Languages Back

Teacher Training for Language Revitalizers

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Languages live when they are spoken, and all Indigenous people have the right to not just learn their own languages, but to walk through life speaking them in authentic ways. In the Languages Back program, each teacher or teacher-to-be builds their own curriculum based on methods that really work for nurturing new speakers of language. Together, we practice land-based, culture-based, hands-on immersion methods that help language learners of any age become proficient and reclaim their people's ways of talking, learning, and living. The program helps anyone, whether they are fluent, intermediate, or just beginning to learn their language, become an effective teacher beyond the limitations of colonial schooling methods.

...when you told us that you had methods that can help save a language, I started to cry a little. We work so hard, but it's the first time we've really felt hope that we can make a difference.
Elder and fluent speaker-completed the Language to Live In methods course

Introduction

In 2020, we began building our community partnerships to launch an essential program supporting the decolonization and language and culture reclamation work being done in Indigenous communities all over North and South America. This program has been thoughtfully designed to support Indigenous students of all ages, regardless of educational background. Our goal is for everyone to be successful while they work, raise a family, and support their community at the same time. The courses minimize homework, heavy reading, and academic writing, and instead focus on learning skills through hands-on practice, group work, and inter-generational conversations to broaden perspectives on language and culture work. Attendance is essential for success, and students who attend will receive steady encouragement, support, and coaching on planning their individual learning and career pathways. Each community will customize their own curriculum. Professors, instructors, and featured guests will help students understand effective and sustainable concepts of language learning.

The program is very, very helpful. At first, I felt discouraged, seeing the methods and thinking that I could be so much better than I have been as a language teacher. I wish I would have had this before I started teaching. All this time, I was feeling like an individual silo, now I don't feel alone anymore. And I really appreciate the hands-on learning and that we don't just use translation or writing. I'm so glad I am a part of this and I feel like I can put together a stronger course now and especially next school year.
Long-time language reclaimer and teacher in an urban area-student in fall 2023 courses

Details

• All courses are offered online in the afternoon and evening to fit busy work schedules.

• Technology support is available.

• Designed for a cohort (class) of students to start and complete together.

• Students receive a consistent community of support and experience-sharing.

• Coursework is done collaboratively through projects and discussion, rather than reading textbooks and writing papers.

• Open to members of all nations with preference given to those who have close ties to Indigenous nations of the Americas.

• Students outside the U.S. are welcome to enroll.

• Courses are taught in English.

• The program is based on Indigenous experiences and language revitalization and does not follow the English as a Second Language (ESL) or a traditional language program model.

I have been teaching my language for 25 years and I love it, and I believe in it, but we get tired and we get frustrated. This program reminded me why I became a teacher. It gave me my energy and my passion back. Now I feel real optimism for the first time in a long time. A huge thank you for that.
Elder and fluent speaker-completed the Language to Live In methods course

Teacher Preparation Pathways

If your goal is to become a language teacher, you will develop a personalized language learning plan with your professor at the start of the program and demonstrate your ability to speak in the language before completing the program. Expectations are that students seeking licensure will be able to demonstrate an Intermediate Mid-level on the ACTFL scale of proficiency. If you are already fluent in your language, you can demonstrate your level at any time to satisfy the requirement-no need to take language classes.

If you are a teacher or administrator who does not teach a language, you will develop a plan to learn at least the basic daily communication in your community's language. We will assist with resources for continued learning and professional development. While language learning is important, our focus is on designing courses and supporting schools, leading to a sustainable curriculum that supports new speakers of the language.

This program has shot a new gust of wind into me. I am very thankful. I was getting discouraged, but I got a couple years ahead of me now with these new skills. And I know I can make my language program stronger.
Language reclaimer and teacher in a tribal program-student in spring 2024 courses

Course of Study

• Specialized language teaching and assessment methods for endangered language revitalization.

• Material creation and resource development to support culturally sustaining immersion methods.

• Classroom management strategies integrating trauma-informed practice and Indigenous values to create a positive classroom culture.

•  Linguistics methodology, assessment, and activities unique to the grammatical structures of Indigenous language learning.

• Culturally-sustaining assessment practices.

• Inter-generational collaboration with elders to promote knowledge sharing and effective language curriculum creation.

It's not always easy for older teachers to see the value of these new methods, but I know that they work and they make learning more enjoyable for our students. I loved such lessons when I had them as a child. I hope more teachers will attend this program because the ideas are so important for our schools.
Elder and language reclaimer-student in spring 2023 course

About Us

Concordia College, based in Moorhead, MN, is renowned internationally for its excellence in language teaching and education. We teach languages at all levels and ages, "from the cradle to the grave". Our Moorhead campus focuses on undergraduate and graduate students, with majors and minors in a variety of languages, a Master of Education in World Language Instruction, and an established relationship with Concordia Language Villages. Concordia's programs are highly effective because they are more than reading, writing, and grammar. Instead, we emphasize communication, meaning often speaking the language in conversation with community members and doing fun, hands-on, language-based activities.

Concordia College has made a commitment to reparations and relationship-building with the Indigenous peoples who stewarded this and surrounding lands for hundreds and thousands of years before colonization. Concordia has partnered with Dakota and Ojibwe communities to offer effective, interactive language courses in these languages and recently concluded work on a community-based reparations grant funded by the Mellon Foundation. We hope to offer more Indigenous languages in the future and already have language learners in our classes representing various Indigenous nations. Several of these courses have been co-offered through Dakhóta Iápi Okhódakičhiye, a Dakota-run non-profit which also initiated courses in teaching methods for Dakota teachers.