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From https://www.minneapolisfed.org/publications/community-dividend/early-childhood-native-language-immersion-develops-minds-revitalizes-cultures

Early childhood Native language immersion develops minds, revitalizes cultures
Learning their indigenous languages from a very young age may prepare Native American children for success in school and life, with benefits spilling over to their families and communities.
by Rob Grunewald
August 19, 2016

For three hours each weekday during the school year, up to ten children as young as age 16 months and up to five years old are immersed in either the Ojibwe or Dakota language within Four Directions Family Center’s nationally accredited child care center. The program borders the Little Earth community in Minneapolis, a housing development whose residents are mostly of Ojibwe or Dakota descent.

Wicoie Nandagikendan is part of a growing number of early childhood Native American language immersion programs in the Ninth Federal Reserve District and throughout the United States. These programs have the promise to address two major challenges Native American children and communities face.

First, the number of first language speakers—that is, people who speak a Native American language as their first or one of their first languages—is rapidly declining. Early childhood language immersion programs are a strategy to reinvigorate language and cultural practices.

Second, Native communities face many socioeconomic circumstances that can be detrimental to healthy brain development in children. Language immersion programs can help counter these detrimental effects by offering experiences consistent with what young children need to thrive. Many children who learn their Native language and culture also have success with their overall education and well-being.

Read the full article, which gives extensive coverage of indigenous immersion programs in Minnesota, the Dakotas, and Montana, including benefits of immersion education and challenges, at https://www.minneapolisfed.org/publications/community-dividend/early-childhood-native-language-immersion-develops-minds-revitalizes-cultures