About This Site
This is an English As A Second Language (ESL) website concerning information about the American Indians (also referred to as the Original People, and Native Americans ) living in the North American Region, especially those tribes located in the U.S. There is a weekly Blog that tracts current news involving American Indians. There are current writings from Indian students, who share their thoughts and ideas.
This site is intended for ESL teachers, students from other countries, and those people who wish to develop an understanding about the original settlers in North America. It is an educational site that includes complete lesson plans for 11 of the major tribes. The issues covered are in the areas of education, politics, literature, business, music and art. It is a little known fact that many American Indians in this country learn English as their second language, and in many situations their struggles are similar to those of students from developing countries who attend schools here in the United States to learn English. View our site map which supplies an overview of all of the areas and of the information provided in each.
THE LESSON PLANS
The Lesson Plan section of this site contains reading material of the histories and cultures of American Indian tribes. The reading selections are accompanied by exercises to generate group and class discussions, reading comprehension, writing skills, and research projects. In addition, each lesson plan includes a myth from each tribe. There is also a Source Material section, that contains select reading material from books written by Native Americans. According to the background of the tribe, some of the histories are very short, while others may be longer, so this information will vary.
At the end of each lesson, there are source references for those wanting more in depth information about the history of a particular tribe. There are also additional links to books about each tribe that can be found at Amazon. There is the Charles A. Eastman Biographical Essays section for the biograhies of American Indian Chiefs and Heroes in the United States.
THE SOURCE MATERIAL
This section has the Project-Gutenberg American-Indian stories collected in essay form by Charles Eastman who was of Native ancestry himself.
Within this section there are also essays, poems and art work from Indians located in different parts of the States.
Teachers may choose to either use the material (with the exception of the original essays, poems or art work created by students from Indian schools) as a basis for developing their own exercises, or to use the completed lesson plans (please see the Terms of use policy at the end of this page).
THE BLOG
The Blog section of this site provides information about both contemporary and historical issues involving Native People. There are suggestions for exercises in reading comprehension, group discussion, and/or for writing activities for the articles. Everyone is encouraged to share their thoughts on these issues, or to suggest additional activities involving the reading material.
My sources will include Native American newspapers, magazines, books, original work from Native American students, teachers, parents, and all other American Indian people who are interested. .
The goal of this site is to supply ESL teachers and other interested readers with information about the Indigenous Americans, from Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.
This site will be steadily updated, so your comments and suggestions will be appreciated.
HOW THIS SITE CAME ABOUT
The original idea behind this site began during an ESL (English as a Second Language) class that I was teaching many years ago, as a student teacher. I casually asked my students what they knew about the Original Native people who lived here in the U.S.
I remember that I intentionally did not use the term Native American because it would have confused my students who were from other countries, and who thought the term Native American referred to everyone who lived in the United States.
I sadly discovered that my ESL students had no idea who the North American Indians were and what their contributions have been, and continue to be, in the development of North America. One student replied “they [Indians] used to live here a long time ago, but now they are all dead.”
For my master thesis, at Boston University, I had the opportunity to develop a project choosing any content area that I wanted. Based on my experience with my students I developed a series of reading exercises centering on American Indian myths. I worked hard on the project, and I received an excellent grade, with a note from my professor who recognized it as “a labor of love”. I still smile when I remember his note.
Even after graduation, I knew that if I intended to continue teaching ESL, I would have to do more to help L2 learners understand the importance of American Indians in this country. It had to be much more than the turkey holiday, and the encounter with the Pilgrims. Having American Indian ancestry was also a strong motivating factor in this endeavor.
Developing a book seemed the way to go back then. I soon discovered that although there was material about Native Americans available, it was usually overwhelming and in many cases fragmented. It was also more time consuming to organize than I originally thought. In addition, after using some of the reading material and exercises with my own students, I quickly realized that the book contained too much material for a semester of ESL teaching.
Now, years later, and after much adding and subtracting material, I’ve decided to start this site for teachers, students, and those interested in learning about American Indians especially those who are “alive and well”.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE TITLE
One of the most important skills we learn as young children is that of listening. In many cultures the importance of listening is stressed in different ways. The story goes that long ago, among the American Indians, a method employed to insure organization during important tribal meetings involved the speaker holding a feather. While the speaker held this feather, he could not be interrupted. In this way everyone had an opportunity to have their say.
This method is still used today in many American schools, especially with very young children. Although the object the speaker holds may not always be a feather, it is something equally symbolic to the children. It is effective as a tool to teach children the benefits of listening to others.
As teachers we are constantly listening to our students. It was by listening to my students the idea of this site was created.
TERMS OF USE
Permission is granted for use of the material from this site in the classroom, provided the copyright information and this permission notice are preserved on all copies. All other rights reserved. This does not extend to the essays, poems or art-work from individuals who post on this site.
For any questions, please use the email contact below.
