Students from Hopi Jr./Sr. High School will now play an active part in the first phase of HMRP. Hopi Language Program Founder Anita Poleahla announced a commitment to host a special session with students to listen to and discuss the HMRP recordings and develop strategies for using them on the reservation. Hopi Jr./Sr. High School serves 8 – 12th graders on the Hopi reservation and is located in Keams Canyon, AZ. Ms. Poleahla’s Hopi Language courses are now in their second year and have seen meaningful improvements in Hopi teens’ ability to use their native language. One of the keys to the Language Program’s success is that the courses have a strong cultural focus–Ms. Poleahla believes understanding the contexts behind the words and grammer make learning the language more acessible and exciting.
Ms. Poleahla also leads Mesa Media, Inc., a non-profit organization aimed at restoring the Hopi language on the reservation, which produces curriculums, teaching aids, and books and also engages in education courses for Hopi Language classroom teachers and assistants. Ms. Poleahla’s innovative language curriculum has also included releases of two major albums of Hopi music as well as several regional radio broadcasts.
Hopi Music Project (HMP) 