Swimming in words

The challenges and rewards of setting up an immersion school.

The following text is drawn from a booklet titled Encouragement, Guidance, Insights, and Lessons Learned
for Native Language Activists Developing Their Own Tribal Language Programs. The booklet is a
transcript of a conversation in March 2000 between Darrell Kipp and 12 native language activists at the
Piegan Institute, the Blackfeet immersion school co-founded by Kipp. The full text is available through the
Piegan Institute at www.pieganinstitute.org.
Photos by AdamJahiel

I grew up in the community in the 1960s in a one-room school on the Blackfeet

reservationa good place to learn. After leaving that school, I went to college at Eastern
Montana College. I showed up with no dorm assignment, and there were no Indians there. I
was given a test for English, but as an Indian, it was assumed that I would fail, and I was
assigned to bonehead English. Ironically, I eventually majored in English and got an
MFA in writing from Goddard College, which later became Vermont College. After that, in
the mid-1970s, I got drafted. After serving in the Army, I got a masters degree at Harvard
University in 1975, studying social change and institutional change. My career kept me
very active; I lived in Boston and other places. I consulted with a lot of tribes around the
country, and I traveled extensively. But in the 1980s, it was time to go home.

As Indian people, we are always drawn home.

Cultural Survival Quarterly Summer 2007 37

 We were told as kids that only failures stayed on
the reservation. That notion is reinforced even today
by some of my professional colleagues. But in 1983,
Dr. Dorothy Still Smoking and 1 (we have very
similar backgrounds) asked ourselves, What will
we do on this reserve to make a change? We wanted
to develop our education, our experience, and our
vision to create new opportunities. We did a lot of
work developing the community college but never
found our real place there.
In 1984, I was teaching advanced writing tech-
niques, and Dorothy was teaching advanced Native
American studies at the community college. We
organized a joint field trip to the Glenbow Museum
Darrell Kipp, the
co-founder of
Nizipuhwahsin (Real
Speak School) talks
with Jesse
DesRosier, 14, one of
the students learning
Blackfeet,
up in Canada. The museum had volumes of papers,
history, and documents on the Blackfeet Tribe. A
little old curator who was standing there kept saying
over and over, But who are you? (to our incredible
annoyance). We gently reminded
him that we had sent a letter from the community
college, that we had permission to visit. That wasnt
what he wanted. Who are you? he kept saying.
Finally, when we stopped to have a dialogue with
U1MMMM
him, he said, You are the first Indians that have ever
come here.
Since 1910, researchers have done a thousand
studies on us. One study even measured our noses. It
was all there. A very special thing happened on that
trip. A young girl had a stack of photos, and as she
looked through them, she announced, Look at this!
There is a picture of me. She had an elk-tooth dress
****
on. It really looked exactly like her, but in fact, it was
her grandmother in 1890. It was a dumbfounding
experience. We were the first in our tribe to see any
of this.
We went into a frenzy. We asked for anything and
everything on language. They pulled out a cart with
50 dictionaries on the tribes language,
written by priests and linguists, including some by the tribal council (in council-speak, Im with
hand-written dictionaries. The first day, all the kids you, but the council wont go for it), we took it
wanted to go to the mall; by the last day, no one upon ourselves.
would leave. We spent the entire $2,000 we had
raised on copying charges. We Are All Relearners
We finally understood that the key factor is We grew up in homes where grandmothers
knowledge of yourself, of your tribe. We had been couldnt speak English. Goll darn you, was all my
taught to study Egypt and France, to learn Spanish.
No one ever said, Study yourselves. This was a big
revelation. It was unique. It was five times more We had been
interesting than anything we had studied before.
Those original students formed our first study group,
our first commitment.
taught to study
Dont Set Up a Bilingual Program
Egypt and France,
If you are setting up a language revitalization
program, you dont want to get into bilingual
to learn Spanish.
programs. We all speak English too well. Bilingual
programs are designed to teach English, not your
tribal language. We arent against English, but we
No one ever said,
want to add our own language and give it equal
status. We dont allow slang or shortcuts; we teach
Study yourselves.
the heritage language forms. Our immersion-school
children speak high-standard, high-caliber This was a big
Blackfeet. You can accomplish that through
immersion only, not through bilingual education.
Bilingual education typically teaches the language
revelation. It was
15 minutes a day. Kids who study with bilingual
techniques will end up saying, I can understand unique.
the language but cant speak it. grandmother could say, and when she did, youd
better watch it! My mother was a Catholic mission
Teach the children to speak the language. school kid, and my dad went to the third grade in
government schools. When we researched, we un-
There are no other rules. derstood why we didnt learn the language. We were
In 1987, we were into the language ourselves, good graduate students. We used all the academic
when the college defunded our program. I did not skills that we possessd to seek the reason we could
want to go back to teaching college English. We not speak our language despite our home life. The
were dreaming in our language, and we became truth we found was that our parents didnt teach us
tuned in, back in touch with our language commu- the language because they didnt want us to be
nity. In 1987, when no one else would take the abused like they were in school.
language program and when it was not even
supported Education, for Native Americans, is a journey to
lead us away from who we really are. Its no wonder
that none of us who had a college education knew

