Nikaitchuat Iḷisaġviat Tribal School built its language immersion curriculum around revitalizing Iñupiaq identity and cultural practices.
Aniivuk Lie runs up and hugs his teacher Piñagin Nina Nanouk as he gets ready to go outside during school at Nikaitchuat Ilisagviat, an Iñupiaq immersion school in Kotzebue, on Monday, April 11, 2022.
This is part of what all students at Nikaitchuat do every day: The school offers language classes and traditional activities, taught in accordance with the subsistence cycles of the local Iñupiaq culture. Besides keeping the language alive, Schaeffer said, the school strives to create a learning atmosphere that will embrace Native culture and nurture “a strong sense of identity” in children, helping them “to be proud of who they are.”
When children come to Nikaitchuat, they leave English at the door and dive into the sounds and rhythms of the Iñupiaq language. Each week, students learn new vocabulary — starting with nouns and progressing toward phrases, sentences and grammatical structures — related to a thematic unit that ties into natural events and the seasonal cycle.
“Last week, we were on fishing, so we brought a fish in and cut it up and then we’re pickling the eggs,” Baldwin said. “They get to get right in there and help cut it out, that’s the only way they’re gonna learn.” Darilynn Nelson form Kotzebue Animal Control donates the Nikaitchuat school a fox on Oct. 26, 2021, in Kotzebue, Alaska. The lead teacher Pinagin Nina Nanouk showed the children how to skin it.
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