Teaching and learning Ojibwe as a second language: Considerations for a sustainable future

Successfully revitalizing Indigenous languages is one of the greatest challenges of the present for tribal communities. This is particularly significant when one considers that Native peoples have no other place in the world to retrieve their languages should they disappear. When an Indigenous language is no longer spoken in a community or region, it often ceases to exist as a living language. Teaching and learning language in community-based settings has proven beneficial to increasing awareness and overall proficiency. Instituting Indigenous languages as a medium or topic of study in education systems has been an effective means for many tribes in helping create active centers of teaching and learning. The enhanced systematic use of these languages within community and school-based contexts is necessary to ensuring an integrated and authentic approach to language revitalization. The successful experiences of Indigenous peoples such as the Maori and Native Hawaiians are helpful for tribes such as the Ojibwe who similarly aspire to create a comprehensive and sustainable paradigm of language teaching and learning.