 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 4
Ayaprun Immersion School
By Loddie Ayaprun Jones
Bethel, Alaska
Copyright 1998
" Wa-gguq qanercirturlua tutgaraanka
qanatengnaqnuaranka"
Those are the words of my mother which show genuine concern and
frustration about our Yup'ik language gradually slipping away from
our lives today.
Through the Yup'ik Immersion program here in Bethel, I vow to do
all I can to revive or restore what has been a big aspect of our
Yup'ik culture, the Yup'ik language, long before contact was made
with the western world.
In the Yup'ik Language Immersion Program, the regular school
curricula is taught in our language, Yup'ik.
In Bethel back in the early 1970s, there was a growing concern
about Yup'ik language revitalization. Somehow these special parents
got their concern across. We made my afternoon kindergarten class an
all Yup'ik language class, with half an hour for ESL (English as a
Second Language). With very little knowledge of teaching a target
language, and with limited knowledge of orthography, I remember my
first Yup'ik Immersion classes. The program lasted but a few years
because I had no support staff, there wasn't really any relevant
material then, and there was no follow up to the next grade level due
to lack of availability of another Yup'ik speaking teacher.
In the mid- 1980s, again Bethel residents expressed concern that
the Yup'ik language was not being taught in the school system. This
time the Bethel Advisory School Board (ASB) appointed a committee
composed of community members whose main focus was to:
1. Increase the number of hours in a school week that
Yup'ik was being taught (but despite their concern the amount of
time remained short);
2. Make Yup'ik a requirement for grades K-6 (and this has been
so since then).
In the 1990s, we saw the creation of the Bilingual Education Task
Force by the Bethel ASB. This task force studied how our Yup'ik
language was taught and then made recommendations on how the program
must be strengthened. After studying the program for about a year,
the task force presented the ASB with a formal request that a total
immersion program be started. Our request was accepted but no action
was taken. By this time, I had taken several second language
acquisition courses.
In 1992 we got started again as a community-led organization
composed of instructors from the Kuskokwim Campus, school teachers
and administrators, parents and Elders. We studied how such programs
got started in other countries like Canada, Greenland and Russia. We
advertised and recruited for members knowing that strength in numbers
might convince our local ASB to take action. Our board chose not to
take any action but our school principal sent a questionnaire out to
100 parents. The results of the survey showed good parental support
for a Yup'ik immersion school.
In 1994, members of the Bethel ASB (which included some of the
original members of 1992) introduced a formal resolution to start a
Yup'ik immersion program once again. There was disagreement between
believers and skeptics. How do we convince the skeptics that such a
program works? Finally our resolution passed! The Bilingual
Department along with the parents got work started on preparing for
the initial program to start the following school year. We trained
for five weeks on UAA's campus during LKSD's first Summer Institute
in May of 1995.
We studied teaching methods, developed relevant material, and
visited several immersion schools in the Anchorage area. We
officially opened our own little school August of 1995 with 40
kindergarten students enrolled.
Our school complies with the World Language Standards established
for schools by the Alaska Department of Education and Early
Development. If you are not familiar with these standards, these are
the ones adopted in June of 1995, the same time we were busy getting
ready for an exciting school year.
Standard One- All Alaska students K-12 will be able to
communicate in two or more languages.
Standard Two- All Alaska students will expand their knowledge
of people and cultures through language study.
Standard Three- All Alaska students will have the language
skills and cultural knowledge to participate successfully in
multilingual communities and the international marketplace
Our mission statement, goals and beliefs were developed during our
first institute.
As of May 1998, our program is located in two Bethel sites.
Kindergarten and Grade 1 have their own little school next to
Mikelnguut Elitnaurviat School. Grades Two and Three are located in
Kilbuck Elementary portables. We estimate our total enrollment for
August 1998 to be approximately 135 students, which would qualify us
for a one-site school. Our Kindergarten teachers are Ayaprun Loddie
Jones originally from Scammon Bay and Sally Samson originally from
Nunapitchuk. Our First Grade teachers are Qirvan Abby Augustine
originally from Emmonak and Cingarkaq Sheila Wallace originally from
Nunapitchuk. Our Second grade teachers are Inuqaar Carrie Dahl
originally from Nunapitchuk and Panigkaq Agatha Shields originally
from Toksook Bay. To be prepared to take over an immersion class, an
upcoming teacher must be trained in Yup'ik immersion techniques in
the previous year.
Enrollment for our program is by parent choice. We honor parent
requests for teachers and if there are more applicants than we can
accommodate, we have a waiting list (unlike some immersion schools
that use the lottery system). Student placement is always done in a
balance of equal number by sex, race, behavior, and ability.
Language acquisition occurs daily when a teacher uses Yup'ik and
only Yup'ik through modeling, repetition, TPR (Total Physical
Response), and numerous other techniques. Yup'ik immersion classes
incorporate the same curricula as our English language classes.
We incorporate different aspects of our Yup'ik culture into the
school setting, from snacks of dried fish and aqutaq (Eskimo ice
cream) to comparison of the traditional use of the dog team to modern
transportation
Within our Curriculum, we deliver language arts, math, science,
social studies, art and music as all the other LKSD schools do in the
district but our delivery is made only through the use of our Yup'ik
language. The only exception is physical education. Since our program
is connected to ME School, our classes go to their facility for
physical education classes under the guidance of their PE teacher. He
relays directions for activities to our classroom aide who then
directs them to the students in Yup'ik.
We use the Natural Approach to language acquisition. This approach
attempts to duplicate the manner in which you and I learned our first
language from our parents, with an additional focus on school
learning activities.
Scheduling, processing and the criteria for student evaluation is
done the same way as in other schools in the district. We send out
report cards the end of the second and the fourth quarter and hold
parent teacher conferences at the end of the first and the third
quarter. We use the same report cards as ME and Kilbuck School but we
need to develop our own. We use the English language for holding
parent teacher conferences because a majority of the parents have
lost or limited Yup'ik. Also some parents are not from a Yup'ik
background.
We have commitment from the Bethel ASB, LKSD Bilingual/ Curriculum
Department, and the District Board to insure success of our program.
To achieve a program that is fully functioning in Yup'ik from K-6
grade, we must have this commitment.
Parent commitment is very important to our program. If we have
parents' full support and dedication, this program will ever flourish
and greatly influence the success of our children.
The parent steering committee consists of co-chairs, a secretary,
and an activities coordinator. The main purpose of the committee is
to give support to the teachers. The committee members coordinate
parent involved activities and serve as a bridge between the
teachers, parents, administrators, District Office and community.
They also plan for the expansion of the program from one grade level
to another.
The parent's role at home is to instill pride in learning the
Yup'ik language, to have patience and not expect their child to be
speaking after a week or month but to understand that the process of
acquiring a second language takes years. Parents are urged not to
correct child's attempt to pronounce expressions or grammar. They are
not to ask the child for translations, or compare the progress of
their child to that of others.
We want our parents to talk positively to the children about their
day in school, and help by giving support and encouragement on
getting adjusted to a completely new environment. The first few
months are critical times. The slow process of language acquisition
can be frustrating for all involved.
"Wa-gguq tutgaraanka qanircirturlua qanatengnaqnauranka."
Our parents gave us our Yup'ik language. I consider this a very
important and precious gift. Before I lost my Father a year and a
half ago, I promised myself how wonderful it would be to give the
gift back to them through oral and cultural education of our
children.
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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