By Justin Neely, CPN Language Department Director
Bozho Jayek (Hello everyone),
It’s been a busy fall for the Language Department. We have a new high school class we are working with this year at North Rock Creek. We are also offering the language at Shawnee High School and are planning on having some students at Tecumseh High School later in the year. This course is being offered and counts toward the graduation language requirement for students.
We have been teaching a family language class every Thursday at the 13th Street Housing office in an effort to specifically bring the language into the community. This class is being taught by Josey Wood assisted by other staff members. We have had a nice, dedicated group of families showing up. This class is for six weeks. The kids are engaged and really seem to be enjoying learning the language as well as the parents in attendance.
We are also offering a beginner language class every Tuesday being taught by Shelly Watson. Once again, we have a small but highly dedicated and driven group. They are covering some of the foundational pieces of the language.
We are also offering a Wednesday Elder’s class, every Wednesday from 11:40 a.m. or so to noon. The elders and our staff are having a good time teaching this class. The elders have been learning common words and also singing songs.
Thursday afternoons we have a pretty active group of about six people who come in around 2 p.m. and spend the afternoon working on the language. For those of you who are available from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday and would like to join us for this class or even to have an individual class please let us know. We are more than happy to try and accommodate.
I am quite proud of the progress of our staff. They have each been working with the language for less than two years and are quite good in both their comprehension and ability to relay the language to our students. They can understand almost everything I say in the language and are pretty good at replying back as well.
Recently one of our staff, Cole Rattan, was honored at the Algonquian Language Conference for his amazing growth with our language. Cole has worked for the language department for only a year but has already taught two different 10-week courses and assisted other staff with teaching other courses. In just a year he has already mastered many of the most complicated elements of the language and is working hard to understand VTA verbs which are perhaps one of the most complex of the verbal patterns. We are proud of Cole and his accomplishment.
Before long, it will be time for our Annual Winter Story Telling event. We are planning on Feb. 5 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. central time at the Cultural Heritage Center in Shawnee, Oklahoma. We also plan on doing an online version as well. This is usually a well-attended event, and we look forward to hosting it once again. If you plan on attending in person, send us an email at language@potawatomi.org with a heading of Winter Story Telling event so we can plan accordingly.
Remember to access some of the many tools we offer to assist in your language learning journey. Or if you have a certain question don’t hesitate to send an email to language@potawatomi.org. Visit our online dictionary at potawatomidictionary.com, or access our online courses at learning.potawatomi.org.