GOAL: To halt the rapid decline of the Choctaw Language among our young Choctaw children.

The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians realized many of our young children are not learning Choctaw at Home. The need for a language program resulted in the establishment of the Tribal Program.

The Tribal Language program was approved by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians' administrative branch in 1997. Dr. Pat Kwachka was selected as the Director of the new Tribal Language Program. The program started with collecting surveys to establish where the greatest language needs were and what types of services were needed. After surveys were completed, new staff were hired and they began working with after school children for 40 minutes a day at Pearl River Elementary and Red Water Elementary.

A summer language immersion camp was first implemented in June, 1997. In October, 1998, Roseanna L. Tubby-Nickey came on board as the new Director of the program. After reviewing the goals and objectives with the staff and language committee, the program was modified to focus more on the children's language maintenance. The staff position titles and duties were changed to reflect additional duties and current duties being performed. The goals, objectives and activities were revised with the community and council approval.

Presently, the Choctaw tribe is listed as one of the few Native American tribes who have managed to maintain their language. However, if measures are not taken by the parents and the Choctaw tribe to maintain the language, the Choctaw people, along with other Native Americans, will certainly lose their pride as one of the few Native American Tribes that have maintained their language.

Fortunately our young adults and elders still speak the Choctaw language, and they are the ones upon whom we must depend to keep our language alive by teaching it to our children.

.Choctaw Tribal Language Program

Program Objectives

1. To help our young children master the Choctaw Language prior to entering the kindergarten classroom throgh total immersion.
2. To increase the use of the Choctaw language among our Choctaw children by improving their Choctaw vocabulary.
3. To teach our high school students how to read and write the Choctaw language.
4. To improve the vocabulary development among our Choctaw people in the Choctaw language through the media.
5. To purify the Choctaw language and decrease the use of mixed languages (Choc-lish) among our Choctaw people by training educators, children, and parents on how to speak pure Choctaw.

Services Provided

• The Tribal Language Program is working with the newly established Early Head Start Program. the program works with children zero to two years of age on oral Choctaw Language Development. This gives our program a perfect opportunity to assist the children in mastering the Choctaw language prior to entering the school system.
• The language staff are training Early Head Start teachers to teach Choctaw Immersion by providing an apprenticeship environment in all classrooms. Five staff are involved in teaching Choctaw Language to young children in four communities Monday-Thursday. The staff are trained to speak pure Choctaw around the children. Our goal is to train all Early Head Start instructors to speak pure Choctaw, instead of "Choc-lish" to our Choctaw children so the children can master the language.
• Choctaw Language Immersion Camp is held each summer for two communities on a rotating schedule for 6-12 year old Choctaw children.
• Awareness activities are provided through the quarterly Choctaw Newsletter, the Choctaw Video Production, and joint activities and/or presentations with various tribal programs.
• Training educators in Choctaw Language Immersion techniques.
• Translation of materials into the Choctaw Language for other tribal programs
• Language Assessment Texts: The Pre-LanguageAssessment Scale test mearsures language fluency and is administered annually to all Early Childhood Education children who are identified as Choctaw speakers. Three years of test data indicate that more than 80% of these children do not speak Choctaw very well or at all.

Director Roseanna L. Nickey Administrative Coordinator DeLaura Saunders Secretary Sequita Williams Choctaw Language/Technology Specialist Jesse B. Ben Translator/Data Entry Clerk Sherry Jim Choctaw Language Aide vacant Language Instructor Nellie Billy - Red Water Language Resource Aide Lula Lewis - Pearl River Language Resource Peggy Williams - Tucker Sally Tubby - Pearl River Program Consultant Pat Kwachka ANA Immersion Trainer Priscilla Vaughn ANA Immersion Apprentice Laura Chickaway Advisory Board Charlie Denson, Calvin Isaac, Rosa Lee Steve, Gladys Willis, Mary Rose Tubby