Aiy-ye-kwee, 'new Nicole Peters, Tue-rep esee Rek-woy mey'-wo-me-chook'. Koh-pey esee McKinleyville 'ook'. Kol' hoh-kuem-ek' McKinleyville High School esee Eureka High School. Skuy' so-nee-nep-ek'.
It’s in-between classes at McKinleyville High, and teacher Nicole Peters’ classroom is plastered with Yurok words and pronunciation guides. Her grandma spoke Yurok to her as a child and she says that "growing up Yurok, you’re living it literally every day. You’re also going to school in these communities where you have Yurok language available to Head Start students, middle school students, and now - high school students." Today, she teaches Yurok at McKinleyville High and Eureka High.Peters, who is currently working on her Level II language credential, is part of a decades-long effort to restore the Yurok Language to the status of a living, flourishing language with speakers of all levels. "I think the value for me in teaching Yurok language and Native language, you really get to see the reconnection that students have", she says. She tells Keith and Mike about Yurok vocabulary, phonics, and curriculum - with the occasional school bell interrupting the conversation.
This episode marks the beginning of Talk Humboldt's third season as well as the debut of new co-host Michael Spagna, Interim President of Cal Poly Humboldt.
Yurok Language resources:
——-
TRANSCRIPT
Nicole Peters: Aiy-ye-kwee, 'new Nicole Peters, Tue-rep esee Rek-woy mey'-wo-me-chook'. Koh-pey esee McKinleyville 'ook'. Kol' hoh-kuem-ek' McKinleyville High School esee Eureka High School. Skuy' so-nee-nep-ek'. Hello, my name is Nicole Peters. I come from the villages at Tue-rep, up on the Klamath River, as well as Requa on the Klamath River. I currently live in McKinleyville. However, I'm tied closely to Crescent City, and I work at McKinleyville High and Eureka High.
Michael Spagna: I think our listeners would be really interested in the path you took to teach Yurok and your journey.
Nicole Peters: So that one's kind of hard. It is a little more untraditional than an English teacher or a math teacher. When we were younger, we lived with our grandmother. I believe she was born on the Klamath River by and raised by her grandmother, who was full Indian. And so when we lived with her, she would speak to us pretty regularly. You know, little words here and there. And then growing up Yurok, you’re living it literally every day. You’re also going to school in these communities where you have Yurok language available to Head Start students, middle school students, and now - high school students. I am working with the Yurok Tribe language department to obtain my level II teaching credential.
If you're starting as a Yurok I student, that class is typically used for building vocabulary. General terms, your introduction, (what I did at the beginning), learning how to say your name and where you come from and who your family is. But as you move on, you're learning possessives and simple verbs and how to break down simple verbs to talk about different people participating in those verbs.
Whereas Yurok 2, 3, and 4 - those are a little more advanced. 3s and 4s should be at the level of having small conversations with each other. 2 is still building on general vocabulary to make longer, more detailed sentences. And then 3s and 4s should be having small conversions with each other.
Keith Flamer: How many non-Native students do you have in your class on average?
Nicole Peters: I have maybe about ten non-Native students…
Keith Flamer: Have they ever shared with you why they're taking the class? Because I'm really curious…
Nicole Peters: A few of them have Native friends. And they're like, ‘Okay, you should take Yurok language either with me or just on your own just to learn about it.’ Others need the requirement to fulfill their world language requirement. And…[BELL SOUND]
Keith Flamer: Oh, I love the bell!
Nicole Peters: I know, it might go again in here in a second…
Keith Flamer: Are there certain words that are predominantly male or predominantly female usage?
Nicole Peters: I think family terms are. So if you're a man and you're talking about your brother, it has a different term than if you were a woman talking about your brother.
Michael Spagna: In our research, we came across the notion of multiple ways of counting.
Nicole Peters: Oh, my gosh, yeah! [LAUGHS]
Michael Spagna: How do you explain that for our listeners?
Nicole Peters: I believe there's 20 different counting systems identified in the Yurok language. So you're counting everything from money and round things with one system, animals with the different houses with another, flat things, long skinny things. Boats, people. That's all I can think of right now.
Michael Spagna: And each one has a linguistic identifier?
Nicole Peters: Yeah.
Michael Spagna: So you’d be able to tell how it's being applied, right?
Nicole Peters: Yeah. They kind of follow the same beginning part of the word. So if you're counting three round things or like three money or talking about three.
Bell + Announcement: “Class begins in one minute.”
Nicole Peters: I think it'll go again. Okay. But if you're counting, if you're counting, like, three round things, you say, “nahk-soh”. But if you're counting three people, nahk-sey-ehl.
Keith Flamer: Oh, so it has a different ending. So your tongue has to be pretty agile for this language.
Nicole Peters: Yeah. So there's sounds in our language that aren't in English. You really have to pay attention to those. If you look at the one of the raindrops right here, it has the [whispery sound] ending, that's the "hl" sound. So you put your tongue on the top then blow out the sides of your tongue. [makes “hl” sound]...
Keith Flamer: We'd never know that unless you had described…
Nicole Peters: Right? Yeah, right. A lot of the times when they're learning that “hl” sound, they're spitting at each other. So just be careful…
Keith Flamer: Careful. Oh, yeah. Not too close! [LAUGHTER]
Michael Spagna: As they pair up…. [LAUGHTER]
Nicole Peters: Right? Yeah. But if you look up here with the pink and blue writing, it says e-k-w?. That’s -ekw.. It's like almost like a whisper sound, but you're rounding your mouth to pronounce the “-ekw”
Keith Flamer: It's almost like you're breathing...
Nicole Peters: Yeah. Or like a whistle or something. And then Yurok is not a written language. Just want to point that out. But now, you know, we're in a school setting. You kind of have to read and write so we do obviously have a writing system that the Yurok Tribe adopted - “New Yurok Alphabet” is what it's called.
Michael Spagna: I think that the idea of young people having identity, voice, belonging… we know these are key to people being successful in their personal and professional lives.
Nicole Peters: I agree. You have to have the support to get anywhere and without that, you’re going to struggle. And I sadly see that in some of my students. And I think that’s true for a lot of Native students. They really struggle sometimes.
Michael Spagna: I was going to ask that, because you’re describing empowerment…
Keith Flamer: Yes!
Michael Spagna:… of your students.
Nicole Peters: I think the value for me in teaching Yurok language and Native language, you really get to see the reconnection that students have. Not only language, but culture connections and the like.
Michael Spagna: So how would we say in Yurok, “We enjoyed our time with you today”?
Nicole Peters: You could just say maybe ‘I'm feeling good’... Soo-nee-nep-ek'
Keith Flamer: Say that again?
Nicole Peters: Skuy' so-nee-ne-pek'.
Keith Flamer: Skuy…
Nicole Peters:… so-nee-ne-pek'.
Keith Flamer:.. so-nee-ne-pek'.
Nicole Peters: There you go. I'm feeling good.
Keith FlamerThank you. I am feeling good! Thank you.
