ADMINISTRATION FOR NATIVE AMERICANS
OBJECTIVE PROGRESS REPORT
REPORT PERIOD ENDING: 12/31/01 FISCAL YEAR: 2001
1.) GRANTEE NAME:
Kaw Nation
Drawer 50
Kaw City, OK 74641
Wanda Stone, Chairperson/CEO
2.) GRANT NUMBER: 90NL019701
3.) BUDGET PERIOD ENDING: 06/30/01
4.) GRANT AWARD: $152,655
FEDERAL SHARE: $122,124
NON-FEDERAL SHARE: $30,531
5.) REPORT PREPARED BY:
TYPED NAME: Justin McBride
TITLE: Language Coordinator
DATE: January 2, 2002
SIGNATURE:
6.) REPORT APPROVED BY AUTHORIZED GRANTEE OFFICIAL:
TYPED NAME: Wanda Stone, Chairperson/CEO
ITEMS 7 - 22 ARE LISTED ON THE FOLLOWING PAGES
(EACH ITEM IS LISTED SEPARATELY):
7.) GRANTEE OBJECTIVE NUMBER: Year 1-Objective 1 (Henceforth just 1-1)
8.) ANA GOAL: Language II -Implementation
9.) STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVE:
By the end of the twelfth month, Kaw grammar will be presented in a form from which simple lessons can be derived. The project coordinator, language teacher, Wendy Branwell, and Cultural Committee members will meet with Dr. Rankin to identify grammatical patterns and discuss how they may best be taught. Educational materials will be produced in accordance with their findings.
10.) EXPLANATION OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
See next page for details.
STATED ACTIVITIES
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Task 1: The Kaw Nation will advertise for and hire a language coordinator.
The Kaw Nation has completed this task.
* Advertisements for the Language Coordinator position were posted in July, August, and September of 2001.
* In September, the Kaw Nation hired Justin McBride for the position of Language Coordinator.
* Justin McBride started to work on October 1, 2001, as Language Coordinator.
NOTE: The fulfillment of the task of advertising for and hiring the Language Coordinator did not occur until the beginning of the month of October, two months later than initially planned. This late start has tended to offset the accomplishment of all other objectives by a number of months. However, it is anticipated that all objectives will be fulfilled by the end of the project period.
Task 2: Project Coordinator will meet with Dr. Bob Rankin to discuss adaptation of materials.
The Kaw Nation has completed this task.
* Dr. Bob Rankin met with the Language Coordinator and the Language Teacher during the last working week in October.
* Discussion focused on review of grammar, morphological analysis of several original Kaw language texts collected by James Owen Dorsey, potential problems for new learners, and areas of specific concern for future meetings and collaborations.
* Contact with Dr. Rankin has continued productively via e-mail.
Task 3: Project Coordinator will discuss with artist Arthur Short Bull the illustration of a Clan Book and Pictorial Dictionary.
Due to the events beyond our control, work on both the Clan Book and Pictorial Dictionary was delayed.
* Artist Arthur Short Bull was contacted initially in late October 2001 to discuss details on progress.
* Mr. Short Bull was out of contact during the entire month of November and most of December 2001, and could not be reached for discussion of progress.
* Mr. Short Bull was contacted in late December 2001 by telephone.
* A meeting has been scheduled for the first weekend in January 2002 between Mr. Short Bull, the Cultural Committee and the Language Coordinator.
NOTE: The time between contacts was by no means wasted. The graphic work is intimately tied to the development of an adequate standard orthography in which printed language and educational materials can be made readily accessible. The interim was utilized to this end. The goal here was to develop an orthography simultaneously easy to learn and capable of simple and efficient representation of the sounds of the Kaw language. A final draft of this orthography was adopted in mid-December 2001, a few weeks before contact with Mr. Short Bull resumed.
Task 4: Project Coordinator will work with all language personnel on simplified grammar and will publish materials.
Task 4: (CONTINUED)
A simplified grammar document designed to be used in conjunction with Dr. Rankin's Kansa-English Lexical File and the Kaw language curriculum (work in progress) has been under development since the first week of October.
* In its current form, the simplified grammar document is at around 20 pages of topics discussed in great detail. Furthermore, a detailed outline exists for continued direction as new topics are researched and completed. The finished work will be approximately 50 pages long, and will contain three sections.
* Topics in the introductory section currently include an overview of the placement of Kansa (the Kaw language) in the Dhegiha language group, second-language concerns, word order, and orthography.
* Topics in the grammatical section include a very detailed discussion of the parts of speech (when completed, this particular section will in fact be the largest of the three) and an introduction to general sentence building.
