About OjibweMovies.com
OjibweMovies.com and OjibwemowinNoongom is being developed by Dr. Mary Hermes, UMD education professor, through a 3-year grant from the National Science Foundation with additional funding from the Grotto Foundation. Ojibwe language educators and Ojibwe elders from Minnesota, Wisconsin and Ontario are involved in bringing this project to fruition.
Read more about the need for and the design of the grant project below.
Contacts
Mary Hermes, PhD
Assistant Professor of Education
University of Minnesota Duluth
715-462-4230
mhermes@d.umn.edu
Kevin H. Roach
Developer and designer
kevinroach@centurytel.net
Nora Livesay
Language and technology specialist
nora@homepagedesign.biz
OjibweMovies: Need for the Project
As our nation becomes one of many in a complex web of globalization, our citizens’ needs for intercultural understanding is underscored. Our indigenous languages hold knowledge and a perspective found nowhere else on this plant; they are a national resource, available nowhere else on the planet. Most public and tribal schools in the area that were originally the territory of the Ojibwe nation recognizes the contemporary significance of this heritage language by offering Ojibwe language courses. Intercultural understanding and fostering of a global perspective begins with a deep understanding of home and heritage. The Ojibwe language is a vital part of this understanding. One of the major indigenous languages shared by Canada and the United States, this project will foster international understanding with one of our closest neighbors.
As native speakers are rapidly aging, interest in learning Ojibwe is at an all time high. Students are aware that the window of opportunity for learning is closing. Immersion schools, immersion camps, university courses, public school courses, and community colleges are experiencing record enrollment as Ojibwe revitalization is growing (Pease Pretty-on-Top, 2003). Unfortunately, many teachers of the Ojibwe language are not trained in teaching or in second language methods; nor do they have reliable, current texts or curriculum. These weaknesses, in both teaching and materials, present an opportunity that the materials in this grant are meant to address.
The University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) proposes to develop, together with the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and area Ojibwe language teachers, multimedia Ojibwe language modules. Careful attention will be devoted to directly teaching learning strategies and utilizing communication based activities (Cohen, 2003; Krashen, 2003). We will base these modules on original video footage of non-scripted, everyday conversational Ojibwe. These modules will support the opportunity for learners who are at a distance to become proficient speakers of the Ojibwe language.
These materials are needed to: 1) address an essential need in creating proficient speakers of an endangered, indigenous, less commonly taught language; 2) provide a model of distance learning a lesson commonly taught language in a rural areas.
This grant focuses on the need to create multimedia modules that will reach teachers as well as students of Ojibwe and profoundly enable the revitalization movement. Materials designed for oral proficiency, documented conversation, and interactive web based materials do not exist in the Ojibwe language. Hearing the language spoken, as a part of everyday conversations, is one of the greatest challenges of an endangered language (Fishman 1995, and Kaola, personal communication). Reconstructing adult acquisition is the first step in revitalization (Ibid.) The modules created will capture and present authentic speech which will fill an existing void for those attempting to learn the Ojibwe language. Modules can be used for comprehension, analysis, and interactive practice speech production. With the addition of a speaker to correct the student, we will be replicating the immersion experience on-line in a way which bridges both time and distance. Oral proficiency is strategically necessary for survival of indigenous languages (Hinton, 2001). However, students of endangered languages lack the opportunity to hear the language as used in an everyday, functional context. These modules will provide this opportunity, thereby filling an essential gap inhibiting the successful creation of proficient speakers.
Second, teaching foreign languages through distance education does work (Holmberg, 2005; White, 2005). If successful, this project will provide insight into the specifics of how it works for a LCTL. “Ojibwe Movies” will be a model that is not convenient, but rather essential for rural, endangered, and indigenous languages where native speakers are not available. This project will further the best of knowledge in TLCL, language and multi-media on-line learning, and indigenous language revitalization.
Need for Language Selected and Potential Significance to National Interest
The need to develop specialized materials in Ojibwe language at this time cannot be understated. Ojibwe is the third largest indigenous nation in the United States. This proposal meets the criteria of potential significance in the following ways: 1) as one of the largest heritage languages within the United States online Ojibwe language resources have a large potential audience; 2) as an effective model of using on-line delivery of a less commonly taught language to a less densely populated area.
This proposal meets Invitational Priority 2. Number 3, under the findings and purposes state and number 6, of Sec. 605, of the Title VI – International Education Programs are specifically addressed in this proposal: 3) …changes in the world’s geopolitical and economic landscapes are creating needs for American expertise and knowledge about a greater diversity of less commonly taught foreign languages and nations of the world; and 6) the development and publication of specialized materials for use in foreign language…
According to Estes (1999), there are approximately 43,000 Ojibwe language speakers in North America. Yet, in 1995, research found less than 500 fluent Ojibwe language speakers in the tri-state area of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan (cited in Peacock & Wisuri, 2002). Using Fishman’s scale, Ojibwe is at an extremely endangered level within the United States. In order to be able to use speakers to create materials, we must act immediately. For example, recent research in one reservation community documented less than 10 remaining speakers in a Northern Wisconsin community of around 3,000 (Paap, 1999). Other communities in Minnesota and Wisconsin have similar rates of fluency; a handful of speakers, all over 60 years of age, with no one in the younger generations attaining fluency despite the public and tribal school education efforts.
Recent public/tribal partnerships have resulted in the establishment of two Ojibwe immersion schools and at least four more in the planning stages. The Gekinoo’imaagejig in Minnesota established the first Ojibwe language teaching minor. Learners are currently scrambling for teachers and more effective teaching methods. This grant will support regional Ojibwe revitalization efforts, while providing a model for indigenous communities throughout the nation.
Spoken widely in Canada, Ojibwe holds knowledge and a world view that is deeply tied to the Great Lakes area. Knowledge about plants, medicine, environment, and sustainable culture are held within the Ojibwe language. In this era of globalization, this local knowledge requires recognition as an invaluable and irreplaceable national resource.
Expansion of the project to multimedia software
Though originally conceived as multimedia video, a partnership with Transparent Language has allowed expansion of the OjibweMovies project to a full-multimedia software including full-motion video, interactive games, a powerful vocabulary learning tool and a grammar tutorial. Transparent Language, an industry leader in online language learning, has developed language products in more than 70 world languages. Transparent products are used in over 12,000 civilian and government educational institutions, including major universities and government facilities, such as the Defense Language institute and Foreign Service Institute.
The resulting OjibwemowinNoogom product will be based on the development engines used for Transparent's Learn Language Now and BYKI products.
This partnership has benefitted OjibweMovies beyond technology delivery, by enabling the project team to create a grammar tree documenting the grammatical structure of the Ojibwe language and connecting each part of speech a with brief grammar tutorial. Each video module is annotated word by word, providing information about the part of speech and grammatical inflection. It's also linked to the corresponding grammar tutorial. This rich grammatical information is available to software users at any time with just a click of the mouse.
