This paper describes the historical and social foundations of the Navajo Headstart Immersion program. The researchers have worked as teachers, teacher educators, and parents in these programs. They reflect on the need for new partnerships among tribes, tribal colleges and universities to prepare teachers and to develop curriculum materials for…

This article is about bridge building: building cultural bridges of authentic collaboration between the university and the Navajo and Hopi nations; building curricular bridges between the White, European culture and the cultural worlds these nations seek to preserve; and building bridges between languages, the language of the…

This paper describes the Chinle Primary School Dual Language Project in terms of both the activities of the project and the attitudes and aspirations of its bilingual teachers. Chinle Unified School District (Arizona) enrolls over 4,000 students in 7 schools; 99 percent are American Indians, and 62 percent are considered limited English proficient…

The Learn in Beauty Project at Northern Arizona University worked with a consortium of seven Navajo Nation school districts seeking to implement the Dine Language and Culture teaching perspective. This perspective is based on the premises that education is best when it reflects a sense of place; education should be based on the philosophy and…