Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1190776
" A I Y - Y E - K W E E " is a Yurok greeting, but it m eans much more than h el lo, James Gensaw explains to his ninth grade students at Eureka High School in Hum- boldt County. "It has more feeling. It means I missed you, I'm so happy to see you. It applies to places. When I go fishing or kneeling at the mouth of the Klamath River and I wash my hands in the ocean, which is considered a living being and ceremonial place, I say 'aiy-ye-kwee,' which means ' hello, you make me so happy.' It is an important phrase." Yurok is a Native American language that came close to extinction, as elders passed away. But Gensaw has played a key role in revitalizing the language, includ- ing teaching four levels of Yurok to high school students at Eureka High. He intertwines instruction with sto- ries, songs and games, building a sense of community in the classroom. Approx- imately half of his students are Native American, and many are Yurok, but not all. While students say Yurok is easy to learn, it's a complicated language — for example, there are 20 different ways of counting, depending on whether one is counting animals, f lat things, round things, money or people. Gensaw wrote the curriculum, and his classes meet world language and "a-g " college preparatory requirements. Two students in his fourth-year class received Seal of Biliteracy awards for mastery of the language after passing difficult tests, including translation. "One of my students said it saved her life," shares Gensaw. "She was a Yurok tribal member. She was getting in big trouble with the law. She told me that learning Yurok got her off drugs and pre- vented her from going to prison. It helped her to understand who she was." He tells his students that what they are doing is special. "Millions of people are able to speak Spanish, French and German, but Yurok has only 35 conver- sationally f luent speakers, so you are important, needed and valuable." His students are proud to be revitaliz- ing an ancient language. "I wanted to learn this language to help keep it alive," says Native American stu- dent Gracie Anderson, whose great-aunt speaks Yurok. Kirsten Simpson has family who are Yurok. "[The class] makes me feel more connected," she says. "And it's cool." Gensaw, a Yurok tribal member, grew up on the Yurok Reservation in Klamath. He was raised by his grandparents, who knew little of the Yurok language because, like many in their generation, they were forced to attend boarding school. (Begin- ning in the 1800s, the practice of forcibly removing Native American children from th eir h om e s wa s int end ed to c o erc e assimilation by wiping out their memo- ries of Native language and culture.) After high school, he took community language classes offered by the Yurok GENSAW continued on page 26 James Gensaw helps Native American youth connect to their culture Eureka Teachers Association REVITALIZING A LANGUAGE — AND A PEOPLE With only 35 fluent Yurok speakers left, Genshaw tells students, "You are important, needed and valuable." 25 D E C E M B E R 2 019 / J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 0 Changers