Navajo language software hits market

SHIPROCK, (N.M.) - For the first time the Central Consolidated School District offered a Navajo language immersion class for kindergartners starting this school year, and after only two weeks, the students are starting to catch on.

Veteran Navajo language teacher Lucy Charley is heading up the program.

“I want them to know who they are,” Charley said.

In order to make that happen, Charley has created a lot of the teaching materials herself, “I have to translate the books,” she said.

Even though Navajo is taught at all 16 schools in the district, there are no standardized text books or materials for teachers to use, but that could be changing.

Just this week Rosetta Stone released the first edition of Navajo software as part of its ‘Endangered Language Program.’

It won’t be sold commercially by Rosetta Stone, but rather by the Navajo Language Renaissance, a non-profit that sponsored the project.

According to Rosetta Stone’s website it's estimated only 100,000 people can speak Navajo these days.

The hope is that this software will keep the language from vanishing, while at the same time, acting as a resource for anyone who needs it, including schools.

CCSD said it’s embracing the software, in fact it plans to review the program to see if it can be used in the classroom.

Charley has not seen the software yet, but she believes there is a place for it in her classroom.

“That would be something that will enhance the program and I’m looking forward to it,” she said.

If the district does decide to use the software it will be used to supplement the current Navajo language teachings.

“I think that’s a good step,” Charley said.

So far, Rosetta Stone has created a first and second edition of the Navajo language software.

The Navajo Language Renaissance group has said all the profits made from the sale of the first two editions will go toward funding a third.