03 年轻一代的纳瓦霍人通过学习来拯救自己的语言 Young Navajos Study to Save Their Language

For part of her life, Sylvia Jackson stopped speaking her native language, Navajo.

Like many Native American children, she had little chance to speak her language.

"We had to speak English. So I lost a lot of just speaking the Navajo language."

More than 100 years ago, the U. S. government began sending Native American children to boarding schools.

All the instruction was in English. The native cultures and languages of the children were discouraged.

In the last 20 to 30 years, tribal governments have started to promote the teaching of Native American languages in schools.

The U. S. Department of Education now also supports Native American language programs.

Today, Sylvia Jackson is a Navajo language instructor in the small town of Holbrook, Arizona.

She teaches Navajo to students at Holbrook High School.

Her class is taught entirely in Diné, the Navajo language.