Kari Honyaoma

Mr. Jorgensen
English 101 0
August 7, 2014
Final Metacommentary
I enjoyed writing this final essay on preserving the Navajo language and how it is
mandated to be taught in schools on the Navajo Nation. I hope to see it continue to grow and be
taught off the reservation and in more schools. I am Navajo and Hopi yet I do not know either of
my language well enough to say I do. When I was young I remember hearing my grandmother
speak it to my brother and I while we spent our summers with her and my grandfather. I seemed
to know what she was saying then. My mother speaks Navajo, she is a bit rusty and sometimes it
might take her awhile to get her words out but she can do it. I love hearing the comforting sounds
of it. My father speaks Hopi to his relatives but I do not see him enough to hear it often.
My mother speaks Navajo to us, teaching us words here and there. My son can pick it up
when he is with her. It is my hopes that here in Salt Lake City there will be an immersion school
where my son could go to learn more of the language.
It is important for Natives to grow up knowing where they come from and what our
people have been through. We are a very strong people and we will continue to be strong. We are
here and we are not going anywhere. America is our home. No matter how hard the efforts were
to try to expunge our people and wipe away all that we have and all that we are. Our elders still
live and our young are still coming. Our new generations need to be taught to be proud of who
they are. With the language and culture classes being taught in schools it is helping Navajos
perform better in school. Graduation rates will continue to rise and the new generations will be
educated and strong. They will go to great heights and do great things.
Kari Honyaoma
Mr. Jorgensen
English 1 0 1 0
July 25, 2014
Preservation of the Navajo Language
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As recently as a generation ago nearly all Navajos spoke the language fluently.
According to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau the Navajo tribal enrolled member census was at
332,000 when full-blood and mixed-race members were counted. Most Navajo's live on the
reservation with a reported 44,398 Navajos (13 percent) living off the Navajo Nation. Census
data also shows that 73% of on-reservation Navajos reported speaking a language other than
English at home. (Yurth, 2012) This is an improvement from the year 2000 when the U.S.
Census Bureau reported only 50% of Navajos ages 17 and younger were able to speak their
native language at all. (Landry, 2011)
With the decline in speakers, in 1984 the Navajo Nation mandated that in all schools, for
all grade levels within its boundaries language and culture instruction would be a part of the
school curriculum. Teaching Navajo language and culture classes in schools can help Navajo
students reconnect with where they come from. Thus building pride and self-esteem in students
that can help to perform better in school.
That decline is Navajo language speaking began with the actions of the governments
forced deculturalization and assimilation ofNative Americans, where children were taken from
their homes and put into government boarding schools usually far from their homes. Upon
arrival at these boarding schools their hair was cut, they were sometimes given different names,
and all cultural or spiritual belongings were taken from them. Many Navajos have agreed that the
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worst of these wrongs was not being allowed to speak their language, for many it was the only
language they knew and it was forbidden. Breaking this rule resulted in severe punishments.
Whippings were common, along with getting the mouth washed out with soap. My own mother,
Barbara Kelly, remembers having her hands tied behind her back and being hit on the hands until
they were red and stinging with pain from a big ruler because Navajo was the only language she
spoke when she was put into "Americanization." She spent several years at boarding schools and
was allowed to go home very seldom. Eventually like many other children she was put on
placement programs and fostered out to white families, usually in the state of Utah. There she
would live with the family and attend school. She remembers some families as being "tolerable"
of her. Others treated her as their maid. As years went by and with the limited amount of time
they were allowed to go home, my mother, Barbara Kelly, and other children found they were
caught between two worlds. (Kelly, 2014) Many of these children had forgotten or were greatly
out of practice with the Navajo language. It was hard for them to go home and pick up where
they left off or communicate with their families. Many of the Navajos that went through these
experiences grew up having children and did not teach them the language that they would get in
trouble speaking.
To be able to implement this new curriculum into the schools surveys were done among
the elders, parents, community members, teachers, teacher assistants, and other school
employees. The survey covered the vast Navajo Nation ranging from parts of Arizona, New
Mexico, and Utah. The goals of these surveys were to hear from the people on the following
questions. What aspects of Navajo culture should be included in instruction? Who should be
responsible for teaching language and culture? How fluent in the Navajo language should
students become? To what extent should the school day be devoted to these kinds of studies?
