CoLang 2024 Workshops

Description: Participants will learn about the theories behind language immersion and why it is so effective at creating new speakers.  Participants will also gain hands on experience in planning for and creating effective language immersion sessions.  The workshop will conclude with a discussion of additional considerations for language immersion as a part of a broader goal of language revitalization.   

This workshop would be ideal for participants who are currently implementing or are planning to implement a full or partial language immersion program.

Objectives:

• Plan, create, and implement an immersion activity

• Create a daily immersion schedule

• Sketch out a long term immersion plan or curriculum

Prerequisites and/or recommended experience: none

Required equipment and/or materials: none

Description: This workshop is open to individuals or teams who are interested in learning the fundamentals of database design and implementation *from the ground up*.  The workshop assumes that participants are interested in and excited about learning some coding (including at least some SQL, or 'structured query language'), so that they can convert a spreadsheet containing written language examples into a custom database.  Custom database development as taught in this course would be in addition to, or in place of, adoption of vended database products such as Flex, SOOSL, ELAN, and the like.

Participants should be aware that this workshop will guide them through a process that includes (a) accessing software and code from a website, (b) installing and running code on a computer that they have administrative rights on, and (c) working with language examples that (for this introduction) are in written form (that is, we won't be touching on techniques necessary for managing audio or video materials).

Objectives:

• Design and build a relational database (in SQLite https://www.sqlite.org/)

• Query the database and modify the data using SQL

• Identify next steps in order to implement the database in a project of their choosing

Prerequisites and/or recommended experience: This workshop would be ideal for individuals or teams who have either some experience in coding (python, SQL, javascript, XML - anything at all) OR who are excited about learning some basics of coding and who are exploring the possibility of creating a custom database for their work. Participants who have done at least a little bit of coding (in any computer language) might feel most comfortable in our workshop, especially at first. At least one participant per team must be at least interested in and excited about learning some coding.

Required equipment and/or materials: 

• A spreadsheet containing some written language materials to learn with (ideally, the examples you bring should be sharable within the context of the workshop - with other participants, and with your instructors)

• A laptop that runs at least Windows10, or MacOS13, or Linux; on which at least one team member has administrative privileges

• An interest and willingness to learn computer coding (you will learn at least a little bit of SQL, 'structured query language', which is a language designed for use with relational databases) 

Note: We would particularly welcome community teams that include at least one nerdy coder and at least one language expert (who may not be a nerd at all).  Multigenerational teams would be wonderful to work with.  We would also emphasize that our workshop focuses on the design and implementation of custom databases, from the ground up -  and not on the use of database-enabled software applications (i.e. FLEx, ELAN, SOOSL).  CoLang participants interested in the latter would be much better served by enrolling in the CoLang workshops that focus on those particular applications.  This workshop focuses on relational databases, and relational databases are not necessarily the best choice for projects that attempt to store large amounts of text data (like lots of pdf or doc files) and want to facilitate full-text search over that material (like a google search).  Instead, relational databases are a good starting point for storing, searching and retrieving information in tabular forms (like, for example, an online dictionary might require).  

Description: This workshop explores a community-based textbook-writing initiative with indigenous children in Papua New Guinea, providing an opportunity for participants to adapt similar techniques. Its aim has been to empower students to research their indigenous knowledge with community elders' guidance to produce a book documenting their own stories.  This workshop is particularly relevant for settings where there is a need to incorporate local indigenous knowledge into the school setting despite limited institutional support for indigenous language or a lack of local indigenous teachers.

This workshop would be ideal for elementary and secondary teachers (including non-Indigenous teachers), language activists, and community members interested in integrating Indigenous knowledge and persons with specialized indigenous knowledge into the formal school system. 

Objectives:

• Understand and critically evaluate the methodology of this project model developed in Papua New Guinea, and discuss the degree to which is would be applicable in their communities

• Consider adaptations to local cultural and institutional contexts and to establish similar initiatives in schools and other educational institutions in Indigenous communities

Prerequisites and/or recommended experience: none

Required equipment and/or materials: pens/pencils and paper for note-taking

Description: Participants will learn important concepts that form the foundation of dictionary-making, including issues of writing systems, part-of-speech categories, and the relationships between words and meaning. We'll then introduce Fieldworks Language Explorer (FLEx), an application that allows users to create a database of word and meaning information. Workshop sessions will include a mix of informational sessions and practical tasks to be performed with FLEx.

This workshop is ideal for participants who are somewhat comfortable working with computers (though you don't need to be an expert!) and who would like to begin documenting the words of their language or community, either on their own or with cooperation from other community members.

Objectives:

• Create a language project in FLEx, with at least a few sample entries

• Know how to continue entering word and meaning information into their database

• Be well-prepared to continue learning how to use FLEx and to become more comfortable with its interface

Prerequisites and/or recommended experience: 

• Familiarity with using a computer and typing information into forms (recommended but not required). If you can navigate a web form, and if you're willing to learn some important concepts about language, you should be able to work with the basic functions of FLEx by the end of this workshop

• FLEx ties its language data to ISO language codes. If you already know the standard ISO code for your language, it will help speed up the FLEx set-up process. It is also possible to choose a custom ISO language code if you don't want to use one of the standard language codes. If you don't know which ISO code is best for your language, the workshop facilitators can help you once the workshop starts

• When setting up a new FLEx language project, one task will be to set up the writing system for your language--what alphabet or script you will use. If you have already made the decisions about how you want to write your language and how you will be typing it on a computer, this will also help speed up the FLEx set-up process

