There is going to be an all Kanien’keha Language Nest Program opening in Tsi Snaihne called IAKHINORONHKWA (We Love Them).

We will be accepting 5 toddlers between the ages of 15 months and 3 years old. These are the earliest stages of first language acquisition.

The program is a unique and intense 52 week Mohawk Language revitalization Pilot Project funded by the Ahkwesahsne Area Management Board and is co-sponsored by the Ahkwesahsne Mohawk Board of Education.

The toddlers will be exposed to Kanien’keha on a daily basis in a loving, safe and natural home environment by two fluent Kanien’keha speaking facilitators. In fact, the program will be functioning at the home of one the facilitators Ohsonti:io (Darlene) Cook located on the School Rd. in Tsi Snaihne.

The concept of the Language Nest derives from the Maori of New Zealand in the 1970’s and was adopted by the Hawaiians in the early 1980’s. The idea spread quickly across many indigenous communities across the globe and quickly entered into the aboriginal territories, the closest being Kahnawa:ke, the sister community of Ahkwesahsne.

The entire concept of the Language Nest is the entire family must be fully committed to learning their inherent language along with their children. Although the Language Nest will operate similar to that of a Home Day Care facility, parents must also be fully committed to learning the language and must commit to being involved with the general operation of the program, which will include fundraising, and family oriented language activities.

Some of the main requirements for enrolling your child into the intense language acquisition program are...

1) your child’s first language is already Kanien’keha and the program is available to reinforce their already existing fluency and/or...

2) parents must be willing and able to reinforce their child’s language acquisition by having at least one fluent parent and/or...

3) parents must be actively involved in learning Kanien’keha themselves.

Although the program will offer some language learning opportunities, the parents must also be taking the initiative to learn on their own using as many options as possible.

Some of the options available include online learning by...

-logging onto already existing Mohawk Language sites on the internet free of charge

-purchasing the Rosetta Stone language acquisition program from the Kanien’keha:ka Onkwawen:na Raotikiohkwa in Kahnawa:ke, which will enable you to learn from home at your own pace

-purchasing learning books with audio from the Ahkwesahsne Mohawk Board of Education and the Ahkwesahsne Freedom School

-Ronathahon:ni

-Ahkwesahsne Museum

-enrolling into the Can 8 program thru AEDA’s Kanien’keha Tsi Tewata:ti or the best option of all

-by learning from fluent speaking family members

If you as parents and/or caregivers are fully committed to you and your family learning Kanien’keha and would like more information on the fee and how to enroll your child into the program you can contact:

Arisawe (Elizabeth) Peters at 613-575-1800, Ohsonti:io

(Darlene) Cook at 613-575-1968 or Kaweienon:ni

(Margaret) Peters at 613-575-2291 (day) or 613-575-1372 (evenings).

This is the first Language Nest endeavor in Ahkwesahsne where we will focus on providing Kanien’keha to our tiniest generation of speakers as their first language. We hope the concept will spread across our confederacy like wildfire.

Tho Niiohtonhak ne Onkwa’nikon:ra...(Let our minds be so).