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About the Speakers

$Description: C:\Documents and Settings\mscott\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.Outlook\13745LEQ\Loren.JPG$ Me'-lash-ne Loren Bommelyn, M.S., is an expert of the Taa-laa-wa (Tolowa) Dee-ni' culture, history and lifeways and a fluent speaker and educator of the Dee-ni' language. He is a Smith River Rancheria Tribal Council Member and has been for the past nineteen years. Me'-lash-ne is the ceremonial dance leader for the Nee-dash (World Renewal) Ceremony since 1976. Me'-lash-ne is world renowned in achieving and preserving Native culture, heritage, and language. In 1980, Me'-lash-ne is the first to achieve a bilingual and bicultural teaching credential in the nation. Me'-lash-ne has been teaching the Dee-ni' language at Del Norte High School for last twenty-nine years. He earned his Masters Degree in Linguistics from the University of Oregon (U of O) in 1995. Me'-lash-ne was awarded the National Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts in 2002, and the Distinguished Educator or the Year at the 26^th Annual Conference on American Indian Education in 2003. Me'-lash-ne continues to spend his life revitalizing and preserving his language, mores and spirituality.

Willie Brown is originally from Manawatu region of New Zealand's North Island, and is currently pursuing a double major in Native American Studies and Political Science (Public Law) at the University of Montana, in addition to working for the Native American Studies Department. Willie is affiliated with New Zealand's Maori iwi (tribe), and grew up through the New Zealand Maori Kohunga Reo and Te Kura Kaupapa langauge immersion and cultural revitalization era of the 70s and 80s. Willie and his wife Evelyn (who is Filipino, Kapampangan/Bicolana) relocated to the US from New Zealand in 2001, and hvae lived in Montana for the past 5 years. Willie has lived and worked throughout Asia, and speaks Japanes, Tagalog/Filipino, and Maori and is particularly interested in Indigenous sovereignty, the protection of Indigenous intellectual/cultural proerty, and Indigenous language revitalization.

MENEŦIYE (Elisha) Elliott, is one of the SENĆOŦEN language apprentices at the LÁU,WEL,ṈEW Tribal School in WSÁNEĆ on Southern Vancouver Island. The apprentice program started in 2009 to create a new generation of language teachers, and has created many strategies to make language learning more available to their community. Since 2009 the apprentice program has helped in starting a SENĆOŦEN language based bachelor of education program at the University, the first WSÁNEĆ language nest, and many more strategies to revitalize their language.

About the Teacher Training for Language Instruction and Acquisition

Dr. Neyooxet Greymorning will facilitate the teacher-training workshop and will guide language instructors through a method he developed called Accelerated Second Language Acquisition©™. This method has broad application as a tool for language instruction across diverse languages and age groups, which will be illustrated with video footage of work with children and adult college classes, as well as workshop demonstrations. Dr. Greymorning developed this approach to specifically bring second language learners to a level of language competency while accommodating language instructors working with limited resources and time. By the end of the three-day training session participants will have developed a full year of language instructional materials structured toward creating second language speakers. The training workshop is not magical, it is based on a fully developed systematic approach. Participants should come with the understanding that the three-day teacher training sessions will be work intensive, but also rewarding. The workshop will be most effective if participants are fluent speakers or have fluent speakers with them. If possible, participants should bring a lap top computer as there will be a lot language instructional materials/curriculum that participants will need to write if they are going to succeed at having their students learn to speak their languages.