Find out why Dakota Ojibwe language revitalization is important
Wicoie Nandagikendan Early Childhood Urban Immersion Project provides a 3-hour-a-day preschool language immersion experience. It builds on the integral connections between culture, literacy, and educational attainment. The project partners with existing programs to provide fluent speakers and language curriculum.
Young children’s brains are wired to absorb language–easily and without effort. By the age of 3, most children surrounded by words produce sentences as readily as laughter or tears.
The Wicoie Nandagikendan Urban Immersion Preschools Program began in January 2006 with a grant from ANA. Because the future of native languages is in the children, it is crucial to expose children to these languages at a young age. When the language (Dakota or Ojibwe) is not spoken in the home, due to generations of language loss, schools and day care facilities offer an alternative opportunity to expose children to their heritage languages in a supportive, non-threatening environment.
There are currently four preschools in operation through this program. All of these preschools are located in or near the Phillips neighborhood in Minneapolis and serve predominantly American Indian families.
Each class meets for about 3 hours each day, mornings Monday through Friday. There is an average of about five children per class, ranging in age from two to five years.
Four classrooms are located at two different sites. A fourth immersion room (The Dakota House) will be moving to a new site as soon as the building purchase and rehabilitation is complete. The two sites are:
Ojibwe Immersion at
Four Directions Family Center
Reuben Lind Family Services
2438 18th Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55404
Four Directions is located in the Little Earth Neighborhood Early Learning Center. This program is licensed to serve up to 58 children, ages 16 months to 12 years old in full day child care.
One room at Four Directions is an Ojibwe Immersion site serving toddlers-school-age up to 14 children. Each child will receive more than 750 immersion hours/year. Immersion is not just learning a language. It is a process of learning all subjects in the language.
The second room at Four Directions is a newly opened Dakota immersion room. This is a temporary site until the Dakota House is completed.
Four Directions includes occupational, speech, music, family and play therapy, in addition to full time child care. Families who are eligible for child care assistance or who can pay the full cost of care and are committed to their families learning Ojibwe are welcome to apply. Parents must take a one-hour Ojibwe class each week and be involved in learning Ojibwe.
Four Directions Family Center is accredited and is a Strong Beginnings Program.
Contact: Enrollment at 612-722-0762
An Alliance of Early Childhood Professionals partnership with Reuben Lind’s Four Directions Family Center.
Ojibwe and Dakota Immersion Classes at
Anishinabe Academy
Native American Magnet School
(K-8 Minneapolis Public School)
3100 East 28th Street
Minneapolis, MN 55406
Anishinabe Academy is the Minneapolis Public School’s Native American Magnet school focusing on academic achievement, Ojibwe and Dakota language and culture.
This program is a free program funded by a four-year grant from the federal Department of Education- Indian Education. This is a daily FREE six -hour program (three hours of Ojibwe or Dakota immersion and three bi-lingual hours in English & Dakota or English & Ojibwe. Parents must take monthly language classes to learn Dakota or Ojibwe and be involved in the program. Each child will receive 570+ hours of immersion/year.
The goal of the program is to improve their school readiness skill as well as learn the Dakota or Ojibwe languages.
Anishinabe Academy has both Ojibwe and Dakota Immersion sites.
Contact: High Five Enrollment
Jonathan White at 612-668-1821
An Alliance of Early Childhood Professionals
partnership with, High Five, Anishinabe Academy
and Minneapolis Indian Education.