ni
See You Around
If you lived on the Coushatta reservation in Louisiana you would never say goodbye. Not because you would
never leave, but because in the Koasati language there is no word for goodbye.
Cultural In Koasati
Survival Quarterly there
Summer 2007 is no need
37 for a

word that delineates a termination.Although your conversation may have ended your relationship did not. If you
wished to more formally end a conversation an appropriate term might be this was good or I am pleased. In
English there are many terms for goodbye partly because English perception is very linear.To the Coushatta the
emphasis is not on linear termination but on cyclical continuation.
 Sikhksi
Maata Niitapitapi
notoh Koykio'p
litohka our language. In order to get through the educa-
tional system, to get through college and be recog-
nized for our work, we had to leave many things
behind. Language relearning is a journey back
"Equality home. When we lose the ability to define
Dignity ourselves, then other people can define us. The
Rights" priest defines the percentage of us who go to mass
as Christians. The social worker or the statistician
tells us that eight or nine of us in a group of ten are
This is the Blackfeet alcoholics. We are told that four or five are this,
text from the eight or nine are that. We take what other people
CanadianTribute to tell us. In a single room, we can get 15 different
Human Rights, a definitions of us.
series of granite Unless we free our minds, we cannot get a
plaques in the House
definition of our own. These Blackfeet children
will define us. These are our children, our
of Canada in the relatives; they are ultimately our definition.
languages of the Who we are comes from the language, not from
aboriginal peoples of Indian culture. That culture could be construed as
Canada.The plaques beat-up old pickup trucks, buckskin jackets, and
"bear witness to the powwows. If you want to study culture, go to the
museum. At Glenbow Museum they showed us
vital role of
buttons, Indian gloves, and dresses, tons of
languages in the womens dresses. No wonder our sisters are
preservation of
wearing blue jeans: the museums have all the
cultures." dresses.
They did everything to take the language. But
when you bring it back, the little kids will make
new dresses. The little kids will make new gloves
and new shoes. And the next time the majority
culture comes to take away the dresses and the
gloves, the kids will not give them up.
Get Your Supporting Data
We did a survey based on empirical methodol-
ogy. It was a random sample, door to door, done
by college students. We had the students ask
families if they had language in the house, sweet-
grass, a drum, and books on Blackfeet. Did they
have pictures on the wall about Indians? Did they
have pictures of their family displayed or pictures
of Michael Jordan and John Wayne? We then
selected people in different age groups. We tried
to interview every person over the age of 90, then
80, then 70, and now we are doing every person
over 60.
We asked the fluent-speaking elders of our lan-
guage: Did you remain happy people all your
years? What was the price, what were the
struggles that you endured to use your language?
What were the prices you paid?
For the most part, the people responded that
they
had to stay self-employed. They had no access to the
best jobs. But they also realized they were the
happiest and most centered in the community.
On our survey, all the people said Mr. Little
Plume was the best Blackfeet speaker around. So we
went to talk to him, and he said he was taught that
Indians shouldnt use the language. They tell me
that speaking the Blackfeet language is against the
religion. I cant help you, he said. OK, we said.
We planned to go back a week later and ask again. In
the Blackfeet way, you can say no three times; the
fourth time you cant say no.
Meanwhile, I wondered, why would the Creator
say speaking Blackfeet is not good? The Creator
gave us each of these languages. The Creator would
not say that you would need to use one language over
another. So, we went back the second time, and
again he said, I dont speak the language any more.
Im a rancher. Well, on the third time, he got pretty
nervous. He tried to hide from us. We followed him
across the field. He knew what was happening. He
asked, Is this the third time? He knew the next
time he would have to do what we asked. We ap-
proached him the fourth time, chased him down, and
he said, I know what you are doing. I will go with
you one week. Thats all.
He never left at the end of the week. He stayed all
those years, and hes now about 68, 69 years old.
Hes a very fluent speaker and taught us well. We all
sound just like him; we have the same voice.
Immersion School: How We Got Started
In 1994, we went to a bilingual conference. We
didnt want to do bilingual education; we wanted to
start an immersion program. But there were no
resources, so we went to this bilingual conference.
And there we saw these beautiful people, all
speaking their language, and we said, Hey, they
look like us. Lets go sit with them. They were
Native Hawaiians, and they had been down to fewer
than 1,000 native speakers. So, they started language
nests, called piinana leo in their language, and taught
their children their language. They were the first
people we ever met who knew what we were
seeking, and they shared everything they knew with
us. They showed us how to get started. They were
mentors, our support, and our guides. They even
paid for us to go to Hawaii. And today, they have 28
schools. Last year, they graduated their first class of
Native Hawaiian kids who had been in immersion
school since preschool.
You have to be very action-oriented. Just act.
But we dont have land, you might think. Then go
buy land. You buy the landlock, stock, and barrel.
You
figure it out. Buy it, then figure out how to put the
deal together to do it. We went up to a lady and
asked how much she wanted for her land. She said,
Everyone just laughs when I tell them because
they say it is too high a price. We said, We will
bring the check. She sold us the land on the spot.
We did not debate her. She said, I will do it
because of my grandmother who spoke our
language. I will sell it for the language school in
honor of my grandmother. We told her we would
come back the next day with the money. And thats
what we did. We figured it out ourselves.