* The final reference section will include analyses of collected texts, a useful condensed vocabulary, and a collection of special cultural and practical modern phrases and sentences (a Kaw phrasebook).
* This simplified grammar document will be used in conjunction with the Rankin Lexicon as a general Kansa reference tool for any interested party with no particular training in languages or linguistics.
* The simplified grammar will be intimately paired with the complete Kansa curriculum* for teaching purposes, either as a self-guided course for adults or as planned lessons for school-age students.
NOTE: *While not specifically mentioned as an activity under this or any other objective, a fundamental step in the fulfillment of the activities of the remaining objectives is the completion of at least a skeleton curriculum. Much time has been devoted to this end. Our curriculum is currently some 120 pages long and growing daily. It includes course design notes, sample lesson plans and related materials for three levels of instruction (Pre-K, 1st-2nd, 3rd-4th), and various evaluatory materials. There is still much work to be done on the curriculum. When complete, it should be approximately 400 pages long, containing resources on teaching strategies, effectiveness self-evaluations, Kansa reference appendices and the like. The curriculum is modular in nature, giving the instructor significant leeway to adapt or even fully overhaul material for the specific needs of a particular group of learners.
11.) GRANTEE OBJECTIVE NUMBER: 1-2
12.) ANA GOAL: Language II -Implementation
13.) STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVE:
By the end of the twelfth month, 4 teacher's aides will be certified by the Cultural Committee as qualified to teach Kaw to Pre-schoolers and Kindergarteners. Members of the Cultural Committee are best equipped to determine who in their communities is most suited to the position of teacher's aide. In consultation with Dr. Rankin, they will interview the community members who responded to the March 2001, survey indicating a desire to learn and teach. Those selected will be placed in a special accelerated leaning program supervised via e-mail, phone, and scheduled visits.
14.) EXPLANATION OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
See next page for details.
STATED ACTIVITIES
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Task 1: Project Coordinator will contact tribal members whose 2001 survey response showed interest in teaching Kaw.
The 2001 cultural survey was designed and circulated as an anonymous response poll, with no entry blank for the name of the respondent. Thus, just short of circulating an entirely new survey, there is no way of using the collected data to generate a list of names of potential teacher's aides. Fortunately, in mid-December 2001, the members of the Cultural Committee came up with a number of names of people who may be interested in learning as well as teaching Kansa.
* The names as submitted by the Cultural Committee are as follows: XXX XXXX, XXX XXXX, and XXX XXXX (names removed for web version).
* Two of these people were contacted about their interest in program involvement. XXXX confirmed her interest in the matter of rapid language learning and teaching. XXXX was regretfully unavailable, but suggested the possible interest of her mother, who has yet to be formally contacted.
* A fourth prospective teacher's aide has been discussed, as well. XXX XXXX has worked in the service of the Kaw Nation in the past, and has demonstrated great interest in language education. However, the Cultural Committee has not yet discussed his possible involvement.
* The Language Coordinator will further discuss prospective aides with the Cultural Committee during their meeting scheduled for the first weekend in January 2002.
Task2: Project Coordinator will select aides upon the advice of the Cultural Committee and arrange for their accelerated training by Kelly Test, language teacher.
Task 2: (CONTINUED)
This activity implies a number of necessarily ordered clauses that must be enumerated. For starters, the names of the aides must be referred to the Project Coordinator from the Cultural Committee. Secondly, the Project Coordinator must arrange an accelerated learning program. Lastly, the Language Teacher must begin the accelerated training process. Progress has been made in each of these areas.
* As mentioned above, the Cultural Committee has selected a number of prospective teacher's aides and subsequently submitted a list of names to the Language Coordinator. Some of these are to be contacted or discussed in greater detail in early-January. One has confirmed interest, and one is unavailable. See above for details.
* The accelerated learning program has been under development for some time. It currently consists of several complete lessons-in the form of Microsoft PowerPoint presentations-based on the work done for the simplified grammar, along with outlines of a number of lessons to be completed. These presentations will be used in conjunction with the specific Pre-K lesson plans that will be taught in the area school systems-or whose general form may be closely emulated in the design of similar but new materials-to give a combination of general language training and specific lesson planning expertise. The principle design feature of this portion of the training is that the presentations and lessons are self-contained, self-executing, and self-guided, allowing the learner to move to some degree at his or her own pace and at his or her own convenience.
