> "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.
Samuel is interested in a holistic approach to learning languages and he is eager to connect his background in museum studies to his passion for language by considering how traditional objects from a museum collection can be used to take language lessons to the next level. He recently discovered that his pottery teacher is a fluent speaker of Tewa: “The other night we found out that he is a fluent speaker and that was a huge, important revelation…I’m going to take advantage of this as much as I can from here on out and do Tewa with him until he gets pissed off or something.” Sky and Samuel talk about the necessary connection between language and cultural revitalization, and the vulnerability of languages (“the reason the language is so fragile is because it’s so intangible”).
(If you haven’t read Samuel’s blog post about putting endangered languages on a “shelf,” it really is terrific. If you enjoyed this podcast, you would probably like it! [Find it here.](https://whereareyourkeys.org/the-danger-of-putting-endangered-languages-on-a-shelf/))
Samuel is passionate about immersion as a tool for learning language, but points out that complete immersion might not always be the best way to draw people in at first. He talks about using Techniques to make sure that people stay engaged with the learning process, and so that he can avoid translation (or “killing fairies”) whenever possible. “I need to move away a little bit…not away from the concept of immersion, but take a step back and think of, like, not everything has to be in pure immersion, because the point is to get the ball rolling, not learn everything in it’s purest form, because that hasn’t been happening for so long that it’s not a big deal if I kill some fairies to get other people on board with what I’m doing.”
After sharing some advice for people traveling to another community for language work, he talks about two Techniques: How fascinating!, which Sam sees as critical for teaching, and Full Sentences, which is “a pretty big part of the immersion experience and process.”
Let us know what you think of this episode of the WAYKcast! Send any questions to [
[email protected]](mailto:
[email protected]) or [tweet at us with the hashtag](https://twitter.com/playwayk) #WAYKcastquestion. We’ll do our best to address questions in future episodes of the WAYKcast.
### WAYK Techniques Mentioned:
- [Sorry Charlie](https://whereareyourkeys.org/technique-glossary/#sorrycharlie)
- [Full](https://whereareyourkeys.org/technique-glossary/#full)
- [Return to Superior](https://whereareyourkeys.org/technique-glossary/#returntosuperior)
- [How Fascinating](https://whereareyourkeys.org/technique-glossary/#howfascinating)
- [Travels with Charlie](https://whereareyourkeys.org/technique-glossary/#travelswithcharlie)
- [Killing Fairies](https://whereareyourkeys.org/technique-glossary/#killingfairies)
- [Set Up](https://whereareyourkeys.org/technique-glossary/#setup)
- Look How Easy You’re Making It
- [Full Sentences](https://whereareyourkeys.org/technique-glossary/#fullsentences)
Check out the [WAYK Techniques Glossary](https://whereareyourkeys.org/technique-glossary/) for more!
### Links Mentioned:
* Samuel’s community: [Pueblo of Pojoaque](http://pojoaque.org/)
* Museums mentioned: [Poeh Cultural Center & Museum](http://poehcenter.org/), [National Museum of the American Indian](https://americanindian.si.edu/), [Indian Arts Research Center](https://sarweb.org/iarc/about-the-iarc/) at the [School for Advanced Research](https://sarweb.org/)
To learn more about hunting books, [read Robyn’s post here](https://whereareyourkeys.org/how-to-use-a-hunting-book/).
To learn more about WAYK's giant color-coded calendar, [read Erin's post here](https://whereareyourkeys.org/keep-calm-and-calendar-on/)
### Follow Us:
* [The WAYK Website](https://whereareyourkeys.org/)
* [Subscribe on Apple Podcasts](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-waykcast/id1389938619)
* [Twitter](https://twitter.com/playwayk)
* [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/playwayk/?hl=en)
New episodes in Season 1 of the WAYKcast are coming in January 2019, when we’ll be releasing new episodes every other Tuesday.
