$1MILLION DOLLAR GRANT FUNDS NATIVE LANGUAGE TRAINING PROJECT AT UAF
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 12, 1998
Fairbanks, Alaska - As the number of Native speakers of Alaska's first languages continues to decline, funding for programs to train Native language educators is on the rise. And now, because of a $1.05 million U.S. Department of Education grant, the University of Alaska Fairbanks will accelerate its efforts to increase training opportunities for Athabaskan language teachers statewide. The money will be used to create a bilingual education program and career ladder for current and future rural school district teachers.
"This is an incredible amount of support for our program and a remarkable demonstration of the confidence national funders have in our ability to provide quality bilingual educators in Alaska," said Patrick Marlow, an assistant professor at UAF's Alaska Native Language Center and program coordinator of the five-year bilingual training grant.
Prior to the 19th century, Native languages were passed from generation to generation by adults teaching their children how to speak. The American educational system, beginning in the 1880s, disallowed the use of Alaska Native languages. The policy was routinely enforced with mental or physical abuse, according to Marlow.
By the 1930s in many parts of Alaska, the results of this policy became evident. Parents who were bilingual began to raise the first generation of children who could not speak the language of their grandparents. Today, of the 20 Alaska Native languages alive, only two — Siberian Yupik and Central Yup'ik — are still being learned in the traditional way.
Athabaskan languages are recognized as some of the most endangered Native languages in the state. In Alaska villages, there are about 6,400 Athabaskans who speak 11 distinct languages. The largest group of speakers are Gwich'in, with about 300 people fluent in the language. The smallest group is Holikachuk with only 12 documented speakers.
In response to concerns about dying Native languages in Alaska, UAF's Alaska Native Language Center several years ago began initiating programs to increase the quality of Native language education in Alaskan schools.
According to Marlow, the training of bilingual teachers for Interior Alaska school districts will not only help keep Native languages active, but provide an academic boost for at-risk students in rural areas. "We have documentation that tells us instruction in ancestral languages can have a positive impact on student performance," Marlow said.
Marlow points out that the loss of a language is more than a loss of the words themselves, but to some extent, a group's unique way of looking at the world. "Language is a medium for transmitting not only instructions, commands and thoughts but also the ideals, beliefs and values of a culture."
The $1 million from the federal education department will allow ANLC to build on its success of providing coursework to reach Interior Alaska's dispersed and isolated areas. Courses will take place in early summer before subsistence activities are at their peak and techniques like distance delivery education, regional on-site workshops, and the development of CD-ROMs will further enhance the training efforts.
Partners in the project called the "Denaqenage' Career Ladder Project" are the Interior Alaska Rural Education Attendance Areas of Iditarod, Yukon Flats, Yukon-Koyukuk and Galena City Schools along with the Association of Interior Native Educators, Tanana Chiefs Conference and the Rural Educator Preparation Partnership Program at UAF.
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CONTACT: Patrick Marlow, Coordinator, Denaqenage' Career Ladder Project (907) 474-7446, or via email at: ffpem@uaf.edu
DPD/11-11-98/99-028