Frank Weaselhead and the Sand Hills

We are a different organization from most. Our
immersion schools look like schools, but in reality,
they are a whole different thing, with very different
dynamics and a very different structure. Many of
us who helped found and develop these schools
will never be fluent in our languages. But because
of our work, our babies will become fluent.
There is this old man, Frank Weaselhead, who is
a pipe holder, and he comes to visit us often. Do
you folks ever receive a compliment? he asked us.
No, actually, we receive almost none, from
almost no one, we replied. Thats good, he said.
You dont need compliments. Your compliment
will come. Years from now, we will all be gone to
the Sand Hills. [The Sand Hills are now called the
Porcupine Mountains, and it is the understanding
of the Blackfeet people that after this life, we pass
to the Shadow Land or the Sand Hills. ] We will all The founders of Niziphuh-
be gone to the Sand Hills, and there will be these wahsin wanted to respect the
families here, with young kids, happy kids, and all language and so wanted the
will speak the language. Some day, someone will best possible facilities,
wonder how it was that when all other tribes lost despite the community's
their language we all could speak our language. poverty. They also insist that
The people will think about this a while and say to parents pay at least some of
each other, T dont know. Way back then there the tuition, to give them a
were some people, and they built the schools, and sense of dignity.
they put our parents in these schools. That is how
they kept our language alive. And that will be
your compliment.

Money
Browning, Montana, is a tough place for most
people. Theres no Egg McMuffin, no gourmet
cheese shop, no Pizza Hut. This is an area that is
economically redlined. If you put our zip code,

aisokinaa
59417, on any loan application, it will be turned
down by a zip search. Doctors and teachers who
move in with an AAA credit rating, go to buy a
new car or a home, and their credit is suddenly no
good. Norwest Bank doesnt give loans outside of
its 120-mile radius. Browning is just outside of its
120-mile radius. These redline sit

Cultural Survival Quarterly Summer 2007 37

uations are on all reserves. Thats why we have no
stores here. But we want nice buildings for the
school because this is our language. We need to set
goals and examples. We need to charge $100 a
month for every parent, and each parent must pay a
portion of that cost because it gives the parents
dignity. Some of our kids are being raised by a
single great-grandmother, on social security, no
less. Would we say no to that? No, we raise money
to pay the difference. We have several children
whose parents are in prison. Some kids are raised
by foster families. Most of our parents are
firefighters who work only during the fire seasons.
Still, they pay a portion, and we work like crazy to
find the match.
We have a great deal of broken-down stuff on
this reserve, the results of half-baked plans and
thoughtless initiatives, the ghosts of attempts to

Cultural Survival Quarterly Summer 2007 37

 We find a wealth of information, of
history, in the Blackfeet language.
When buffalo died, wolves died out.
The word for them mukyi (month looking at you)
died out too.The word for wolf from the 1920s until
recently was amonkapeesee (big coyote). About five
or ten years ago, they reintroduced the wolf here
from Canada. We were able to take the original
word, and we put it back into the curriculum. Now
the children use the word mukyi for "wolf." The
Milky Way is said to be a "wolf tail," or mukyi ohsoko. Knowing the
importance of the word "wolf," we look for other words with "wolf."

