This is the first of three lessons centered around language loss and revitalization. This initial lesson introduces students to ideas of language loss and ways that language loss have been perpetrated in the United States of America. In specific it deals with the Native American Boarding Schools. It also focuses on developing fluency and summarization abilities.
Learning Objectives
1. SWBAT quickly summarize material into condensed forms
2. SWBAT talk about the history of the Native American boarding schools.
3. SWBAT express how they think language loss is progressing
Full lesson plan on Google Docs:
Activity: story core about names discussion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8FheuSE7w4
Steps & Teacher Directions:
Presuming you are in a forign classroom
Show video
Ask students if any of them have experienced a teacher giving them a different name or changing the pronunciation of their name
How did that make them feel, what does their name mean to them, why is it important
Language is important to who we define ourselves as
Activity: powerpoint about the native american boarding schools and language loss
Steps & Teacher Directions:
Activity: Telephone Activity
Steps & Teacher Directions:
Before beginning, issue a trigger warning for sexual and physical abuse. There will be alternate material allowing people to continue to participate in the activity. See appendix D.
Students will read or have read the article
Explain the telephone activity
Students will be given a card with a letter and a color, they will first get in a group with everyone who has the same color
We will listen to the audio twice
Person 1 will get 2 minutes to summarize the material to person 2
Person 2 will get 1 minute to summarize what person 1 said to person 3
Person 3 will get 30 seconds to summarize what person 2 said to person 4
Person 4 will get up and switch groups
Person 4 will now have 30 seconds to summarize what their group said to the new group
As a new group they will now take 2 minutes to talk about what made it all the way through and what didn't.
Some guiding questions; is there something the new person said to your group that your group didn’t mention? Did they leave out some things that your group left in?
CCQ’s
How many minutes will you have to summarize the text
How many people will be in your group
What is the last person in each group doing
Facilitate the activity
Hand out cards to establish groups
Have students get into groups
Listen to the audio once
After listening once take any questions students had about the text
Listen to the audio a second time
Collect students, tell student 1 to begin, time 2 minutes
Give maybe 10 seconds for transition tell student 2 to begin time 1 minute
Give maybe 10 seconds for transition tell student 3 to begin time 30 seconds
Tell student 4 to get up and rotate groups, after assuring all groups are settled tell student 4 to begin time 30 seconds
Now tell students to talk amongst themselves for 2 minutes talking about their summaries, what they kept in, what they left out, what was different between their original group and the group they ended up in.
Come back together as a class, ask if anyone has any observations about the activity, thoughts, feelings etc.
Transition to wrap up
Activity: 4 corners activity lead in to lesson 2
Steps & Teacher Directions:
Having before class placed labels in all 4 corners of the room, draw students attention to them, there is intentionally no middle of the road position, as if there was, all students unsure of the question would pick it, and only having polar answers forces them to make a decision.
Strongly agree
Strongly disagree
Somewhat agree
Somewhat disagree
They are going to get up and based on the statement, will move to the appropriate corner of the room
Language suppression is still happening in the United States
Language loss is still happening in the United States
People who lost their language are trying to get them back
People need help preserving and revising their languages
They are dismissed from here, they are to think about their answers for next class.
Appendix A: Story Core video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8FheuSE7w4
Appendix B: Power Point
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1xGFeMfsAPZ0Tjivu2duMrVCYZdWXOn7DARw0CzrxbDg/edit?usp=sharing
Appendix C: MPR article
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2019/10/03/stories-of-life-in-indian-boarding-schools
Appendix D: Trigger warning alterations.
Before beginning the activity it is important to let students know that the following material contains reference to sexual abuse and if that is to dificult for anyone to listen to that is ok. There is an alternative version of the article.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mcEyhBeyqPAKqRRKGDcUxpnMLdzbbMCVLxOqIsOIDso/edit?usp=sharing
Give them this to read instead of the mpr article, and they can leave the room while doing the listening, having read the edited version should be enough to participate in the speaking activity