Place and Culture-Based Curriculum Development for Language Revitalization
Joana Jansen
Zalmai (Zeke) Zahir
Judith Fernandes
Virginia Beavert
Greg Sutterlict
Roger Jacob
Course Information
Place and culture-based language curriculum can be an important tool for language and lifeways revitalization. A place-based educational approach grounds curriculum and lessons in students’ experiences in local events and places, and acknowledges that learning happens not only in formal educational settings but also outside of school in families and communities. This reinforces connections to one’s home, family, community and world. (Note that the terms place-based and culturally/community-based overlap; we use place-based as a cover term here.)
This workshop introduces participants to the concepts of place and culture-based curriculum, and provides several rich examples of place-based curriculum projects. The curriculum teams for each of these projects discuss their curriculum and how it was developed. Ways that linguists and documentation specialists can collaborate with speech community members to support place-based curriculum development are addressed. Then, participants will be guided through the first steps of developing a place-based curriculum unit for their own use and determining what additional resources will support their teaching. Throughout, we work from the assumption that learning is a collaborative process, and we expect that leaders and participants will share with and learn from one another.