The 2011 Lakota-Dakota Language Summit was a great sensation and the LLC stand was again the nexus of activity. Thanks again to all the visitors that stopped by.
Our friend, Timoti Karetu made the trip from New Zealand to talk to the crowd about the journey of the Maori people, which has created the world’s greatest success so far at indigenous language revitalization. LLC Linguistic director Jan Ullrich gave a presentation on “How to become fluent in Lakota.” Another well-attended session was the presentation by the LLEAP students from Sitting Bull College. Videos of both of these sessions are available for online viewing at the KOLC website.
During the summit, LLC also honored schools that had shown marked improvement in language learning test scores, which are measured by LLC’s pre- and post-testing system. In 2010-2011, these schools saw achievement in mastering the language.
- Most Improved Level 1 – Selfridge School (Standing Rock).
- Most Improved Level 2 – St. Bernard’s School (Standing Rock).
- Most Improved Level 3 – Wolfcreek School (Pine Ridge).
- Highest Achieving Elementary School – Wakpala Smee School (Standing Rock). Highest Achieving Upper Elementary School – Cheyenne-Eagle Butte Upper Elementary School (Cheyenne River).
- Highest Achieving High School – Red Cloud High School (Pine Ridge). Congratulations to all of these students and teachers!
The Matȟó Waúŋšila Thiwáhe cast, crew and sponsors were also honored at the Summit to be recognized and thanked again for their work on this project.
Find LLC and the Bears at Lakota National Invitational!
If you are attending the Lakota Nation Invitational Tournament in Rapid City, SD, December 16-18, look for the LLC table promoting Matȟó Waúŋšila Thiwáhe. Voice actors Peter Hill (“Skuzz”) and Manny Iron Hawk (various characters) will be on hand to talk with the show’s fans and discuss speaking and learning the language. The Matȟó Waúŋšila Thiwáhe DVD will be available for purchase at Prairie Edge Bookstore table in Rapid City.
Peter Hill and Philomine Lakota have also coordinated the LNI Language Bowl that takes place on Wednesday Dec. 14th 9am in LaCroix Hall C in the Rapid City Civic Center. They have created new questions for the students using the standardized orthography used in the New Lakota Dictionary. Peter Hill is the former Lakota language teacher at Red Cloud School, and Philomine Lakota is Red Cloud’s Director of Lakota Studies. A heartfelt wóphila to both of these hardworking teachers. |
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