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LOST CITY, OKLAHOMA - Five-year old students in the Lost City school district will soon have the option to attend kindergarten class taught in the Cherokee language. The school district is the first public school in Oklahoma to offer a class taught using only Cherokee.

"I’ve done a lot of research on it and I understand the process", said Dr. Patricia Millard, superintendent of Lost City School. "65% of my students are Cherokee and I feel that it is very important to their culture and their language. If we don’t take steps to preserve their language, they may not have a language to pass to their children."

Cherokee Nation currently has two classrooms for three and four year olds, which are taught in Cherokee. The classes, referred to as immersion classrooms because the students are immersed in the Cherokee language, are offered at the Cherokee Nation Early Childhood Unit in Tahlequah. Although the immersion classroom at Lost City is the first class offered at a public school, the Cherokee Nation has agreed to provide the school with funding for the teacher’s salary and the salary for one teacher’s aide. The Cherokee Nation has plans to open and operate a private elementary school taught only in Cherokee by 2012. Until then, the Cherokee Nation is encouraging other public schools to begin their own Cherokee immersion programs.

"Everything is taught in the Cherokee language", said Dr. Gloria Sly, director of the Cherokee Nation Cultural Resource Center. "We teach the same things as in a regular classroom, we just teach in Cherokee."

Administrators in Lost City have already begun preparations for the new class that is coming to their school.

"We currently have about a dozen people, students and parents, taking classes in the Cherokee language in the evenings", Millard said. "We’ve started labeling items in the office with labels printed in Cherokee and are starting to use people’s Cherokee names when we refer to them."

Millard has even invested in software that enables her to print the Cherokee syllabary from her computer.

"My vision for this is to next year incorporate the first grade in the immersion program", Millard said. "The sky is the limit. This is a whole new experience. It’s exciting to be able to offer this type of experience to the residents of Lost City.

Mike Miller, Cherokee Nation Director of Communications Phone: 918-456-0671 (ext.2210) Fax: 918-458-5580 E-mail: Communications@cherokee.org Larry Daugherty, Advertising Manager Cherokee Nation - Public Affairs Phone 918-456-0671 (Ex.2324) E-mail: ldaugherty@cherokee.org

Bradley D. Peak, Cherokee Nation Natural Resources Specialist Phone: 918-456-0671 (ex.2843) E-mail: bpeak@cherokee.org Cherokee Nation, Oklahoma Attn: (Department Name) P.O. Box 948, Tahlequah, OK 74465 Telephone: 918-456-0671 (Toll Free OK) 1-800-256-0671