### Show Notes: Welcome to Season 1, Episode 1 of WAYK’s new podcast: the WAYKcast! It’s been many years since the last WAYK podcast (2011!) and lots has happened that we’re excited to share. The new WAYKcast is intended to be a resource for anyone interested in learning more about Where Are Your Keys as a language learning/teaching/revitalization method. Beyond that, we hope that provides an opportunity to discuss common questions about language revitalization as well as a space for connecting with the wider WAYK community. In this first episode, Sky checks in with Evan and Susanna about where in the world the WAYK team is. Evan shares about learning the word “itinerant” and Sky’s makes an assessment that Evan and Susanna are “bad at emails.” The question of the week is “Why go to different communities?" Why does WAYK travel to communities instead of bringing people to a central WAYK location for training? In answering, Evan and Susanna talk about the value of traveling to communities and engaging in long-term relationships and on-site projects. Sky chooses a “Technique of the Week” which is Technique: Party Boat. After a brief overview of what WAYK Techniques are, Evan delves further into TQ: Party Boat and the importance of creating momentum for a language project/program/movement, even if it feels artificial at first. Let us know what you think of the WAYKcast’s launch! Send any questions to [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) or [tweet at us](https://twitter.com/playwayk) with the hashtag #WAYKcastquestion. We’ll do our best to address questions in future episodes of the WAYKcast. ### WAYK Techniques Mentioned: * TQ: Party Boat * [TQ: Get the Party Started](https://whereareyourkeys.org/technique-glossary/#letsgetthispartystarted) * Check out the [WAYK Techniques Glossary](https://whereareyourkeys.org/technique-glossary/) for more! ### Follow Us: * [The WAYK Website](https://whereareyourkeys.org/) * ...
### Show Notes: In this episode, Sky “surprises” Evan and Susanna with a Technique of the Week. It’s the mother of all WAYK Techniques, [TQ: Technique](http://https://whereareyourkeys.org/technique-glossary/#technique)! Evan explains that TQ: Technique is all about “the idea that technique or method exists” for teaching and learning languages. Then Evan, Sky, and Susanna talk about the three Techniques they teach new WAYK learners before their first lesson. Evan explains that “we are the craftsman of our own tools.” If a strategy doesn’t exist for the situation we’re in, we get to make new Techniques to address the issues that come up when learning and teaching. How many WAYK Techniques are there? On the WAYK website, you can find a glossary with 100 starter Techniques, but in development there are almost 400 Techniques. Sky talks about how that number might be overwhelming, but you remember the TQs that you need and that you tend to use. Evan says “the key is that you’re thinking in techniques” (you’re focused on *how* you’re delivering a lesson more than *what* you’re going to teach; with good strategies, any content is teachable). Susanna points out that WAYK techniques are like a language (“not only do you not have to learn them all at once, but you can’t learn them all at once”). Why do Techniques have such quirky names? WAYK Techniques should be memorable and accessible. Techniques can be changed or adapted to meet the needs of a community, and sometimes Techniques with outdated names or ideas need to be updated, so they can stay accessible. For example, TQ: Travels with Charlie needs to be changed because the references (Larry King and Charlie Rose)are no longer appropriate ...
> "So going to work with Niiĝuĝim Tunuu made it clear that this is possible, because from my own experience, even though I had been in Pojoaque working with this mentor of mine for several years, I had only made a little bit of progress in terms of being able to take Tewa and use it the way I wanted to. And so I was learning a lot of words, using a dictionary, but never having a real, true sense of, like, why things are said this way or what the structure is or how to change it in different situations. Like, this is possible, we just need the tools to be in immersion. And we need the resources as well. Sometimes it’s hard to get those two things together at the same time.” —Samuel Catanach ### Show Notes: For this episode, Sky Hopinka is joined by [Samuel Catanach](https://whereareyourkeys.org/our-team/samuel-catanach/). Samuel is from Pueblo of Pojoaque, where he is a learner of Tewa, his heritage language. He joined the WAYK team for the [2016 Summer Language Intensive in Atka, Alaska](https://whereareyourkeys.org/announcing-wayks-summer-2016-intensive-atka-alaska/). Samuel discusses his experiences working with languages in a variety of communities, including his own. He talks with Sky about his summer with WAYK in Alaska, his semester facilitating a language class for students from the Gila River Indian Community, and his personal history learning Tewa. Samuel has used his experiences with each community to inform his approach with the next community, including teaching Gila River students Niiĝuĝim Tunuu lessons as a demonstration and requesting Tewa translations for the “hunting phrases” in his hunting book. He also shares some of the perspective he’s gained by working with communities outside of his own. ...