revitalize the economy. We have the Blackfeet New Words

The pencil factory, the defunct livestock center, a

racetrack that never had a race. We got $10 mil-
lion for a sawmill, which is now home to pigeons
(birds that are not indigenous; we cant even eat
only way them). People bought this all to stabilize our tribe,
to save a our economy, without realizing that language is
the key. Many of these things were imposed on us;
language many were undigested ideas. The amazing thing is
that language is being overlooked as the most
critical component.
is to teach Language is powerful. Big, burly Blackfeet
guys up scouting for elk are like mush when their
it to a little boys speak Blackfeet in the woods. We had a
situation where two dads took their sons hunting.
child. The boys were a bit nervous, as they knew that the
elk were important. They had been taught a love
medicine song, and they made a plan to sing the
love medicine song to warn the elk that their dads
were coming to shoot them. The boys were
singing away in the back of the pickup truck and
the men heard them singing and talking in
Blackfeet. The men had tears in their eyes,
especially when they finally figured it out that the
boys were singing so elk would stay away. My
child knows this, they said.
The fathers are inspired, and they are really
inclined to come here. These dads dont want to
go anywhere near public schools.
Our kids are modern kids. They see and
experience a lot, and they dont have Blackfeet
words for their experiences. They dance to MTV.
We Blackfeet dont have words for that. But then I
think of when the Blackfeet saw the first horses.
They didnt have words for that, either. One
Blackfeet man said, ponoka (they are elk).
The other guy said, Naaaa, those are too big.
Those are imita, a dog. Another guy looked and
decided that they were too large to be dogs but
that they werent quite elks. So he combined the
words to get elk-dog, or ponoka imita. We use that
word today.
Language evolves, and it is through children
that we can make new words. If they dont know
the word, theyll try to figure it out. The kids at the
school wanted to go to Pizza Hut over in the next
town. There is no Blackfeet word for pizza, so one
boy decided to use the Blackfeet word for
rosehips, kina, which are red, tangy, and look like
tomatoes. He combined it with napiyeeni, for
bread. In Blackfeet, anything with a roof is an
oyis. So, the kids came up with kinanapiyeenioyis,
rosehip bread- house. Pizza Hut.
The only way to save a language is to teach it to
a child. We dont know the words that they will
invent. We dont know the language of children.
But we do know the language rules, the language
standards, and the old language philosophies. We
have to be very strict in teaching those things so
that the children can be inventive in the traditional

42
way.

42
 nipaitapiiyit
%
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*

F AIRLY TRADED

How We Teach tive people initially like to

We took a lot of field notes, and over the
course of eight years, we have sixty
listen toit produces
post-traumatic stress.
anj^ewzruu
lessons. At the beginning of the first year, We remind them,
we all started at chapter one. Now we are with our very
on chapter nine, but we are stuck at chapter presence, of the
nine because we have first-, second-, third- horrors inflicted upon
, fourth-, and fifth-person pronoun forms in them in the mission
our language. We cant discuss that in schools and the
English, which has no fifth-person form. government schools
Fifth-person in Blackfeet is fading away, and the public
and only a few are using it. So, if it takes us schools. We change
all year, we will figure it out. We used a these dynamics with
sound in the fourth-person singular that our behavior and with
was complex, and we finally figured out the behavior of the
the sound. Eventually we will make it to children.
chapter 60, but it will take us 10 years. (It
took eight years to write the book.) Then Three Kids
the babies will tell us the answers.
Talking Blackfeet
In our schools, public humiliation, in a Grocery Store
public squealing, public gatekeeping, and
This man was
mean encounters are never allowed. All
talking at the college,
our attempts to speak the language,
and he said a real
conduct business in the language, organize
strange thing. I was
in the language, are a part of our attempts
at the grocery store. A
to change community dynamics. Language
little boy saw another
reminds people of the torture inflicted in
little boy, and they
the past. Language is a touchy subject. Its
started talking away
not something that many fluent na
in Indian. Wow, he
said, I never saw

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that. Then there was a little girl, and she

Cultural Survival Quarterly Summer 2007
came over, and all three of them, they37were
all talking in Indian. I stood there for so
long, I couldnt bring myself to talk.
Listen, I said to my wife, did you hear
those kids? They were all talking Indian.
My wife, she said, Oh yeah, those must all
be those kids at that Indian school.
He said, That was the most special
moment in my life.

Cultural Survival Quarterly Summer 2007 37