Santa Fe Prep will be the site of a pilot program in Native American Languages during the 2010 spring semester, thanks to a grant received by the Indigenous Language Institute from the Department of Health and Human Services. The Santa Fe-based Institute will work with Prep’s Native American students to identify a mentor—a Native American language speaker of the language of interest, e.g., Tewa, Navajo—and work with them throughout the semester.
The self-study curriculum will help students learn to understand and speak sentences dealing with familiar topics and situations that are important for community life as a Native American person. At the end of the semester, students will make presentations at the Pueblo of Pojoaque, and will be invited to the Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Symposium in Eugene, Oregon.