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After years of dreaming and planning to create the first land-based, language immersion school, the Kehkhimin Wolastoqey Language Immersion School recently opened, marking a major achievement in the Wolastoqiyik’s mission to reinvigorate their language. Many fluent Wolastoqiyik speakers are 65+ which leaves a very short window to revitalize the language for future generations.

Central to the school’s mission is giving children access to authentic picture books, apps, and other learning materials. In November TLC partnered with TLC to release a vocabulary builder app in the works for months containing hundreds of words, audio, and visuals, such as games like crosswords and matching to help enrich immersion-based learning. They feature teaching materials and picture books, including four science-themed books that help children give voice to natural elements like the water cycle, habitats, the sky, and animals. Two books unique to Wolastoqey are part of the collection too, and will be published in spring 2023. 

Lisa Perley-Dutcher, Director of the Kehkimin Wolastoqey School, says that TLC provided foundational support to the school by helping to secure funding for the development of resources – all in the Wolastoqey Language.

The word Kehkimin means “teach me.”

New Release - 3RD EDITION New Lakota Dictionary!
 

We are excited to announce that the print and mobile versions of the NLD 3.0 are now available for order and download! The print and mobile versions offer 41,000+ documented words and 20,000+ of those entries have not been previously documented in any other Lakota dictionary. This dictionary is the work of over 400 Native speakers who collaborated and offered their voices from across the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ. Making these materials accessible on mobile and in print is a significant milestone, and we are so grateful for the efforts everyone made in manifesting this dream into reality!

Join the Lakota Language Consortium in celebrating the release of this new edition Thursday at Prairie Edge in Rapid City, SD.