BROOKINGS The second graders of Hillcrest Elementary School became briefly bilingual last Tuesday when visitors from the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe spent time introducing the kids to Dakota language and culture.
Dusty Beaulieu is Dakota language manager for the tribe. He spent the first two minutes of his time with the students speaking nothing but Dakota. When he finally switched to English, the visibly relieved kids erupted in laughter and began eagerly asking questions.
I need all of your woohoda. Can you say woohoda? That is respect, Beaulieu told the class. We come from Flandreau but the original name is Wakpa Ipaksan. Wakpa is a river and Ipaksan is bending. So the area is called the bend in the river.
For the next hour, Beaulieu and his fellow guest instructors introduced the kids to Dakota vocabulary by demonstrating a dance, teaching a game and sharing various items of cultural significance to the Dakota people.
Outside of the classroom, he elaborated on his methods.
Were pushing our language, and thats the reason for the focus today really strengthening our Dakota language, Beaulieu said. I dont want to say preserving because preserving is like bottling it up and putting it on a shelf. So were trying to revive and spread awareness, history and anything to help the people the youth especially share our story and spread good cheer.
Hes been working to revive and celebrate the Dakota language, beginning in Flandreau and then spreading elsewhere.
We started off with like adult language classes, and then we moved on to having like a culture club, Beaulieu said. We had the communitys youth so we had almost 80 registered kids who came to our program and we just kind of became mentors for those youth. And really just whatever were learning, were just sharing it right away with the kids.
In addition to the youth group, he and the others make presentations to elementary schools. He said its become an experience thats both rewarding and surprising.
Thats what I like about the kids theyre very honest, blunt and forward. Theyre not afraid to ask questions, Beaulieu said. I love the kids energy. I love it. Elementary kids are wonderful to work with because theyre at this point in their life they are sponges, you know? And they absorb everything we share with them. So its a great opportunity to give them quality teaching.
That teaching took the form of other instructors later in the presentation occasionally circling back to a word or phrase Beaulieu had earlier introduced. Tribe member Victoria Olson did this while showing the kids a buffalo skin parfleche bag crafted by fellow presenter Marilyn Allen.
Everything that you make in our culture, they have different stories, Olson said to the kids, holding up the hand-painted bag. Does everyone remember when Dusty was saying that were Wakpa Ipaksan? So its bend in the river. Thats where Im from. So what Marilyn painted on here is the river to show where Im from. This was a very special gift.
Olson herself has a special connection with not just Flandreau but also Hillcrest Elementary School. Shes the niece of second grade teacher BilliJo Johnson. And although Johnson was unable to attend Tuesdays presentation, her students were wide-eyed, enthusiastic participants full of woohoda. Johnsons fellow teacher, Nicole Leite, said all the teachers and students were grateful to the tribe for taking time to share a bit of Dakota language, tradition and culture with them.
As teachers we strive to celebrate diversity, Leite said. We are thankful to the Dakota people of Flandreau for sharing their artwork, clothing, music, language and traditions with us.
Contact Jay Roe at [email protected].
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