It’s been very busy the last few months in the language department. We hosted a very successful Potawatomi Language Conference as part of the Potawatomi Gathering of Nations in July. We had more than 300 participants. For the first time ever, we streamed the conference live. We also have an archive on YouTube where you can watch the three-day conference if you weren’t able to be there. Please see the video embedded below.
We also had our children’s language page go live at cpn.news/childrenscourse.
As another first. we opened what we believe to be the first ever Potawatomi language college course online through St. Gregory’s University in Shawnee, Oklahoma. To our knowledge, the Potawatomi language has never been offered at a university. So now students can take the course from anywhere in the country or world for college credit through St. Gregory’s University.
We continue to have a lot of interest in our free online self-paced language course at language.potawatomi.org.
We have had 462 people attempt the course. There is currently a ‘Beginner I’ and ‘Beginner II’ course and we are working on the next level which will be intermediate. The course is designed so you can do it at your own pace. Just go to the website, enroll and wait for a confirmation email, then you are good to go.
We are also continuing to develop additional tools and enhancements to our online courses. In the future we hope to have an eight or 16 week course available to local high school students as part of their foreign language credit.
Fall words
Dgwaget – It is fall
Watebgya – Leaves are turning colors
Bnakwi – Leaves falling
Mawdoshkegen– Rake
Mawdoshke– He/She rakes
Zet pkwakwet – Football
Giwse – He/She hunts
Datbek – Leaf
Wabgon – Pumpkin
Gwetajchegen – Scare crow