 Our Language Our Souls:
The Yup'ik bilingual curriculum of the
Lower Kuskokwim School District: A continuing success story.
Edited by Delena Norris-Tull,
University of Alaska Fairbanks,
School of Education, Fairbanks, Alaska
copyright
1999
Chapter 5
Analysis of the Yup'ik Immersion
Program In Bethel
by Agatha Panigkaq John-Shields
Bethel, Alaska
Copyright 1998
"We take away valuable
knowledge and culture from our children when we do not communicate
with them to teach our children our Yup'ik language and way of life," states
Frank Andrews, Sr., an elder from Kwigillingok. (1998 LKSD
Bilingual Summer Institute)
After three years of the Yup'ik immersion program in Bethel, we,
the immersion teachers (Loddie Ayaprun Jones, one of Bethel's first
Yup'ik immersion teachers, Carrie Inuqaar Dahl, one of the present
Yup'ik immersion teachers and a parent, and myself, Agatha Panigkaq
Shields, a Yup'ik immersion teacher and a parent), are looking
towards the future for ways to improve the program through our vast
experiences and knowledge. The foci for future planning are as
follows: first, analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the program,
next, assess the benefits for the community and people involved,
third, predict the consequences if the immersion program was ever
discontinued, and last, provide recommendations for the program as a
whole.
Strengths of the Program
Since its beginning, many changes have occurred to better
achieve
the goal (stated in the program mission statement, Parent Handbook,
page 1) of "promoting an understanding between two cultures," Yup'ik
and Western. The Yup'ik language and culture has been strengthened in
the region as a result of these types of programs. Through the use of
the language in the classroom, our culture is being revived with the
help of the people involved, through networking between the teachers,
parents, students, and the community. There is a sense of belonging
and feeling of family through mutual respect and understanding.
Through networking, the Native students as well as the non-Native
students benefit from learning about the Yup'ik language and culture.
The program also is helping preserve the language and culture for the
students to come. Like families, we as a community have to network to
raise the children as though we were all their parents, as envisioned
by Samuel Shields (interview 1998).
Parental involvement in the immersion program has grown. Parents
who began by asking questions about the program now ask questions
about how they can help to improve the program. Parents are more
vocal in the Advisory School Board (ASB) and parent meetings. Some
know that their commitment to the program is vital. Through a sense
of belonging, Bruce Perry, a parent, mentioned (interview 1998) that
he is proud to see his child learning about a unique indigenous
culture and language, a language that their grandparents speak
predominantly and a culture that they still live.
As the students are learning to speak and understand the Yup'ik
language and culture, we need to be aware of the importance of
speaking consistently in Yup'ik. What I am noticing, as a parent and
a teacher, is the effort involved in teaching and reviving our
language. I struggle to keep my language alive by not switching back
and forth between Yup'ik and English. If parents and children work
together, we can all be successful in acquiring the Yup'ik language.
Parents play a big role in success. The steering committee,
composed of parents, has a goal to be a link between parents, the
ASB, and school administration. (Mikelnguut Elitnaurviat School,
Parent Handbook, page 10). This time is also used to make plans for
events such as potluck, parent night, performances, etc. The meetings
today mainly provide information on short term goals and events that
occur within the program.
The foremost important cultural aspect of the program is having
Elders around the students. This is the time Elders speak, observe,
communicate, teach, advise, tell stories and much more, with the
students. Loddie Jones (interview 1998) invites Elders from the
senior center to come to the schools to be around the students.
Throughout the school year students are invited to perform during
special occasions and conferences in the community as part of the
Elders' entertainment. Elders from other villages are temporarily
employed by Kilbuck School as cultural specialists to teach dancing
and arts and crafts to all students in the school. This way more
cultural aspects of the Yup'ik life are incorporated into the
curriculum from these valuable sources, the Elders. Not only do
students feel proud, the Elders feel proud to see the preservation of
their language and culture and their ability to use their own
language with younger children. Martina John (interview 1998), an
elder who has been a cultural specialist, said she is always very
glad to use her Native language as a tool to teach and advise her
grandchildren in the immersion program. The Elders' ability to use
their language with the children is a vital avenue to communicate and
guide our children's path for their future.
From the immersion teachers' overall discussion, we are all in
agreement about the importance of team teaching. As teachers we are
privileged to keep and use our Native language to teach as well as
learn with our students about our rich culture in our classrooms.
Learning with our students, we become closely bonded and committed to
the program. Mrs. Jones' strength in teaching comes from remembering
her mother's words of how sad it is to be unable to converse with her
own grandchildren in Yup'ik (Jones presentation 1998). For me, my
willingness to teach comes from the importance of my parents to be
able to communicate and help me teach my students as well as my three
daughters through our culture.
