The Lakota Language Consortium invites everyone interested in learning and teaching the Lakota language to attend the 2016 Lakota Summer Institute, to be held at Sitting Bull College in Fort Yates, ND from June 6 – June 24.
This year will mark the Institute’s consecutive 10th year. Since 2007, over 250 teachers from more than eight reservations and states have participated in the three-week language experience. Attendees at this year’s LSI can choose from over 30 courses, maintaining the Institute’s status as the premier Lakota/Dakota language and teacher professional development event in the country.
For teachers of Lakota, LSI offers training in best-practice teaching methods using LLC’s new language materials. This year teachers will use a new 600-page Lakota Grammar as part of Lakota Grammar, Syntax, and Morphology courses. Teachers who attend LSI leave feeling empowered with knowledge of the latest teaching techniques and tools.
LSI offers an intensive track for Lakota learners. Alli Moran, a third year participant of LSI, shared, “When I was 10 everything began to come together. I began to understand what it means being a Native woman and the importance of Lakota language and culture […] I love it here. I love seeing everyone come together and we all have a common cause, which is to learn and speak the language.”
Outside of class time, LSI attendees have the opportunity to take part in cultural activities such as hand games and to take trips to historic sties in the area. This year, in celebration of 10 years of LSI, Scatter Their Own, with special guests Humor The Ruse, will perform on June 16 at 8pm at Prairie Knights Casino Pavilion in Fort Yates, ND. Formed in 2012, Scatter Their Own is an Alter-Native Rock Duo of Oglala Lakota ancestry from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation of South Dakota.