Complete Coverage
Preserving the Mother Tongue

Navajo Language & Culture: Arizona's Navajo Language Immersion School draws on tradition to spur its students to high achievement. | View multimedia presentation.

Overview

Many Native American communities in the United States have lost, or nearly lost, their indigenous languages. And little is happening in most public schools—or in Native American homes—to bring those languages back.

A recent U.S. Department of Education survey found, for instance, that 39 percent of 4th graders and 40 percent of 8th graders who consider themselves to be Native Americans receive no exposure to a language other than English at home, and 3 percent or less of such students have teachers who report frequently using a Native American or Alaska Native language to teach core subjects.

Still, some Native Americans are fighting to preserve the vitality of Native languages. Edweek.org has pulled together a collection of articles exploring those efforts.

Tribes Use Camps to Speak on Preserving Language

In an America dominated by computers, TV and video games, a decreasing number of Native Americans, especially younger ones, can speak or understand their native tongues. August 4, 2008, AP

Saving Oneida Language Becomes a Full Time Job

Heath Hill looks forward to the day when all ceremonies in the Oneida Indian Nation Longhouse can once again be held in the native language spoken by someone from his upstate New York tribe. August 4, 2008, AP

N.M. First State to Adopt Navajo Textbook

New Mexico officials say the state is the first to adopt a Navajo textbook, Dine Bizaad Binahoo'ahh, or Rediscovering the Navajo Language, for use in the public education system. July 29, 2008

Native American Students Flag Holes in Instruction

A new federal study finds that most American Indian students know little about their own culture and receive no exposure to their native language at home or in school. June 25, 2008