SB 103-NATIVE LANGUAGE EDUCATION CHAIRMAN MILLER brought SB 103 before the committee and invited Senator Lincoln to present it. Number 275 SENATOR GEORGIANNA LINCOLN said she appreciated the committee hearing the bill. She pointed out the sponsor statement and backup information in the members' packets, and the zero fiscal note from the department. Mr. Bruce Johnson would be available to answer questions about the fiscal note. She presented a map of the 20 languages throughout the state, noting that 15 to 18 are in danger of possible extinction, with Central and Siberian Yupik the only two healthy languages. As an Alaska Native, Senator Lincoln's mother could speak and read their Athabaskan Koyukon language very fluently, but when she went to the Eklutna grade school she was punished for speaking the native language and consequently none of the seven siblings know the native language except for "all the bad words and some phrases and words." She said she cannot converse with the elders and can understand only a few words they are saying. Often she would hear her mother laugh with the elders and she'd ask her to tell the story and what it means, and she'd say, "I can't because if I translate it into English, it loses its meaning." Senator Lincoln said she always felt somewhat cheated that she couldn't know her language and pass it on to her children. When she hears the argument that native languages should be taught in the home, she can't do that. Sitting in the Nulato school nine years ago when running for the House, she saw a Japanese lady from Seattle on t.v. teaching the students the Japanese language. The students asked Senator Lincoln why they couldn't be taught their own language. Their choices were French, Spanish, or Russian, and since then, German and Japanese have been added. She felt students should have the opportunity to learn those languages but also that one of the choices should be an Alaska native language. That is why she introduced SB 103. The language of the bill is permissive. The local advisory board would ask the school board for the native language, and they would take it under advisement and add it to the curriculum. Number 348 SENATOR WILKEN asked if anything in state law today prohibits a school district from doing this. SENATOR LINCOLN paraphrased written testimony from Richard Dauenhauer who stated this bill gives positive, largely symbolic support for the survival of Alaska native languages by recognizing the legitimacy of their inclusion in the school curriculum. Only two school districts have really made an effort to do this. The process isn't in place for the school boards to know this is possible. This sets out by law what they can do; "right now, it's catch as catch can." MS. ELIZA JONES of Koyukuk spoke in support of SB 103. She said she has worked for years teaching language, and feels strongly that any effort to support native language at home or in the school is positive. The native language is so unique that if it's lost in the home area, then it's lost forever. Each language carries a unique world view, and the loss of a language is a loss to the population in general. MS. JONES said she has been teaching Koyukon Athabaskan by audio conference to university and high school students. It is not the same as teaching in a classroom setting, but the students are appreciative of whatever she can teach them. With the technology available today, she believes someone needs to develop the curriculum to teach native language. Number 405 SENATOR LINCOLN said Eliza Jones brought up a good point, that language can be taught without having a teacher in every school, by utilizing the audio satellite system. Many classes could be taught with a local individual to supplement the teaching. MR. JAMES M. NAGEAK of Barrow spoke in support of SB 103. He said he was at the University of Alaska when Eliza Jones was there. He saw her Athabaskan name and "it was about 2 miles long," and he wanted to learn how to say it so he had her tutor him for the whole year. It was an exchange of languages. A problem he had with the Alaska Native Language Center was that it archived the documentation, when language should be used as a "living language," not something archived into "the catacombs of Rasmussen Library." MR. NAGEAK said he liked the wording in the bill in 14.30.40 (a) which states the school board shall establish a local native language curriculum advisory board. The North Slope Borough School District bilingual education program does not have an advisory board of people from the 8 schools speaking the Inupiat language. He explained that he learned Inupiat at home until he started school at age nine or ten, and then learned English in the classroom. His grandfather told him he'd better learn English so that he could become a contributor in the Inupiat language community. His younger brothers didn't hear Inupiat as much as when he was growing up because the older siblings were practicing their English at home. MR. NAGEAK believes everyone in the community needs to make the commitment to pitch in and help teach the native language, to make it a viable and useful tool. Barrow is fortunate to have a community college connected with the University; it is trying to develop a core of local teachers. Number 551 MR. BRUCE JOHNSON, Director of the Division of Teaching & Learning, Department of Education, testified that the State Board of Education conceptually supports SB 103 through their adoption of the World Language Content Standards. The standards state that a student should be able to communicate in two or more languages, one being English. This is particularly relevant for Alaska's indigenous languages. In addition, the board endorsed culturally responsive school standards that, in part, outlined that a culturally responsive curriculum uses the local language and cultural knowledge as a foundation for the rest of the curriculum. Research suggests that bilingualism may have a positive effect on a student's general cognitive abilities, and the learning of a second language is not detrimental to the student's first language. CHAIRMAN MILLER asked for questions or discussion, and hearing none, asked the wish of the committee. SENATOR PEARCE moved SB 103 from committee with individual recommendations. Hearing no objection, it was so ordered.