Teaching Indigenous Language Revitalization over Zoom

Abstract

In this teaching reflection, co-authored by an instructor and a teaching assistant, we consider some of the unanticipated openings for deeper engagement that the “pivot” to online teaching provided as we planned and then delivered an introductory course on Indigenous language documentation, conservation, and revitalization from September to December 2020. We engage with the fast-growing literature on the shift to online teaching and contribute to an emerging scholarship on language revitalization mediated by digital technologies that predates the global pandemic and will endure beyond it. Our commentary covers our preparation over the summer months of 2020 and our adaptation to an entirely online learning management system, including integrating what we had learned from educational resources, academic research, and colleagues. We highlight how we cultivated a learning environment centered around flexibility, compassion, and responsiveness, while acknowledging the challenges of this new arrangement for instructors and students alike. Finally, as we reflect on some of the productive aspects of the online teaching environment—including adaptable technologies, flipped classrooms, and the balance between synchronous and asynchronous class meetings—we ask which of these may be constructively incorporated into face-to-face classrooms when in-person teaching resumes once more.

Persistence in Indigenous language work during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Since the onset of the pandemic, those involved in ILR work have turned to language as a source of “comfort, wisdom, and guidance” ( Chew, 2021 , p. 279) while also innovating to find new ways forward under unprecedented circumstances. Many ILR practitioners used social media as a space to connect around shared commitments to language ( Chew, 2021 ; Gallant, 2021 ), as well as video conferencing to facilitate online language learning and teaching ( Chew, 2021 ; Daurio & Turin, 2022 ; Enari, 2021 ; McIvor, Chew, & Stacey, 2020 ; McIvor, Sterzuk, & Cook, 2020 ). Some communities turned to land-based education in the wake of school closures ( Brant-Birioukov, 2021 ).…”

Multi-Course and Faculty-Student Collaboration: Reflections on Implementing a Qualitative Research Project with Undergraduate Students

“…Second, there have been various discussions about the teaching implications, challenges, and opportunities of COVID-19, both within and beyond anthropology (e.g., Cheuk 2021;Christian, McCarty, and Brown 2021;Daurio and Turin 2021;Jacobs et al 2021;Jenks 2021;Kim et al 2021;Mandache et al 2021;Russell et al 2021;Santos 2021) as well as about the stresses, challenges, and uncertainties that students have, and continue to experience, in the context of the pandemic (e.g., Lee, Jeong, and Kim 2021;Moore, Petrie, and Slavin 2022;Salvador et al 2021;Villani et al 2021). We were aware that the combination of uncertainties about the pandemic, changes in teaching formats and approaches, and pre-existing vulnerabilities (Santos 2021;Kelly 2022) had affected, and continued to affect, our students.…”