To App or Not App: Looking at How Technology Impacts Language Learning

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October 19-21, 2015

Isleta Resort & Casino

(Pueblo of Isleta) Albuquerque, New Mexico

Did your language program invest in technology tools or apps? How helpful are the tools/apps in producing speakers? Does it help create language materials? Has it increased motivation and interest among your community members to learn and use the language? Does the app or program help you as a teacher and if so, how? Are the tools sitting on a shelf and collecting dust? These are some of the questions our Presenters will address as they share their experiences developing and/or using EFFECTIVE tech tools.

Day three is a presentation and mini-training session on how to implement Indigenous Language Institute’s “How Do I Say: Learner-Driven Language Learning Method”. We will feature presenters who have used this method in their language work.

PRESENTERS/TOPICS

We will continue to update this list as the presenters send us their titles of the presentations.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Gregory Cajete, Ph.D. (Pueblo of Santa Clara)

BIO: Professor of Education and Director of Native American Studies at University of New Mexico, has pioneered reconciling indigenous perspectives in sciences in Western academic setting and focusses on teaching "culturally based science with its emphasis on health and wellness."

TITLE: Designing Culturally-Responsive Language Curriculum for Computer Based Instruction

SYNOPSIS: This presentation will explore the ways in which the Zais Model for Curriculum Design can be used for the development of comprehensive language instruction and the incorporation of technology. The four foundational considerations of the Zais Model – epistemology, society and culture, the learner, and learning approaches – inform the four components of the Zais Model which include: aims, goal and objectives, content, learning activities and evaluation. The importance of sound curriculum planning in the development of well organized language will be emphasized. Participants will gain insights into how this form of curriculum planning ensures that the contexts of learning of indigenous language with computer-based technologies are fully considered.

PRESENTERS

1. Matthew Rama (Lakota) and Peter Hill, Lakota Immersion Daycare in Pine Ridge, South Dakota

BIO: Matthew Rama, Lakota Immersion Childcare Program Director - Matthew has extensive training and experience in childhood education, and is a second language learner of Lakota. Under his leadership, the program has grown from a fledgling startup, with two staff members and secondhand, donated toys and office supplies, to the strong, respected, and growing program it is today. Matthew has a long-term commitment to the success of the program and two of his daughters currently attend the daycare. 

BIO: Peter Hill currently serves as Lakota Immersion Childcare’s language coordinator. Peter learned Lakota as a second language, and is one of the only people living who has become fully fluent in the language as an adult. His fluency came from extensive interactions with first-language speakers in the various communities of the Pine Ridge Reservation, and also from intensive self-study using available print and audio resources. Peter has been active in Lakota language revitalization for nearly a decade. He has taught Lakota language at Red Cloud High School in Pine Ridge, and helped edit the 23,000-entry New Lakota Dictionary.

TITLE: Technology with a Limited Budget

SYNOPSIS: Have you ever asked yourself, “How can I integrate technology into my language lessons when there are no existing resources?” or, “How do I develop multimedia materials when I don’t even know where to start?” Our program was in this situation a few years ago, and we decided we needed more to ensure that our students had an enriched learning experience. We searched widely for online programs and software that would be cost-effective and appealing to our students. We want to share what we found, and offer tips so that you can better utilize technology in your own language programs.

2. Manuelito Wheeler, Jennifer Wheeler and Joe Kee, Jr.

BIO: Jennifer Wheeler has taught both English and Navajo language for 20 years at University of New Mexico Gallup Campus, Arizona State University, and Maricopa Community College. Wheeler received her Bachelor's in Secondary English Education from Northern Arizona University and her M.A. and Ph.D. in English from Arizona State University. She resides on the Navajo reservation with her husband and two sons.

BIO: Manuelito “Manny” Wheeler was born and raised in the Navajo Nation and is currently the Director of the Navajo Nation Museum in Window Rock, Arizona. Since taking this position in 2008, he has worked with the museum staff to see the completion of many exhibits and special projects. Prior to this position, he was Creative Director at Heard Museum at Phoenix, Arizona.

BIO: Joe Kee, Jr. is Associate Professor of Navajo Language at the University of New Mexico, has extensive experience and knowledge of the Navajo culture, history, and language. Originally from Steamboat, AZ, Mr. Kee's professional experiences as a college professor extend nearly 20 years. Mr. Kee is a torchbearer of the Navajo language, culture and history through lessons, songs and stories. His greatest joy in teaching is observing his students tap into the language barriers that presently exist between generations. His work with the Navajo-dubbed Star Wars: Episode IV in 2013 enriches his present involvement with the translation, adaptation and dubbing of the Navajo-dubbed Finding Nemo, a classic children's movie.

