ABSTRACT
Schooling is highly associated with Indigenous language loss in the USA and Canada. Here, I examine how Native Americans and First Nation peoples have begun using schooling through their traditional languages to reestablish those languages. The power of such schooling is first demonstrated with the case of Greenland, where the Indigenous language is thriving and many students are trilingual. We then examine endangered languages in Canada and the continental USA where various levels of use of Indigenous languages in schooling has been spreading for three decades. The most developed school-based revitalization effort—that of Hawaiian—is then examined in more detail. I explore policy, resourcing, and sustainability challenges. Benefits for individual students are described beyond high proficiency in two languages to include positive cognitive, emotional, and academic outcomes. Most striking is the societal change and transformation associated with these programs.