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(Batchelder, 2000) The answers to these surveys and the thoughts ofthe people were divided.
There were a large number of participants that believed that Navajo language and culture classes
should be taught in school and believed that having a system that no longer tries to wipe a culture
away but instead is making an effort to preserve and revitalize it can teach the Navajo children of
today to be proud of who they are.
There were others, mostly younger tribal members that either lived off the reservation or
in big towns on the reservation that thought it was a waste of school time, and that the school
should move towards the future. Thinking that a future depends on communication outside of the
reservation. Saying anything having to do with Navajo language or culture should be taught at
home.
Other member had mixed feelings about it. Most of these members themselves did not
speak Navajo due to the schooling they were subjected to and not being able to speak Navajo or
being in households that Navajo wasn't spoken very much. They brought up the issue that it
wasn't just school children that needed to learn but it was the parents as well. (Batchelder, 2000)
The feedback from the initial survey found there were disagreements on what the nature
and to what extent the studies should be. More surveys were done and deeper studies were
preformed to what should be taught and by whom. The findings varied across the spectrum so
not all schools have the same curriculum or the same amount of time devoted to these teachings.
There are some schools that devote half a day to language and culture teachings, and
there are also Navajo immersion schools, these schools are rising in numbers. At one of the
Navajo immersion schools in Shiprock, NM, the Eva B. Stokley Elementary School
kindergartners and 1st graders will speak, write, and receive all instruction in Navajo. Beginning
in 2nd grade they will start lessons in English including reading. By the 6th grade, children receive
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half their instruction in each language. Marlena Shepard, one of the immersion school teachers
said "Some of the parents said they wanted their children in this because when they were
children they missed out on it, they don't want their children also to miss out on learning
Navajo." (Daily Times, 2011)
Not only are schools on the Navajo Nation trying to keep the language but now with the
Title VII Indian Education Program in effect gradually more schools off the Navajo Nation are
implementing programs to raise Native American education.
In Salt Lake City, UT., some high schools offers a Navajo language class that is done
online through The American Academy. This is to help Navajo and even non-Navajo children
learn the language. The Nebo School District in UT., which is also off the Navajo Nation, started
offering Navajo language and culture classes after school two days a week. They have found that
their graduation rate for Native Americans has increased from thirty-seven percent in 1998 to
eighty-eight percent in 2008. The San Jaun School District in Ut. requires every school to have at
least 30 minutes ofNavajo language instruction daily, they had similar results as well. According
to district records, Native American students' math and reading standardized test scores have
increased from an average of twenty percent to eighty percent over the past ten years. Clayton
Long, the bilingual education director for San Jaun School District stated. "The academic gap
between the Navajo students and Caucasian students is closing up. In language arts especially,
the rate of improvement is impressive." (Stuart, 2009)
The rise in test scores attribute to a rise in self-esteem in Native American students. I
agree with Clayton Long when he said "When we support the kids with language, culture and
history, it provides a way for them to feel they are accepted in school. They begin to feel
honored, knowing who they are and start to take pride in their work." (Stuart, 2009)
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Ellen Quintana, the program manager for Nebo's Title VII Indian Education Program
said it beautifully when she said, "If you don't know where you came from, it's hard to figure
out where you are going. When you strengthen the spirit of a child, teach them who they are,
where they came from and the direction their people are going, they have the power to do what
they want." (Stuart, 2009)
I believe with the efforts to revitalize the Navajo language and culture by instilling it
back into the people will bring strength, knowledge, and pride for many generations to come.
Navajo's will excel at learning and college attendance rates will rise, It will make living amongst
two worlds easier, helping one attain any goal they seek. There is a way to live in two worlds
without losing who you.
Works Cited
Batchelder, Ann. "Teaching Dine' Language and Culture in Navajo Schools: Voices from the
Community." 2000. 1-6
Kelly, Barbara. Personal Interview. 25 Jul. 2014.
Landry, Alysa. "District Offers First Navajo Immersion Program." Daily Times. 30 Jan. 2011.
Web. 22 Jul. 2014.
Stuart, Elizabeth. "Closing The Gap: Heritage Helping Raise Native American Students' Self-
esteem." National Deseret News. 10 Mar. 2009. Web. 24 Jul. 2014.
Yurth, Cindy. "Census: Native Count Jumps By 27 Percent." Navajo Times. 26 Jan. 2012. Web.
22 Jul. 2014.