MEDIA ADVISORY

Just a month after Gov. Tony Knowles signed a bill requiring Alaska school districts with more than 50 percent Alaska Native students to establish local Native language curriculum advisory boards, rural educators are going back to school for Native language teaching endorsements and training. Teachers and teacher's aides from Galena, Iditarod, Yukon Flats and Yukon-Koyukuk school districts have converged at the University of Alaska Fairbanks for the Athabascan Language Development Institute, a three-week program sponsored by the Alaska Native Language Center that runs through June 16.

Certified teachers will complete fundamental coursework towards endorsement in language education, a new post-certification specialty adopted by the Alaska State Board of Education last December. Many of the courses within the 19-credit program can also be applied towards a master's degree in education at UAF. The institute offers teacher's aides the opportunity to work towards certificates or associate degrees in Native language education, as well as bachelor's degrees in Alaska Native Studies with a language emphasis.

After the institute ends, educators will continue towards certification through distance delivery and language retreats held in regional villages. Eligible candidates working toward fluency in one of four target languages— Deg Xinag, Gwich'in, Koyukon or Upper Kuskokwim— will receive one-on-one lessons with a mentor through a Tanana Chiefs Conference apprentice program organized by Mary Jane Darendoff.

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CONTACT: Patrick Marlow, Alaska Native Language Center, at (907) 474-7446.

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