Since every teacher has a unique specialty and knowledge, team
teaching is a must for the immersion teacher family. Like a family,
when they get a chance to meet the teachers share teaching strategies
that are successful with immersion students. The teachers meet more
frequently with others that are close to their classrooms. The
materials created and translated by one are shared with another.
Because we lack commercially available materials in our Yup'ik
language, it is crucial that we practice the Yup'ik value of sharing
and working together daily as we produce new materials.
Teaching materials are constantly translated and created, but
there are never enough. Since the beginning of the program, teachers
have had the privilege to get together with experienced language
teachers during some part of the summer to create materials for the
district. Materials now available in the Yup'ik language from the
summer institute and networking are: Saxon math, thematic units with
lessons plans, supplemental seasonal packets, a newsletter containing
teaching ideas and worksheets, the balanced literacy program guides,
thematic packets, and fun reading books that students enjoy. Overall,
the materials are slowly made, but we are still growing stronger as
more networking happens.
Weaknesses that have not been overcome
Although there are strengths within the program overall, separate
sites for grades K-1 and grade 2 weakens the connection and
continuation in the program. This is a problem mainly for the second
graders. Carrie Dahl (interview 1998), the second grade teacher,
struggled this year with lack of materials and support because second
grade was on its first year at a separate site. This caused an
imbalance in the program which created many problems.
Dahl finds that a lack of regular communication with the K-1
teachers, other than by e-mail or phone, has created problems. Work
time is constantly filled with planning, creating instruction, and
translating. Immersion teachers lack time to meet during work hours.
No time for teachers leads to no time to sit down to analyze the
program overall for future goals.
Competing for resources and sometimes facing opposition from
English language programs affects the acceptance of our immersion
program by other teachers and administrators. Lacking knowledge of
how the program works, some are skeptical of the value of the Yup'ik
immersion program. Without the support of others within the school
district, it is hard to work together. As teachers and parents in the
program, we need to strengthen our leadership role and to voice the
value of the program and make known the support we need to stay as
one program.
We, the teachers and parents, observe that the following factors
work to weaken the program overall. Lack of materials for the core
curriculum is always going to put us at a disadvantage when compared
to the English language program. We never have enough translated
books and assessments for our indigenous language program. Any book
written in Yup'ik is considered a big accomplishment, but we still
need a better understanding of the students' needs to accurately fit
the teaching levels within the curriculum.
Presently, the parents of the up-coming third graders are
disappointed that there are not enough Yup'ik teachers available for
recruiting. Although the Parent Handbook states that a new teacher
for the next grade level should be recruited at the beginning of the
previous school year, as of June 1998 there is still no certified
teacher placed in grade three for this fall. The process of obtaining
new teachers is slower than we expected. As a parent, Bruce Perry
stated he is disappointed in the lack of support and enthusiasm from
the administration and the leadership level. Especially with the
program being in its fourth year, program leaders should have planned
better for placing a new teacher for the upcoming grades (Perry
interview 1998). There needs to be better planning a year ahead to
give the teachers time to prepare.
The parent steering committee has grown, but the visual progress
of the program has been slower than was expected. The people involved
lack knowledge of the department structure as we, the parents, are
starting to understand. There has not been a clear definition of who
is in charge of the program and this is weakening networking.
Everything in the program is slowed down, making it difficult to
reach our goals (Perry, Shields, Dahl, Jones interviews 1998). For
example, the Yup'ik library and resource center that is vital for our
children to use for more educational purposes is still not there.
There is no set funding for the immersion program. Without
reliable funding, there is always uncertainty about the future of the
program. This uncertainty adds to the skepticism in the community.
Skeptics even include Yup'ik people who are afraid that learning in
our Yup'ik language will slow the children's progress in school. We,
as a community, need to network with everyone to help people better
understand the program. A parent who manages a company suggested that
not only should we include people involved in the school, we also
need to network with businesses and parents not involved in the
program to help them better understand the immersion program (Shields
interview 1998).
Benefits to the Community, Family, and Students
As a parent and a teacher I have always felt a sense of belonging
and of family within the Yup'ik immersion program. Not only does the
program help strengthen the local language and culture, students and
teachers remain basically the same from one year to the next, which
lends to the feeling of being one family. Not only the people
involved benefit, but people who become knowledgeable about the
program benefit. There is a better understanding about the culture,
more acceptance, more self-pride and self-esteem, and bonding between
everyone.
As teachers, we have noticed several changes in the community.
