Ebook: The Function and Signification of Certain Navaho Particles

Выходные данные неизвестны; 32 p.Published in 1948 by the Education Division of the United States Indian Service, the brochure entitled The Function and Signification of Certain Navaho Particles was designed as an aid to frustrated teachers of English to Navajo students of that period.
Although Article 6 of the Navajo Treaty of 1868 committed the federal government to provide educational facilities for every thirty children between (the ages of six and sixteen) who could be induced or compelled to attend school, interest on the part of tribal members was understandably low at the time, and funds were lacking. As a result, nearly a century passed before school opportunities became universally available to the tribe.
Wartime experiences during the 1940s acted as catalysts to stimulate interest in learning English on the part of tribal members, with the result that, after the war, the nation suddenly faced the gargantuan task of carrying out treaty obligations for a backlog of Navajo children and young people, illiterate in English and monolingual in Navajo, that had reached thousands. To cope with the problem a crash program was launched, beginning in 1946, designed to provide basic language and work skills to a segment of the population that otherwise would face life disadvantaged.
Few teachers involved in the crash program had personal experience with any language other than English—much less with Navajo—nor did they have special training in second-language teaching techniques.