Bubble Policy: How Can Immersion Bubbles Help an Indigenous Language Community?

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 »

Bubble Policy: Why Do People Break or Keep Up Immersion?

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 »

How to Use a Hunting Book

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 »

Keep Calm and Calendar On

Summer Language Intensives have a lot going on. All the time. Whether it’s lesson prep, an important conversation to be had, hunting language from elders over tea, or even just keeping the coffee station running, there’s always something that needs to be done. How does one keep everything going smoothly, especially with a larger team?… Read more »

WAYK Workshop versus Summer Language Intensive

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 »

Technique: Angel

Learning a language is exciting, but it can also be scary. I get nervous when I stumble over new sounds, hoping no one nearby noticed. My cheeks feel hot every time I ask someone to pronounce a word so that I can understand and copy the sounds correctly. Suddenly it feels as if my ability… Read more »

Linguistic Terminology Part 2

Read Myles’ first post about linguistic terminology here. Working in the field of linguistics over the last few years, I have noticed some divisions in terminology that I would like to highlight in this blog. As North American linguistics begins to turns away from its roots in “salvage linguistics” and more towards collaborative community-based research,… Read more »

5 Group Immersion Activities

Before I arrived at the St. Paul Unangam Tunuu Summer Language Intensive, I wondered what we would do on a typical day. I knew that there would be no teacher standing at the front of the room, no textbooks. How would we fill our time from nine to five? I discovered here a variety of… Read more »

Relaxing in Immersion

Picture this: I grab a beautiful blue egg shell, a white feather, and two model birds, and join my group at a table in the back room for immersion time. Without any discussion or planning, we five young women blow up an imaginary immersion bubble to bid farewell to English – from here on out,… Read more »

Master Teachers and Techniques

Have you ever watched a master teacher at work? As a student teacher walking into a master teacher’s classroom for the first time, it is easy to have the misconception that the students are magically doing what they are supposed to be doing. The truth is that the teacher is using techniques to seamlessly facilitate… Read more »

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Latest

  • WAYK Travelogue: Sky and David in China – Part 1

    Since July 8th, David Edwards and Sky Hopinka have been in Beijing for a WAYK partnership with a student run NGO called BEAM (Bridging Education and Mobility.) BEAM’s mission is: “To serve as a central platform to launch independent service projects that improves the quality of migrant education in China and the quality of life of… Read more »

  • Miguel San Pedro: What’s Been Going On

      Oregon’s been treating me well lately, and I’ve been approaching this summer with a lot of wonder. Here’s what I’ve been up to the past several weeks so you can catch up with me to the present. Late June David, Sky, and I were in Bend. Evan was accompanying us most of the time,… Read more »

  • WAYK Welcomes an Intern, Miguel San Pedro

    Hi, everyone! My name’s Miguel, and I’m one of the Where Are Your Keys? (WAYK) interns this summer. I’ve been in the beautiful state of Oregon since Monday, June 25, spending time with fellow interns David Edwards and Sky Hopinka while meeting with Evan Gardner and so many other exciting people. Since three weeks ago, David and… Read more »

  • It Takes Two to Tango

    (by WAYK intern David Edwards) I had an epiphany yesterday. This Saturday, Sky and I are flying to China to help an NGO in Beijing run a summer WAYK training for local migrant English teachers. It’s been just over a year since I got back from China, and I’ve been absolutely giddy to get back… Read more »

  • A Fascinating Story: A Summer with Where Are Your Keys?

    This past summer, while we were in Warm Springs, Sky Hopinka was filming and interviewing us for a short documentary he wanted to do on WAYK.  Now that the editing and everything is done, we’d like to share it with you all.  This 20 minute film gives an overview of the Techniques, the community building… Read more »

  • WAYK News From Stanford

    Greetings, friends.  Today we have a guest blog from Julia Fine, a WAYK regular, sharing what they’ve been doing at Stanford University, and a bit about what we’ll be doing this upcoming summer… Hello WAYK-players! Here at Stanford, there have been several exciting WAYK-related developments over the past few weeks. “We Still Live Here” At… Read more »

  • The AILDI workshop

    On February 9th, 10th, and 11th, Evan Gardner, April Charlo (Salish), Sky Hopinka (Ho-Chunk), Paul Cason (Maidu) and his son Marlon traveled to the University of Arizona in Tucson for a workshop hosted by AILDI, the American Indian Language Development Institute.  It was a fantastic experience and we are thankful for everyone that came and… Read more »

  • Status Report: Chinuk Wawa Language Nights in Portland

    In this blog post, Sky Hopinka tells about his experiences so far with the Chinuk Wawa group at Portland State University. For the past eight weeks now, the Chinuk Wawa language group has been meeting two nights a week at the Native American Student and Community Center (NASCC) on the Portland State University campus here… Read more »

  • WAYK at Portland State University

    WAYK was asked by UISHE, the United Indian Students in Higher Education, to come and present at the Native American Student and Community Center on the PSU campus in honor of Native American Heritage Month.  UISHE is one of two Native student groups at PSU and have been very supportive of the Chinuk Wawa class… Read more »

  • Stanford Weekend Workshop

    Hello friends and fellow WAYK players! I am very excited to offer some details of our upcoming event: Nov. 5th and 6th at the Native American Center, Stanford University, Palo Alto Ca. Presented by the Stanford Languages Club The cost for this event is donation based. We are unclear at this moment how the University… Read more »

  • Warm Springs WAYK High School students in the Bend Bulletin

    The Bend Bulletin, the central Oregon newspaper, ran an article last week about the continuation of the summer language program at Madras High School.  Since the completion of the WAYK Summer Institute, several of the Warm Springs students and their teacher, Becky Dudney, were able to incorporate WAYK into their Native American Culture class:  … Read more »

  • WAYK at the Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival Conference, 2011

    Recorded September 18th, 2011 This past September Dustin Rivers and WAYK had the opportunity to present at the Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival (AICLS) conference.  AICLS is a great non-profit organization that supports language revitalization through various conferences, workshops and through their Master Apprentice Program. The conference was held at the Marin Headlands Institute in Sausalito, CA… Read more »

  • Chinuk Wawa Gatherings in Portland

    I just want to let everyone know that there is a WAYK Chinuk Wawa gathering two nights a week in Portland, OR.  Every Tuesday evening from 5PM to 7PM and every Friday afternoon from 3PM to 5PM at the Native American Student and Community Center on the Portland State University campus.  These gatherings have been… Read more »

  • WAYK Podcast, Episode 43: Y’all Are Lappin’ Me

    35 minutes and 41 seconds. [direct download] Recorded July 28th, 2011 In this episode, the overarching theme is getting everyone to manage their Full levels and really examine why we are here.  We’ve reached a point in the program where the facilitation techniques and methods of WAYK are being handed off to the students and… Read more »

  • The Kalispel/Flathead Trip Report

    Here’s an account of our recent trip to the Flathead Reservation by our very own April Charlo.  Also, expect more podcasts and blog posts to come soon, we’ve been very busy these past few weeks and are just now starting to get caught up on the nitty gritty. This is my first blog post and… Read more »

  • New website up!

    Last week, WAYK intern David Edwards finished redesigning the new “Where Are Your Keys?” website and there are some great new features he’s set-up. Under About the Game, you can find a bite sized explanation of this system starting with What is WAYK? Then, read a more detailed overview of the game in The Big Picture, which will help guide… Read more »

  • WAYK Podcast, Episode 42: Faeries Will Die. This is War.

    62 minutes and 37 seconds. [direct download] Recorded July 25th, 2011 Our discussion over dinner involves accents, talk of facilitation issues and how important it is to have a strong healthy community in order for a language to survive.  We question which comes first; the language hunter, or the language teacher.  This question goes hand… Read more »

  • WAYK Podcast, Episode 41: Welcome to the Institute of Play

    (April Charlo, Evan Gardner, and David Edwards with Warm Springs High School student John Katchia enjoying the meadow in the background) 71 minutes and 56 seconds. [direct download] Recorded July 22nd, 2011 In this episode, we introduce the “Where Are Your Keys?” Summer Institute of Play at the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Indian Reservation,… Read more »

  • 2011 Summer Institute of Play!

    Welcome to the Where Are Your Keys? 2011 Summer Institute of Play! This summer the WAYK interns and I have been living and breathing “Where Are Your Keys”.  We have been facilitating an 8 week Numu (Northern Paiute) language teacher training on the Warm Springs Reservation in Oregon. Working in partnership with the Warm Springs… Read more »

  • “Feed Your Mind” – Top Techniques of WAYK

    In any fluency hunting environment, whether leading a game, or setting-up for a one on one with a fluent fool, you can acknowledge the human need for nutrition and comfort by feeding your mind. “Have you eaten?” – a traditional Mayan greeting, traditional Chinese greeting. Feeding Your Mind [formerly “do food“] is a hallowed human activity, a… Read more »