Maryetta School's Primary Grades Program

Language: Cherokee

Program Base: Maryetta School in Stilwell, Oklahoma

Goals:

1. To reinforce the native language learned at home.
2. To introduce the Cherokee language.
3. To sensitize all children to Cherokee language and culture.

Brief Description:
Cherokee language and culture are integrated into the curriculum in the lower grades, so that children learn Cherokee words for colors, numbers, body parts, etc. The children spend time in a specially equipped center where their learning of the Cherokee language is reinforced through psychomotor activities that involve saying Cherokee words. (The Cherokee language is not taught as a separate subject.) Maryetta is a K-8 school with a preschool program that also uses the psychomotor center. All students in the lower grades, not just Cherokee students, participate in the program.

Materials: Teacher-made materials.

Support:
Funds in the past came from Title VII (bilingual education) and Title IX (Indian education). The program began as a Title VII demonstration project in 1982. Support now comes from fluent native speakers of the language and collaboration with a school, college, or university. Maryetta is close to Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.

Contact Information:
Carthel Means, Superintendent
Maryetta School
Route 4, Box 2840
Stilwell, OK 74960

(918) 696-2285 / Fax: (918) 696-6746