One of the keys to acquiring a new language is to learn the patterns that make up the language. Simply learning phrases so you can speak "pidgin" Cherokee is not learning Cherokee. You need to learn the fundamentals of the language on how words are put together to be able to understand and communicate in the language. There are many degrees of meaning that different word parts provide and if you don't learn these shades of meaning up front and how they are expressed you will never progress beyond simple memorized phrases and never obtain satisfaction with the language. While each person's skill will differ, one should strive to gain enough understanding of the mechanics of language to be able to comprehend and communicate effectively. The goal of this material is to provide you a solid structural foundation on how Cherokee works. You will learn how words are put together in basic sentences and how to form new words for ideas not listed in the dictionary.

You are about to embark on a journey of learning the Cherokee Language. One of the keys to acquiring a new language is to learn the patterns that make up the language. Simply learning phrases so you can speak "pidgin" Cherokee is not learning Cherokee. The goal of this material is to provide you a solid structural foundation on how Cherokee works. This lesson material uses many of the concepts from both the TPR and the TPRS language learning approaches. The core concept of TPR is physical activity in response to the language being learned. The core concept of TPRS is listening to the language as it is used to describe a series of connected events. Many activities involve TPR by participants performing physical actions in response to commands. As the activities are carried out, TPRS is used to enhance the learning experience by having the participants perform a very simplified form of storytelling by providing different verbal responses based on what is happening or has happened.

This volume offers the most comprehensive, up-to-date description of the wide array of second language programs currently available to undergraduate students in the United States and abroad. It brings together, for the first time, detailed descriptions of programs in foreign language, English as a second language (ESL), dual language (bilingual), American Sign Language, Native American, and heritage languages. Addressing both theory and practice, the volume presents the historical development, current practices, and future directions of each type of program, along with detailed case studies. For second language teachers, academic administrators, and teacher educators, this Handbook provides information that will be useful in making instructional and programmatic planning decisions.

Do you know how to speak Cherokee, but cannot read and write the language? Do your children have difficulty grasping the language? Are you new to the Cherokee language and looking for a quick and effective way to learn? Simply Cherokee: Lets Learn Cherokee Syllabary is the first building block in Simply Cherokees catalogue of tools for learning to read, write, and speak the Cherokee language. Inside these pages you will find the fastestand most effective!way to learn the Cherokee Syllabary. Each syllabary has a simple story containing a word with the syllbarys unique sound. After completing the workbook, you will remember the story and the key word whenever you see a syllabary. Cherokee Syllabary is designed for fast assimilation. And when you are done, just move on to the next book. Youll be fluent as simply as that!

Beliefs and feelings about language vary dramatically within and across Native American cultural groups and are an acknowledged part of the processes of language shift and language death. This volume samples the language ideologies of a wide range of Native American communities--from the Canadian Yukon to Guatemala--to show their role in sociocultural transformation. These studies take up such active issues as "insiderness" in Cherokee language ideologies, contradictions of space-time for the Northern Arapaho, language socialization and Paiute identity, and orthography choices and language renewal among the Kiowa. The authors--including members of indigenous speech communities who participate in language renewal efforts--discuss not only Native Americans' conscious language ideologies but also the often-revealing relationship between these beliefs and other more implicit realizations of language use as embedded in community practice. The chapters discuss the impact of contemporary language issues related to grammar, language use, the relation between language and social identity, and emergent language ideologies themselves in Native American speech communities. And although they portray obvious variation in attitudes toward language across communities, they also reveal commonalities--notably the emergent ideological process of iconization between a language and various national, ethnic, and tribal identities. As fewer Native Americans continue to speak their own language, this timely volume provides valuable grounded studies of language ideologies in action--those indigenous to Native communities as well as those imposed by outside institutions or language researchers. It considers the emergent interaction of indigenous and imported ideologies and the resulting effect on language beliefs, practices, and struggles in today's Indian Country as it demonstrates the practical implications of recognizing a multiplicity of indigenous language ideologies and their impact on heritage language maintenance and renewal.

Based on extensive fieldwork in the community of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in western North Carolina, this book uses a semiotic approach to investigate the historic and contemporary role of the Sequoyan syllabary--the written system for representing the sounds of the Cherokee language--in Eastern Cherokee life. The Cherokee syllabary was invented in the 1820s by the respected Cherokee Sequoyah. The syllabary quickly replaced alternative writing systems for Cherokee and was reportedly in widespread use by the mid-nineteenth century. After that, literacy in Cherokee declined, except in specialized religious contexts. But as Bender shows, recent interest in cultural revitalization among the Cherokees has increased the use of the syllabary in education, publications, and even signage. Bender also explores the role played by the syllabary within the ever more important context of tourism. (The Eastern Cherokee Band hosts millions of visitors each year in the Great Smoky Mountains.) English is the predominant language used in the Cherokee community, but Bender shows how the syllabary is used in special and subtle ways that help to shape a shared cultural and linguistic identity among the Cherokees. Signs of Cherokee Culture thus makes an important contribution to the ethnographic literature on culturally specific literacies.

Contains twenty-seven lessons in the Cherokee language, based on the Oklahoma dialect; and includes accompanying exercises, appendices, and alphabetical vocabulary lists.