There is more interest in learning about the culture, racism has
lessened between the different cultures, and there is less
frustration among the people who are involved in the school. There is
less skepticism within the community and school as a whole. As the
program has gained acceptance by the community, the students have
been invited to perform and to air language use on the radio. This
exposes the community to the rich Yup'ik language and culture the
students are acquiring. All in all, Yup'ik is more greatly
appreciated and accepted within the community.
Consequences if the Immersion Program is discontinued
We feel it would be a great disservice to the community and
children of the region if the program were ever to be discontinued.
All the benefits and strengths I have mentioned will be destroyed.
The struggle to revive the dying Yup'ik language would be lost. The
effort to preserve the language would be minimized. Not only will the
people lose their language, self-pride would diminish again. Children
would lose the opportunity to learn ways of life from our Elders who
can only speak Yup'ik, as Frank Andrew stated. All of this would lead
to further racism towards and ignorance in the community of the
Native people who are privileged to be part of the Yup'ik culture.
The Elders, parents, and students will lose the ability and gift to
communicate.
The ability to communicate with the Elders to learn about the
unique culture will be minimized again. The feeling of importance the
Elders feel today will diminish along with their pride, as several
summer institute participants have mentioned (Bilingual Summer
Institute 1998).
The sense of ownership in the program and the sense of family will
be gone. Students who have become comfortable with and appreciative
of their heritage will question their identity in the community. The
privilege of learning and relearning about the Yup'ik culture will be
lost. Students will be lead only towards learning one culture; the
Western culture. We would not meet the Alaska World Language
Standards (Parent Handbook, page 13). Parents and teachers who are
Yup'ik or have children who are Yup'ik, will lose the sense of
identity and belonging that involvement with this program has given
them. All the effort and money that has been put into creating Yup'ik
materials will be wasted as the materials would have minimum use in
the schools. Overall, the program goals would not be met.
Recommendations for program improvement
From the trials and errors we, teachers and parents, have
experienced, we have come up with some recommendations for a better
program. Most of the weaknesses in the Yup'ik immersion program in
Bethel can be minimized by getting one school and one principal. If
we could get one source of funding, the program could reach more of
its goals because the administration and leadership can be
pinpointed. One school is needed for consistency and better
networking. Teachers, students, parents, and the community could
improve the program faster by working together closely. Issues about
how to share ideas, utilize Elders, make decisions, recruit teachers,
and hold teacher meetings could be solved by having one central
program site.
We could place the library and resource center within the program
building. Vital networking between teachers would be easier.
Leadership roles would be better understood, and expectations would
be clearer. Once the program is placed in one site, people involved
would become better recognized by the community and community
leaders, as Samuel Shields, a parent, suggested (interview 1998).
Once these individuals are better recognized, we will be able to
better build a stronger Yup'ik immersion program.
There is always going to be a need of more materials in the Yup'ik
language. We constantly need materials made, just as we as a
community need to work together to keep our program growing for the
better.
"We take away valuable knowledge and culture from our children
when we do not communicate with them to teach our children our Yup'ik
language and way of life."
Table of Contents
- Introduction to the Kuskokwim
Delta - Delena Norris-Tull
- Introduction to the Yup'ik
Language and Culture Programs of the Lower Kuskokwim
School District - Delena Norris-Tull &
Beverly Williams
- Chapter 1: The Yup'ik
First Language Program: Lower Kuskokwim School District
- Mary Lou Beaver & Evon Azean, Sr.
- Chapter 2: The Balanced
Literacy Program in Yup'ik - Pamela Yancey & Sophie
Shield
- Chapter 3: Creating Yup'ik
Books, Translating, & Orthography - Pamela Yancey
& Sophie Shield
- Chapter 4: Ayaprun Immersion
School - Loddie Ayaprun Jones
- Chapter 5: Analysis of the Yup'ik
Immersion Program In Bethel - Agatha Panigkaq
John-Shields
- Chapter 6: Yup'ik Language and Culture: A
Description and Analytical View of the 4-6 Yup'ik Thematic
Unit - Dora E. Strunk
- Chapter 7: K-3
Thematic Units and the Alaska Cultural Standards - Nita
Yurrliq Rearden
- Chapter 8: Yup'ik Language and Culture: A
Description of the 5th-12th
Yup'ik Curriculum and its Revision - Rosalie
Lincoln
- Chapter 9: Yup'ik
Discipline Practices Inerquutet and Alerquutet To
Implement Into Yup'ik Schools - Theresa Arevgaq John
- Chapter 10: Recommendations
for Yup'ik Curriculum at Lower Kuskokwim School District - Sally
Casey
email the
editor, D. Norris-Tull
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