK is very excited to announce—after months (and years!) of planning with our host community—that our 2018 Summer Intensive will take place in Anchorage, Alaska! In 2018, we will continue our work with Unangam Tunuu, an Eskimo-Aleut language with a small number of speakers in the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands. Unangam Tunuu has been the… Read more »

I don’t know if it’s possible to share an “average” day, but here is a sample day as a WAYK Team Member, based on Thursday June 30, 2017, in St. Paul, Alaska. 8:15 AM Breakfast. The eight of us – Evan, Susanna, and the six visiting team members – eat our meals together at the WAYK house,… Read more »

Early on in teaching TQs (Techniques), Evan pointed out that an ASL (American Sign Language) sign can be used in at least two ways in WAYK. For example, the sign translatable as ‘again’ can be used as in the sentence ‘then the shark nibbled me on the finger again’. Or it can be used as… Read more »

At the beginning of the summer language intensive, Susanna and Evan introduced us to the Circle of Questions, a concept used in TPRS (Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling; read more in Fluency Through TPR Storytelling). I find it an incredibly useful tool for learning and teaching. Below is a description of the concept with… Read more »

As part of the Summer Language Intensive we took part in an excellent training in archiving practices (see Rachel Sprouse and Talia London’s blogs for more info). During this training, the local team decided on how to label the items in their archive; in other words, what “metadata” to attach to the items. My attention… Read more »

“Mind meadows” are an adaptation of Technique: Meadow brought to us by Justin Slocum-Bailey of Indwelling Language.  “Imagine you’re on an island,” our leader starts. The room fills with smiles and muffled laughs; being smack dab in the middle of the Bering Sea, it’s not hard to imagine such a far-fetched situation. “You’re on an… Read more »

I have been thinking about the relationship between a language learner and an “informant”, who may be a native speaker, a fluent speaker, or just someone more proficient than the learner. Here on St. Paul Island, local language team members have been improving their fluency by “language hunting” with some of the elders who either… Read more »