TITLE: "Just Keep Swimming": Using Major Motion Pictures to Encourage Navajo Youth to Learn Their Language

SYNPOSIS: After the dubbing of “Star Wars” into Diné, the team pursued another project. This time it was working with Disney to dub “Finding Nemo” into Diné. Adult voices were not difficult to recruit but the challenge was to find a young boy who was fluent in Diné to do the voice over. The presenters will share how the project was conceived and carried out. This project illustrates to our young ones that knowing your language can land you a “cool” project and possible career!

3. Darrick Baxter

BIO: Darrick Baxter is a Native American language app developer and the creator of the Ojibway iPhone app. His long and distinguished career includes helping to build a stronger national aboriginal television network, instructor at the University of Winnipeg and educational language and game-centric developmental learning.

TITLE: Language Apps - using technology to teach ancestral languages

SYNOPSIS: Capturing the imagination and attention of young people in the digital age is difficult and requires innovative technology that connects users with their past using modern tools. Young people hold in their hands the future of language learning and will decide if Native languages live or die. Tribal language apps can preserve and revitalize endangered Native American languages by archiving the spoken word and creating volumes of resources and catalogs of words, phrases and historic locations, traditional sacred tribal objects and endangered oral history.

4. Robyn Perry

BIO: Robyn Perry is a language researcher and information architect committed to equity and justice. She’s currently studying cultural preservation efforts in US diaspora communities. She cut her teeth in technology for social change at the Progressive Technology Project, where she trained grassroots organizers to use technology strategically to reach broader audiences to effect political change. Robyn has a masters in Information Management & Systems from UC Berkeley and a BA in Linguistics and Italian Studies from UC Santa Cruz. She speaks Spanish and Italian and wishes she spoke so many more.

TITLE: Introducing Aikuma: A Free App for Recording and Interpreting Stories in Any Language

SYNOPSIS: This presentation will highlight Aikuma, the free app that enables digital audio recordings and phrase-by-phrase interpretation. Ms. Perry will discuss why it is important for worldwide language revitalization efforts, as well as our current project using it in US diaspora communities. She will also facilitate a conversation with participants about how Aikuma might amplify revitalization efforts in indigenous communities in the US and beyond. Because Aikuma enables interpretation from any language into any other, she will also invite participants to explore its prospects for deepening cross-cultural understandings of common historical experiences between geographically dispersed indigenous communities.

5. Ishmael Angaluuk Hope (Inupiaq/Tlingit)

BIO: Ishmael Angaluuk Hope is an Inupiaq and Tlingit writer and storyteller. He was a lead writer for Upper One Games’s new video game, Kisima Ingitchuna, Never Alone, released in the fall of 2014, with a downloadable follow-up to the game entitled "Foxtales". In the winter of 2014, he released his first book of poetry, Courtesans of Flounder Hill with the Ishmael Reed Publishing Company. He currently is transcribing Tlingit stories for Nora and Richard Dauenhauer's upcoming collection of Tlingit Raven stories. He is raising a family of four young children with his wife Lily Hope.

TITLE: Gathering in the Community House: Generating Indigenous Spaces for Language and Cultural Revitalization

SYNOPSIS: Ishmael Angaluuk Hope will present his findings as a writer for the successful video game, Kisima Ingitchuna: Never Alone, developed by Upper One Games, a partnership between the Cook Inlet Tribal Council and E-Line Media. He will explore how technology can be utilized in language and cultural revitalization, and examine its possibilities and limitations. He will also discuss how Native communities can generate spaces for Native worldviews, perspectives, cultural practices and languages in modern times, how culture and language can be centered in a world of universalizing Western paradigms that attempt to absorb and remold non-Western cultures into its aegis. 

6. Daryl Baldwin (Miami Tribe of Oklahoma)

BIO: Daryl Baldwin is a citizen of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma and currently serves as the Director of the Myaamia Center at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. The Myaamia Center is a unique collaborative effort supported by the Miami Tribe of  Oklahoma and Miami University for the purpose of advancing the language and cultural research needs of the Myaamia people. Daryl received an MA in linguistics from the University of Montana. He has worked with the Myaamia people developing language and cultural materials since 1995.

TITLE: User-Driven Technologies that Support Myaamia Language Revitalization

SYNOPSIS: Technology is now a big part of our lives and most us use it daily. Technology change is often driven by the user, and it is the user that ultimately determines what gets used and what doesn’t. This is an important concept when deciding what technology is useful to language and cultural education. This talk will look at several different user-driven technology designs and discuss both successful and failed examples from the revitalization work supported by the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma through the Myaamia Center at Miami University.

