Building tribal language access through technology

On Thursday in a planning meeting about the National Indian University, we discussed the opportunity to build on our capacity and assets through the development of a network of shared language courses. I am excited about this because I think it honors the diversity of our institutions and students, respects that our students come from many tribes and are eager to learn the languages of their people. It is something that we can do to support our many relatives who do live on their homelands. We would also be accessing a contemporary set of tools through technology. We all know that our tribal languages are the source of our understanding of creation, our relationships and how we are to act. Bringing languages back and reinforcing their use must occur at all ages in order to continue the groundswell of restoration of language. Simultaneously we are inspiring our people to learn more about who they are.
I am going to put more effort into exposing my own children and grandchildren to the Lakota language through songs, stories and access to the new resources of language learning through technology. I could personally do more for myself so that I am learning more and becoming more comfortable with my understanding.
All of us can honor our present day family, our ancestors, and our future generations by each making a commitment to bringing our languages home to our families. There are lots of resources at tribal schools and colleges, and on the Internet.