Ocean Nash in his taan costume. Costume created by Shana Kinison. (Courtesy of the Klukwan School)

Students at the Klukwan School put on their winter performance Thursday night. The school was packed with family and friends. KHNS’ Claire Stremple has the story.

The preschool and kindergarten students at Klukwan school are singing Daa sa iyateen Shi , or  “What do you see?” in the Winter program. Half of the winter Program was in Tlingit. The Alaska Native Language Center in Fairbanks estimates about 500 people still speak the language. Some of its youngest speakers were onstage in Klukwan last night.

“We’re in Tlingit territory, says Marsha Hotch.  “This is the only place in the world the Tlingit language happens.” Hotch is the language teacher at Klukwan School. She has been teaching Tlingit  for two decades. She says that a lack time and interest are barriers to learning the language.  Shesays in the last ten years she’s seen a shift. People work harder to preserve the language and use it more in native communities. But she says the threat of the Tlingit language disappearing is ever present.

“When the last speaker goes… We don’t want that to happen,” said Hotch.

The language program at the Klukwan School  is funded by a federal grant to The Goldbelt Heritage Foundation to work with the Chatham School District. Each student gets a half hour of Tlingit language a day and the students and teachers get to learn from the elders on Friday. Their program is strengthening the language with new voices. The tlingit language has 24 sounds that aren’t present in English. But for younger learners, Hotch says it’s not a problem, it’s just communication.

“To hear them shouting on the top of their lungs Tlingit language was quite incredible because it’s been a long time since we actually get to hear children talking Tlingit,” she says.

Elementary students performed Xoots Daat Shkalneegi Aya, a story about a brown bear, entirely in Tlingit. The students decorated the stage with berry bushes and trees.  The middle and high school students put on a contemporary adaptation of the traditional Strong Man Story. Their play was “Strong Woman” or Latseeni Shaawat. 

“It was challenging because they wanted it to be their own, but there’s so much tradition here that really needs to be respected,” said their teacher, Jessica Tipkemper. “These stories are sacred to the Chilkat people.”

But the students proved they could carry the moral through their contemporary retelling, adapting a centuries old story to be relevant in the world as they experience it now. She says they made it their own while showing a connection to the culture and history of Klukwan.

Elders Joe Hotch and Smitty Katzeek contributed language and bear knowledge to the performance.  They sat in the back with big smiles long after the performance was done.  “They’re learning the language. They’re learning everything they can. That’s great,” said Smitty Katzeek.

Students joined their teachers and parents for refreshments. Rihanna Rasmussen says her 5-year old daughter Juniper is even teaching her some vocabulary.

“She speaks Tlingit at home all the time actually… I could use some practice. I know gunalchéesh.”

It means thank you.

 

Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the grant funding comes from the Goldbelt Heritage Foundation. It is a federal grant to the Goldbelt Heritage Foundation that funds the work with Chatham School District.