In December 2016, the SNLC began working with I.L. Thomas Elementary School (ILTO) to develop a curriculum that more directly supports the development of Cayuga language proficiency in ILTO’s elementary learners. Over the past two years this project, which was supported by Indian Services Canada, has expanded to include not only the development of curriculum, but sessions that cover content delivery, instructional strategies and assessment. These sessions have also been open to teachers, schools and programs for other Haudenosaunee communities.
Guiding Question
The central question guiding the project was: What might a curriculum look like whose focus was building learner proficiency over Kindergarten to Grade 8? Subsequent sessions developed this question into a curriculum that tried to address the question, and in a culturally appropriate way.
At present, the proficiency goal or target that has been set for this nine year (“K to 8”) is Intermediate Mid, as measured according to the rating scale of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL).
Developing the Project
In terms of content delivery towards this goal, the project looked mainly at speaking activities focused on oral language production. The final session, which took place on March 25-26 examined the role of assessment in language programming. In this session, participants had the opportunity to review case studies from assessment tools in other settings, including New Zealand and Hawaii, and consider how to develop assessment tools and frameworks that are culturally relevant. Stay tuned for the videos from these sessions!
These sessions were helpful in providing an opportunity for sharing and dialogue and we hope to have more of them in the future! Ideas for future sessions include resource creation, as well as ongoing maintenance of the curriculum itself.