7. Finlay Macleiod

BIO: Finlay Macleoid was born on Lewis in the Western Isles, Scotland and grew up in a community where Scottish Gaelic was the everyday language. However, he did not speak fluently until 18 years of age after eight years of self-motivated learning with help from fluent speakers in his extended family. In the late 70s he became the Chief Executive of Comhairle nan Sgoiltean Araich (CNSA), the Gaelic Pre-school Council to promote Gaelic throughout the country.

TITLE: Total Immersion in Pre-school Groups: How to Prepare Parents Teachers and Students

SYNOPSIS: To bring pre-school children to a Gaelic fluency speedily, it is central to a child's language development that parents learn Gaelic. Showing staff that the ideal way of teaching pre-school children Gaelic is by way of Total Immersion Plus methodologies. Staff will create a strong and vibrant Gaelic environment in the playroom; this is entirely necessary in order to encourage the continual use of Gaelic among fluent children. Parents should make their child aware of group life before they join a pre-school group. Pre-school group staff can bring a child from a non Gaelic speaking home to a Gaelic conversational fluency.

8. Inee Slaughter, Patricia Sandoval, Virginia Velasquez, Jarrid Baldwin, Peter Hill, Matthew Rama will present on "How Do I Say...? Learner Driven Language Learning Method.

SPONSORS

SAN MANUEL BAND OF MISSION INDIANS

LANNAN FOUNDATION

PUEBLO OF ISLETA

THE CHICKASAW NATION

TRADER JOE'S SANTA FE

WHOLE FOODS OF SANTA FE

SCHOLARSHIP INFORMATION

Thanks to Lannan Foundation for contribution towards the 6th Annual Language Institute Symposium 2015 Scholarship Fund. There are a limited number of scholarships available for ILIS 2015. Click here for a Scholarship Application Form. Scholarship includes registration for this three-day event, one banquet ticket, one How Do I Say...? workbook, and one symposium t-shirt. Deadline to apply for scholarship is September 21, 2015 or until scholarship funds are exhausted.

TRADE SHOW VENDOR TABLE

The Indigenous Language Institute (ILI) is offering Trade Show Tables for the suppliers of language and education related products and services, public and private sector industries, to showcase their products, programs, and services to about 200 language and education workers from all regions.

Limited numbers of Trade Show Tables are available on a first-come first-served basis. Each table is $150 for the 3-days of the Symposium for one 8’ long table and 2 chairs per table and one (1) Lead Exhibitor Badge. Wi-Fi is complimentary. Bring your own electrical power strips/extension cords if you need electricity. Payment must be received with this Form in order to guarantee table(s).

The mornings of the three days are presentations by invited speakers. If you are interested in attending the presentations, you will need to register for the Symposium. After lunch will be the Networking Sessions all three days so there is plenty of time for you to interact with the attendees.

Click here for PDF Trade Show Table Vendor Registration Form.

BANQUET INFORMATION

Your registration fee includes one ticket to the banquet held on Monday, October 19, 2015 at 6:00 p.m. Extra tickets can be purchased at the registration desk for $40/each. This will be a cultural sharing evening with volunteers from the participants who will share songs, humor, etc. Participants are encouraged to wear their traditional clothing.

SYMPOSIUM HOTEL

The symposium will be held at the Isleta Resort & Casino which is located at 11000 Broadway, SE, (Pueblo of Isleta) Albuquerque, New Mexico 87105, (505) 724-3800 or 1 (877) 475-3827, http://www.isleta.com/. Isleta Resort & Casino is just 14 minutes South of the Albuquerque Sunport International Airport. Room rate is $89/per night plus tax. Mention the "LLI1015" code or "Indigenous Language Institute". The deadline to reserve your hotel room has just been extended to October 2, 2015. Room and room rate will be available until this date, unless all rooms in ILI's group block are sold out.

SHUTTLE INFORMATION

Isleta Resort & Casino has a shuttle to and from the airport for registered guests. For shuttle, call Guest Services at (505) 724-3800, 24 to 48 hours prior to pickup time.

OTHER SHUTTLE / CAB INFORMATION

Sunport Shuttle (505) 883-4966 or www.sunportshuttle.com

Albuquerque Cab Company (505) 883-4888

Yellow Cab Company (505) 247-8888

CAR RENTAL INFORMATION

Here are some car rental places located at the Albuquerque Airport:

Advantage  Rent  A  Car  1-­800-­777-­5500

Alamo  Rent  A  Car  1-­800-­462-­5266

Avis  Auto  Rental  1-­800-­331-­1212

Budget  Rent  A  Car  1-­800-­527-­0700  

Dollar  Rent  A  Car  1-­800-­800-­4000  

Enterprise  Rent  A  Car  1-­800-­736-­8222

Hertz  1-­800-­654-­313

National  Rent  A  Car  1-­800-­227-­7368

Thrifty  Car  Rental  1-­800-­847-­4389