A Spanish teacher at Begich Middle School in Anchorage, Debra Abshier, recently showed SURVIVING SOUNDS OF HAIDA to her class. Debra gave this comment:
"I loved your film, and shared it with my 8th grade Spanish students. Your work facilitated a dialogue about how learning Spanish in school could some day make it easier to learn another language. The kids talked about how their parents and grandparents speak languages other than English, and how great it would be if they could continue that language tradition in their families. I think your film really opened their eyes to the possibility of being multi-lingual. Thanks for doing such beautiful and important work."
Debra added: "Since moving to Alaska I have become more and more aware of the languages being lost. For me, that is like the extinction of a species. Anything we can do to increase awareness, we should do."
I "met" Debra via the Language Acquisition Group of the Alaska Educational Innovations Network. The group meets online every other week discussing issues of language acquisition and language education. Haw'aa, Debra!
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