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Need for the project
The need for Navajo bilingual teachers is important as a
growing population of Navajo students is classified as LEP. Approximately 50%
of Navajo children entering school on or near the Navajo Nation do not speak
their Navajo language fluently. Ambrose Yazzie, a Master's student in Bilingual
Multicultural Education and a first year teacher, writes, "Throughout my education,
I spoke Navajo. English was my second language. Today when I speak Navajo with
my students they often respond in English. I tell them they should not be ashamed
of speaking the Navajo language, that it is good to know two languages."
Of 155 American Indian languages, 87% are spoken by adults
who no longer teach them to their children (Kraus 1992). More than one-third
of American Indian and Alaskan Native languages have fewer than 100 speakers
(Census Bureau 1993). Today Navajos constitute 45% of all speakers of American
Indian languages (Census Bureau 1993). In 1993 Apache County reported the largest
number of students in the state who were speakers of American Indian languages:
8650 students, over half of the student population of Apache county, are speakers
of Navajo and are classified as LEP (Arizona Department of Education 1993).
The population of the Navajo Nation is 165,614. The per
capita income is $4,106.00. Over 57.4% of all families live below the poverty
level. Of 92,671 persons aged 16 or older , 27.9% are unemployed. Half of the
housing units on the Navajo Nation lack complete plumbing and kitchen facilities.
One third of all houses do not have running water. Over half of all houses lack
sewer or septic tank systems. 77.5% of all houses lack telephones.
91% of Chinle Primary School students live at or below the
poverty level (Title I 1995). 99% of the students in the Chinle Unified School
are Native American, 62%: 2,633 are LEP. Of the 25 certified teachers at Chinle
Primary School 40% are bilingual in Navajo. 11 certified teachers at Chinle
Primary School hold an Arizona Bilingual Endorsement. Three Navajo bilingual
teachers will complete student teaching at Chinle Primary School in 1998-99.
From 1993-1997, as a member of a consortium of five institutions
of teacher education sponsored by the Ford Foundation, Northern Arizona University
offered courses leading to an undergraduate degree to bilingual paraprofessionals
in Kayenta, Chinle and Tuba City. When funding for this consortium was phased
out, Northern Arizona University continued to offer undergraduate courses to
these cohorts of paraprofessionals. The Ford Consortium has graduated 287 students.
The NAU cohorts in Chinle, Kayenta and Tuba City have graduated 75 students.
Many recent graduates of NAU, including three student teachers at Chinle Primary
school, are not fully certified in bilingual education. Completion of the M.
Ed. in Bilingual Multicultural Education in conjunction with mentoring from
experienced bilingual teachers will fill this gap between the requirements of
the Ford Foundation graduates and the requirements for an Arizona Bilingual
Endorsement. Completion of the M.Ed. degree will further fill the gap between
the role of the paraprofessional and the role of the bilingual teacher holding
an endorsement in bilingual education, a teacher empowered to provide high quality
education to limited English proficient students and to transform curriculum
and pedagogy.
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