Published Mar 21, 2023 Charles teaches at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He also runs the Alaska Native Language Center. He says that what LKSD is doing is significant. Bethel has become a model of how Yugtun and other Native languages should be taught.
“They don't learn about things like skyscrapers, or escalators, or elevators,” Charles said.
Charles said that the district’s new direction speaks to the heart of language. They’re not just translating English, it’s drawing out the Yup’ik way of thinking. When Charles teaches Yugtun at the university, he finds that the younger generation often have not had much exposure to Native languages.
“I begin the semester by saying, 'Welcome, welcome to Yugtun one-on-one.'” said Charles. “An emotionally charged language. Meaning, as we learn our heart language there's going to be opportunities or times of which we’ll feel elated, humbled, excited. Shame, remorse, guilt, and at the end too, you know, this feeling of finally gaining access to that language that wants to come out from the soul.”
Charles said that he sees his students have epiphany moments when the language and culture click and they understand something they couldn’t see in English.
“They go, 'Ah, now, I now know why.' Or 'wow, I didn't know that. So that's why my grandmother would, holy.' And then there'll be, yes, there's tears. It's like, wow. Now I know,” Charles said.
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