Indigenously Positive: Diné-Led Nonprofit Immerses Children in Their Native Language

Posted on the door leading into the learning space in northeast Albuquerque is a sign that reads, “Bilagáana bizaad dooda.”  

Underneath is a translation: “No English beyond this point.” 

This is Saad K’idilyé, a “language nest” where Monday through Thursday, year-round, Diné children are fully immersed in Diné bizaad, the Navajo language. Director Warlance Chee (Diné) translates the name to “the planting of language.” 

“We want Navajo to be their first language. English is going to come either way. We got no say over that,” Chee said during a February visit. “We’re prioritizing our language and our culture so that these little ones get a chance to learn the language and culture their parents and grandparents didn’t learn.” 

The work is urgent, in part because learning the Diné language can help speakers gain a stronger sense of cultural identity and overall well-being, said Dr. Tiffany Lee (Diné/Lakota) and Dr. Melvatha Chee (Diné), professors at the University of New Mexico who helped develop the nest, which is a nonprofit. 

On a Tuesday last month, toddlers gathered around two language caretakers — as they’re called at the nest — to hear stories about different animals. Hanging on one of the walls are the names of the children and caretakers, along with their clans. Up against another wall is a shelf displaying books written in Diné. 

In the yard outside, there are raised garden beds where the children plant, water and, eventually, harvest vegetables. 

“We do a lot of land-based learning,” said Cheryl Yazzie (Diné), one of the language caretakers. “And we show families how to use all of the corn — corn pollen, the husks, the kernels.” 

Yazzie, who’s been working at the nest since it opened in 2022, is proud to see the progress the children are making.  

“We’re seeing a lot of our kids and our older babies now really speaking the language, and that’s what we want to hear,” Yazzie said. “I know that these kids will continue to grow and flourish in their language, and then they’ll teach the language to their kids. So hopefully that one pebble we threw in that pond is going to keep rippling out.” 

Throughout the country, Native language immersion programs are working to create speakers after centuries of violent repression by the U.S. government. For 150 years, up until 1969, the federal government, often in partnership with religious organizations, separated thousands of Indigenous children from their families and placed them in boarding schools where they faced rampant abuse from officials and harsh punishment for speaking their languages. More than 3,100 children died, according to a Washington Post investigation. 

Many survivors, traumatized by their experiences, “would not allow future generations to learn the language,” reads an Interior Department report published last year. 

Parents who join the Albuquerque nest typically aren’t fluent Diné speakers, and their children often start to outpace them.  

But the parents get support to learn. Just outside the room where the children spend most of their days are a couple posters with questions for parents to practice speaking during drop-offs and pick-ups, such as, “Shiyázhísh Diné kéhijí hanádzih?” (“Is my baby using Navajo words?”) They’re required to attend language classes and volunteer for a few hours a month at the nest, which also hosts weekend activities. 

The organization is focused on prenatal to about kindergarten and wants to build a sustainable program before potentially expanding to include other ages. 

“Then maybe we’ll get money from somebody to build an elementary, then maybe a middle school, high school,” Chee, the director, said. 

Before opening, the language nest was in the works for years. Lee and Chee, the UNM professors, were part of that effort and serve on the nest’s board of directors. They’re in the university’s Native American Studies and Linguistics departments, respectively, and are part of a team of Diné professors focused on language revitalization.  

One of their areas of study is how learning the language contributes to wellness. 

Diné language helps support “a stronger sense of knowing yourself, your sense of identity, your connection to your culture, so then what that leads into is your overall, holistic well-being,” Chee said. “It fights against things like depression.” 

The professors know that connection exists based on their own experiences, including teaching students and talking with speakers, but there’s little research examining those connections, Lee said. Using a method called photovoice, the professors are interviewing a core group of about 30 Diné language learners, from infants and their parents to college students. Instead of a participant answering how they feel when they speak the language, they take a photo that captures that feeling. 

One high school student took a photo of storm clouds to represent “how learning Navajo sometimes felt really heavy, how you feel in a heavy storm, but then when you look at how it nourishes the landscape, it inspires him to keep learning because he knows how good it’s going to be for him and his family,” Lee said. 

They want the research they’re doing to help support schools with strong Native language programs, partly by helping policymakers understand the benefits. 

“Some think learning your own Indigenous language can hold you back in society,” Lee said. “We were kind of forced to believe that through the boarding school and assimilationist educational practices. So we’re trying to counter that now and show how learning your own Indigenous language is not going to hold you back. Actually, it’s the complete opposite.”

– Bella Davis, New Mexico In Depth Indigenous Affairs Reporter 

This story is part of a collaborative series between New Mexico PBS and New Mexico In Depth, called Indigenously Positive. Bella Davis was the host/producer for this episode; NMPBS Multimedia Producer Benjamin Yazza was the director/producer; NMPBS’ Joey Dunn was the editor/producer.