ABSTRACT
This chapter is a brief overview of Where Are Your Keys? (WAYK), a method for rapidly and efficiently creating fluent speakers and teachers of endangered languages. The chapter traces how WAYK has developed from 2001 to the present with input from many community collaborators including teachers, learners, and fluent speakers. The chapter then focuses on one of the fundamentals of WAYK: Techniques. Techniques are specific, targeted pedagogical strategies designed to support language learners and teachers in a classroom or community setting. WAYK is a constantly evolving collection of these Techniques, which can be used to create an immersion “safety net,” to accelerate language transfer, and to facilitate language community building. The WAYK method is intended to develop teaching skills alongside fluency, with the result that, as a community creates new speakers, they also gain experienced and accomplished teachers and leaders.
This chapter is a brief overview of Where Are Your Keys? (WAYK), a method for rapidly and efficiently creating fluent speakers and teachers of endangered languages. The chapter traces how WAYK has developed from 2001 to the present with input from many community collaborators including teachers, learners, and fluent speakers. The chapter then focuses on one of the fundamentals of WAYK: Techniques. Techniques are specific, targeted pedagogical strategies designed to support language learners and teachers in a classroom or community setting. WAYK is a constantly evolving collection of these Techniques, which can be used to create an immersion “safety net,” to accelerate language transfer, and to facilitate language community building. The WAYK method is intended to develop teaching skills alongside fluency, with the result that, as a community creates new speakers, they also gain experienced and accomplished teachers and leaders.
