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.
FAQs
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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.
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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.
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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:
Listen to the final language projects from the 2025 Summer Institute:
The Language Revitalization Institute has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom.