Native Language Network

ILI's newsletter, Native Language Network, chronicles the efforts of those working in the field of  community-based indigenous language revitalization. In each issue of Native Language Network, representatives of Native communities throughout the Americas share the triumphs and concerns they  have encountered. Native Language Network is published twice a year and distributed freely to ILI members and friends.
Native Language Network back issues are available here in Adobe PDF format.

Awakening Our Languages — How-to Handbooks

Awakening Our Languages is a set of 10 booklets that resulted from a 3-year Field Survey Project funded by the Ford Foundation and Educational Foundation of America to visit 34 language programs nationwide and recorded the experiences of the communities involved in maintaining and re-establishing their Native languages.

In November 2002, ILI sponsored Community Voices Coming Together: A National Working Symposium in Albuquerque, New Mexico that brought together 300 participants from Native communities. Participants included representatives from the language programs that the ILI Field Survey Project Team visited. Results from the field reports were shared and led to collaboration on the ILI Handbook Series, Awakening Our Languages. The Christensen Fund and Kalliopeia Foundation provided further support in publishing these handbooks.

These handbooks are designed to serve several purposes:

  1. to guide the process of planning, designing and implementing a language program
  2. to give language teachers and administrators a chance to evaluate and reflect on their own programs
  3. to give support and endorsement to those who have been carrying out successful programs
  4. to inspire and recruit language revitalization advocates.

The handbooks address specific topics and each can be used separately.

The topics covered are:

  • Handbook 1: Awakening Our Languages: An Introduction
  • Handbook 2: Developing Materials and Activities for Language Teaching
  • Handbook 3: Conducting a Language Survey
  • Handbook 4: Envisioning a Language Program
  • Handbook 5: Knowing Our Language Learners
  • Handbook 6: Knowing Our Language Teachers
  • Handbook 7: Training Our Teachers
  • Handbook 8: Designing Curriculum
  • Handbook 9: Evaluating Our Language Program
  • Handbook 10: Understanding First and Second Language Acquisition

Please visit our Marketplace for ordering information.
Contents
  • ILI & NIGA working together at 11th Annual Trade Show & Convention
  • Annual Youth Language Fair a Success
  • Rubin/Postaer & Associates Creates National Ad Campaign
  • New Board Members Elected at March Meeting in Santa Fe
  • “Community Voices Coming Together” ILI National Language Working Symposium
  • Technical Steering Committee Meets to Plan ILI’s LMDC
  • Thank you IBM!
  • Message From the President
  • Grants to Support ILI Programs
  • ILI Workshops Presented at Conferences
Contents
  • IPOLA Becomes The Indigenous Language Institute (ILI)
  • New ILI Think Tank Seminars Target Grassroots Language Revitalization
  • Executive Director’s Message
  • The “Re-Awakening” of the Wôpanâak Language
  • ILI Honoring Event Recognizes Two Indigenous Language Warriors
  • Thanks to All Who Helped “Make a Difference”
  • Language Field Survey Tracks Successful Tribal Language Programs
  • Conferences Spotlight The Challenge and Promise of Language Revitalization
  • 3rd Annual ILI Language Fair To Honor Young Native American Creativity