Summer Language Institute

The Summer Language Institute is a for-credit, two-week summer program featuring Indigenous languages on a rotating basis. Previous languages hosted at the Institute have been Diné Bizaad (Navajo language), Iñupiaq, Ute, Hopilavayi (Hopi Language), Lakȟótiyapi (Lakota language), and Tsalagi Gawonihisdi (Cherokee language). Language teachers and students alike travel to Durango, Colorado from their home communities to come together around love for language. As AOKC Director and Diné Bizaad teacher, Rachael Nez, says in her classes: Use your words!

The Institute is held Monday through Friday from 9am to 3pm for two weeks in May. Each day is split into two parts: In the morning, language teachers lead small classes focused on introducing students to the language, getting students speaking, and sharing cultural contexts. In the afternoons, students meet with peer educators to discuss their language journeys, similarities and differences between languages, and how language relates to culture and lifestyle. Students and teachers alike participate in complimentary activities throughout the program, such as restorative justice circles, river rafting, blue corn planting at the Old Fort in Hesperus, Colorado, and more. The program culminates in a symposium highlighting the students’ work and celebrating language revitalization at the Southern Ute Cultural Center and Museum in nearby Ignacio, Colorado.

Summer 2023 Institute students at the group rafting trip, where they explored relationships to water.
Summer 2023 Institute students at a blue corn planting retreat at the Indigenous foods garden at the Old Fort farms in Hesperus, Colorado.
Summer 2023 Institute students at the group rafting trip with FLC FLOW.
Diné Bizaad students sharing their language lessons with the class.
Diné Bizaad students and instructor Rachael Nez.
Students explore the Old Fort farms in Hesperus, Colorado.
Students at the blue corn blessing at the Old Fort Indigenous foods farm in Hesperus, Colorado.
Students participating in blue corn planting at the Old Fort Indigenous foods garden in Hesperus, Colorado.
Hopilavayi (Hopi language) students Matthew Schafer, Ellyse Fredericks, and Sahalee Martin posing with their graduation certificates after performing a puppet show in Hopilavayi at the final symposium.
Summer 2023 Institute students.
Diné Bizaad students Moriah and Tim Arthur and their daughter Athaylia recording their intergenerational story of Diné identity and relationships to Diné Bizaad in collaboration with the Story Center.
Diné Bizaad students Moriah and Tim Arthur and their daughter Athaylia recording their intergenerational story of Diné identity and relationships to Diné Bizaad in collaboration with the Story Center.
Summer 2023 Institute students sharing their stories of language learning.
Diné Bizaad student recording her language journey story.
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Summer 2023 Institute students Lauryn Baldwin and Ally Gee.
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Summer 2024 Institute students and teachers after the final symposium and graduation ceremony.
Diné Bizaad students developing ideas for their language podcasts.
Summer 2025 Institute Diné Bizaad students on the first day of the program.
A Summer 2025 Institute Diné Bizaad's students notes for their audio dictionary upload.
Summer 2025 Institute Diné Bizaad students discussing clans and kinship.
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Summer 2025 Institute students reviewing Diné Bizaad consonant sounds together.
Summer 2025 Institute students planting blue corn at the Old Fort in Hesperus, Colorado.
Simmer 2025 Institute student Steve Bradfield posing with Indigenous agricultural tools. This was his first time planting anything!
Summer 2025 Institute student Tamika James at the student climbing activity.
Summer 2025 student climbing the rock wall at the student climbing activity.

FAQs

  • You do not need to be an enrolled student at a college or university to attend. AOKC’s Summer Language Institute is open to any and all individuals who wish to participate.

  • Fort Lewis College students will earn 4 credits for participation in the Institute. The FLC Native American Tuition Waiver is applicable to the cost of the courses.

    Students from other colleges or universities should inquire with their institution as to whether or not their institution will award credit for participation in AOKC programming.

  • We have limited scholarships available to cover participant fees and housing stipends. Scholarships for housing stipends will be limited to those enrolled in Fort Lewis College. 

    For non-FLC students, there will be no charge for the courses with audit status, though no college credits will be available.

    The program will cover the costs of breakfast and lunch for both weeks (dinner not included) and provide food at the final symposium for all participants.

    If you have concerns regarding travel costs, please indicate these concerns in your application and reach out to us directly.

Watch the final language projects from the 2024 Summer Institute Diné Bizaad class:

The Language Revitalization Institute has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom.