wow. plane...that's awsome...you really have researched this. THanks
I teach in the public school system in Albuquerque, where many Acoma families now live instead of a top the high cliffs of the ancient pueblo, but the language is still alive.
It's a shame the the anglosized native american has to feel the need to bury the language. There is a depth of language that must be maintained.....in any culture. I told this to grandfather Pino. Speak to your grandson, speak to him often in your tongue..please....
I guess I am surprised that he has not after all that he experienced as a young male, himself. There's NOTHING worse than to be told to shut up and to stop speaking the very language that is the essence of who we are.
It's not ok to tell a people to tear down that wall of words.
Could the "Foxfire " sort of project support itself in an Indian community , in spite of current difficultys with school administration and federal funding?
Kids involved in the Foxfire books and magazines would seek out older people in their community and interview them , producing Magazine articls and book chapters that sold at a profit , whilst also learning to interview , compose and edit.
I bought every Foxfire book and read every word , it was exelent. The idea guy for the project got into troubble for molesting students and the project has shrunk. Man .... I wish he hadn't done anything like that , he betrayed his students and wounded a very worthy project.
Produceing a connection between the youngest and the eldest generations in their community , recording the traditions and methods of survival remembered by so tragicly few the Foxfire project is good for everyone involved , the Young learn Journalistic skill and the orth of their elders , the elders enjoy haveing the attention .
There is a current rise in intreast in Native tradition , perhaps a book could be sold ,made in this manner , a self supporting project.
http://www.foxfire.org/
Foxfire" is a method of classroom instruction?not a step-by-step checklist, but an over-arching approach that incorporates the original Foxfire classroom's building blocks of giving students the opportunity to make decisions about how they learn required material, using the community around them as a resource to aid that learning, and giving the students an audience beyond the teacher and the classroom for their work.
Most importantly, "Foxfire" is the living connection between the high school students in the magazine program and their heritage, built through continued interaction with their elders. These students, through their own choices, have worked for four decades to document and preserve the stories, crafts, trades, and the personalities of their families, neighbors, and friends. By doing so, they have preserved this unique American culture for generations to come
