This new kindergarten classroom on eastern Idaho’s Fort Hall Indian Reservation looks and feels much like any other. Tiny tables and chairs fill the room, bright drawings and artwork hang on the walls, and small coats hang on low-to-the-ground hooks. It’s the sound of the classroom that’s truly one-of-a-kind. About 30 five-and-six-year-olds are learning to speak Shoshone. “Benna, ne naniha J.J.” “Ne naniha Miley.” The kids line up to introduce themselves. Benna is a traditional greeting like hello. Ne naniha means my name is. But the fist-bump each kid gives me as they introduce themselves isn’t an historical part of Shoshone-Bannock culture. These kindergartners at Chief Tahgee Elementary Academy in Fort Hall are attending Idaho’s first public Native American language immersion school. It’s a charter school for students grades kindergarten through sixth.Get the Story:
Idaho’s First Public Native American Language School Works To Preserve Shoshone Culture (Boise State Public Radio 11/5)
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