For this reason, prospective aides can receive much instruction and further practice on their own. Both the presentations and the lesson plans will be supplemented by frequent visits to the office for one-on-one consultation and tutoring as well as group speech practice and text analysis. Our goal is to have the teacher's aides versed enough in the Kansa language to field any questions that may arise in the classroom, or at least to know where and how to direct their own inquiries.
* With this particularly guided approach to training, the Language Teacher should have no problem in preparing aides for their new positions. We have designed a simple syllabus for the accelerated learning program that sets the topics to be learned and discussed in a week-to-week format. The amount of time necessarily spent at the office will be minimal to prevent scheduling conflicts. In addition, all such training sessions held at the office will be videotaped and edited for the purpose of developing future educational and pedagogical materials.
Even with the few setbacks in the selection process, the prospective aides should still be able to begin their training with the Language Teacher in early-January 2002. The training should last no longer than nine weeks. That way, the aides will be able to teach for one full nine-week classroom period before school adjourns for the summer. Thus, the aides should be ready for their end-of-training evaluation by the Language Coordinator (per Objective 1-3 Task 2) no later than mid-March 2002.
15.) GRANTEE OBJECTIVE NUMBER: 1-3
16.) ANA GOAL: Language II -Implementation
17.) STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVE:
By the end of the twelfth month, two new schools will be participating in the Kaw language program. The project coordinator will visit schools in rural Kay County to explain the program and its importance to the enrichment of the school curriculum.
18.) EXPLANATION OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
See next page for details.
STATED ACTIVITIES
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Task 1: Project Coordinator will contact local schools to describe program and suggest participation.
To bolster our credibility and support in new schools, we have chosen to wait until after the aides have begun their training before going out into the community wholesale. That way, when we do go to other schools, we can more effectively demonstrate our readiness, commitment, competence, and confidence in our own program and its expansion.
* We have made contact with the Kaw City Elementary 1st-2nd grade teacher for the expansion of the program. We have described our program to her, and have received her enthusiastic confirmation that we can begin instructing her class. We eagerly await the spring semester, and look forward to branching out in this new area.
Task 2: Project Coordinator will evaluate aides for readiness to teach beginning Kaw and assist them in lesson planning.
Due to the fact that training for the prospective aides has not yet begun, this task has not been completed at this time.
Task 3: Project Coordinator will request teaching aides' evaluation from participating school after 1 month of lessons.
Due to the fact that training for the prospective aides has not yet begun, this task has not been completed at this time.
19.) GRANTEE OBJECTIVE NUMBER: 1-4
20.) ANA GOAL: Language II -Implementation
21.) STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVE:
By the end of the twelfth month, there will be 10 additional Kaws with the ability to speak words and phrases in Kaw. Each teacher or aide will be asked to evaluate the progress made by his/her students and to converse in simple sentences with the students to determine progress
22.) EXPLANATION OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
See next page for details.
STATED ACTIVITIES
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Task 1: Project Coordinator will develop video and audio taped lessons to make the language more accessible to learners.
Video and audio taped lessons are under development at this time.
* All of the multimedia presentations designed for use in the accelerated learning program for aides can be modified and expanded to provide a well-rounded nine-week course in the Kansa language. The multimedia presentations are of an MS PowerPoint slideshow format that can be easily adapted into a classroom-style lecture with running commentary via an external PowerPoint projector.
* Combined with footage to be shot during the in-office training of the aides, these videotaped lessons will be complete lectures, with real questions and answers on the relevant topics.
* Audio lessons can then be derived from their video counterparts.
In addition, all the multimedia presentations thus far have been made available for general access on the language program's test website (http://www.geocities.com/kansalang/), and new presentations will be added as they are finished. As our second year objectives require us to have a more formal Internet-based learning program, these initial trials in the field will serve to show us what is or is not effective in a browser-friendly lesson. The test site cannot be made public until the publication of the next tribal newsletter, slated for the first quarter of 2002. Initial evaluations of user questions, comments, and site-hits can be made shortly thereafter.
Task 2: Project Coordinator will establish more learning sites and rotate teachers among Ponca City, Newkirk, and Kaw City.
Due to the fact that training for the prospective aides has not yet begun, this task has not been completed at this time.
Task 3: Dr. Rankin will visit learning sites to answer language questions in person.
During his initial visit discuss material adaptation, Dr. Rankin gave the Language Coordinator confirmation of intent to return at the end of the spring semester for a follow-up question and answer session.
ANA/OPR FISCAL YEAR 2001
KAW NATION INTER-GENERATIONAL LANGUAGE IMPLEMENTATION PROGRAM
GRANT # 90NL019701 REPORTING PERIOD ENDING 12/30/01