Crow Summer Institute 

The Crow Summer Institute is taking place virtually this month and over 30 participants are enrolled for the event! Language learners at the beginner level will take communicative Crow and grammar classes, while teachers will take Crow teaching methods and grammar classes. Participants will work closely with Crow language instructors over an intensive three week course that will develop and sharpen their Crow skills, with the opportunity to earn college credit or continuing education credits through LBHC. We wish all Crow language learners the best of luck with their courses! The Crow Summer Institute was made possible in part through the support of Humanities Montana. 

TLC Welcomes the Summer Interns! 

Say "Hello!" to our first team of Summer 2021 interns. This May we welcomed nine new interns to the team: Devin, Julia, Cassandra, Jaida, Veronica, Jennifer, Josh, Mikhael, and Ryan. These students have traveled from all over the U.S. to gain experience in IT and linguistics work. As an IT intern, Devin is working to develop interactive applications for language development. As linguistics interns, Cassandra and Jennifer are working on Ute Mountain Ute projects, Veronica and Ryan are working with Stoney Nakoda materials, Julia is working with the Crow dictionary, Josh is working with the Cowlitz dictionary, and Jaida is working on Apache projects. We are delighted to welcome them to the team! (Pictured: Devin, Julia, Cassandra, Jaida, Veronica, Jennifer, Josh.)

Lakota Audio Series Vol. 2 — Available Now!

The long anticipated Lakota Audio Series Volume 2 is now available with more than 12 hours of audio instruction. The series builds upon Vol. 1 with two additional hours of content and new lessons in food and drink vocabulary, coming and going verbs, time clauses, and much more. Fluent first-language elders Ben Black Bear Jr. and Iris Eagle Chasing once again lend their voices and expertise to the Lakota Audio Series to ensure listeners develop correct pronunciation and speaking skills. Lakota Audio Series Vol. 2 features 137 units and three instructional booklets that guide the listener through the Lakota language, gradually introducing new concepts and vocabulary which are reinforced through targeted repetition. This Series is perfect for adult self-learners who wish to expand their Lakota skills. Lakota Audio Series Vol. 2 is available for streaming on all major platforms, including Amazon Prime, Spotify, and Apple Music. The Series is currently only available digitally. Happy listening! 

 Dakota Language Keyboard

The Dakota Language Keyboard will be released later this month for the Dakota Language Summer Institute, facilitated by Dakhóta Iápi Okhódakičhiye in partnership with Concordia College. The Dakota Language Keyboard app allows for users to easily switch between Dakota and English keyboards once installed onto your mobile device. The app uses the standard Dakota orthography and is a great tool for Dakota language students, teachers, and speakers. The app is currently only available on iOS devices. The Dakota Language Keyboard will be available at no cost on the App Store, and those interested in the Dakota Language Summer Institute can find more information and register here. 

ayÎkis Picture Book now Available in Plains Cree Community

kâniyâsihk Culture Camps Inc. has recently partnered with TLC Canada for the development of ayÎkis, an endearing picture book that follows the story of a girl as she befriends a frog and keeps it as a pet, but soon learns wild animals are best kept in their natural habitats. This monolingual picture book is written in Plains Cree and is designed to help beginner language learners build Plains Cree comprehension and pronunciation skills to improve their fluency. ayÎkis was made available to community members. 

 Ngarluma Vocab Builder 

Wangka Maya Pilbara Aboriginal Language Centre recently partnered with TLC to create the Ngarluma Vocab Builder, a free interactive application designed to help language learners build their Ngarluma vocabulary. Each vocabulary word includes an audio pronunciation and a visual aid to reinforce the word as it being learned. Users match vocabulary words with their English translations, earning points for correct words and repeating incorrect matches until enough points are earned to advance to the next unit. This game-like method is proven to help language learners retain new vocabulary. Ngarluma is an Indigenous Australian language spoken primarily in Western Australia, and is estimated to have about 20 speakers left. This vocabulary builder is an invaluable tool in fostering language preservation, and TLC is proud to work with organizations like Wangka Maya Pilbara Aboriginal Language Centre in creating easily accessible language-learning resources. Download the free Ngarluma Vocab Builder from the App Store or Google Play today!

July 5-23: Lakota Summer Institute 

Registration for the Lakota Summer Institute is NOW open to all language learners eager to learn Lakota! This event will be held in a hybrid format at BHSU Spearfish and is open to EVERYONE. Students will have the opportunity to enroll in communicative Lakota and grammar courses at the beginner and intermediate levels. Lakota language teachers can follow a teacher track to build upon their teaching and language skills. The beginner and teacher tracks will both be offered in-person and via Zoom, while the intermediate track will only be offered virtually. Interested students can register for LSI here. More information about LSI can be found here.