Required equipment and/or materials: 

• Participants will need to bring a computer that has the memory and processing ability to use FLEx; in most cases, computers that were produced within the last 5 years will be sufficient. You can find the official recommended minimum system requirements for FLEx at https://downloads.languagetechnology.org/fieldworks/9.0.4/ReadMes/SetupFW.pdf

• Participants will need to have language data that they can begin to enter into a FLEx database. This means that (1) participants need to have a way to type their language into a computer (ie, a provisional or official writing and spelling system), and (2) they need to have words and sample documents in their language that they can practice with. At a minimum, one text document with at least 50 words will allow users to have practice with the tools and processes that FLEx offers

Note: Participants from the same community are welcome to work together on one computer, with the same collection of sample language data. Although we recommend that participants bring a sample document in their language, it is also important that at least one participant from each language group is able to speak or understand the words that are used in that sample document

Description: This workshop introduces a procedure of documenting lullabies and children’s songs. It also addresses the following related topics: (i) benefits of using songs especially lullabies in Indigenous language teaching and learning, (ii) differences between traditional songs and translated Western songs, (iii) process of lullaby documentation and project development, and (iv) ways of sharing documented songs in various domains of language work.

This workshop would be ideal for participants who, teach their community’s language, study their own community’s language, research with the community members, or study documentary linguistics.

Objectives:

• Identify potential benefits of using songs in Indigenous language teaching and learning

• Observe and analyze differences between traditional songs (lullabies/children’s songs) and Western songs (e.g., English Quatrain)

• Develop and prepare a lullaby documentation project

• Suggest ways of sharing the to-be-documented lullabies and songs for your own needs 

Prerequisites and/or recommended experience: none

Required equipment and/or materials: none

Description: This workshop will share how to develop board and virtual word games to encourage the use of a language in a fun setting. This workshop will benefit participants who have language reclamation and maintenance goals. The workshop will provide examples of accessible language games that support collaborative and individual Indigenous language learning.

Objectives:

• Adapt four unique word games for a language learning curriculum

• Modify game templates in four popular coding languages

• Learn how to publish games on the internet to be easily shared within communities

Prerequisites and/or recommended experience: none

Required equipment and/or materials: notebook and pen/pencil for note-taking, dictionary (if your language has one), laptops, mobile phones

Note: If you would like to code on their personal laptops, we will provide instructions on how to set up the coding environment prior to the workshop as well as offer assistance on the first day

Description: This workshop will provide a practical introduction to the transcription software ELAN (https://archive.mpi.nl/tla/elan). Participants will gain hands-on experience in creating time-aligned transcripts in ELAN, and will learn how to utilize ELAN to accomplish common tasks in the field of language revitalization and description.

This workshop is ideal for participants who want to contribute to recording and transcribing their own communities' languages, or for those otherwise interested in language revitalization.

Objectives:

• Fully transcribe an audio/video recording, and export it into a fully subtitled YouTube video

• Reflect on the usefulness of ELAN for language revitalization work

• Relate the work done in class to the work that can be done, or is currently being done, in their own community

Prerequisites and/or recommended experience: none

Required equipment and/or materials: laptop running Windows, MacOS, or Linux (preferably with a working microphone)

Description: This workshop will provide participants with basic knowledge and experience on how to incorporate the documentation of landscape into their work, which can include the documentation of place names, but also information related to interacting and being in (named) places, emphasizing the importance of experience based language documentation and learning. In particular, we will provide a general overview of how to incorporate different methods of studying and documenting the landscape, territory and places of cultural and historic importance. 

This workshop would be ideal for participants who are interested in exploring the connection between the landscape(s) we visit and inhabit and the way we describe such places. The workshop is open to anyone. 

Objectives:

• Acquire an understanding of how to document landscape related knowledge as part of a larger language documentation project 

• Learn how to organize and facilitate landscape walks

• Develop basic skills in using existing digital and analogue maps and texts for landscape based inquiry

• Foster a better appreciation for the multifaceted approaches that can be taken while studying landscape and territory

Prerequisites and/or recommended experience: none

Required equipment and/or materials: This workshop is not a tech-based one, but rather requires the participation and respect of participants to share their own experiences when relevant and listen to others. Required materials include: a notebook or computer for note-taking, cellphone with OsmAnd Maps installed, and a laptop with GoogleEarth installed (recommended but not required)

Note: Weather permitting, this workshop may include some outdoor activities

Description: In this workshop, participants will receive a brief overview of important factors in second language acquisition (SLA) that influence language learning, a targeted introduction to language curriculum development, and theoretical guidelines and practical activities for producing pedagogical materials to support community-based language revitalization. Be prepared to analyze community language learning needs and develop at least 1-3 language learning activities for your community that support learner input, interaction, and output. 

This workshop would be ideal for participants who are currently engaged in language revitalization as teachers or language learners who are preparing to teach. Participants should have access to some language archival materials or examples of language that they would like to adapt into a learning activity. 

Objectives:

• Gain a more in-depth understanding of second language acquisition, language curriculum development, and language materials development

• Identify opportunities to increase input and interaction to support second (additional) language acquisition for learners

• Understand language curriculum development and how to conduct a needs analysis

• Understand key processes in materials development

• Begin to design materials to support second language acquisition

• Adapt language documentation/archival materials into teaching materials

Prerequisites and/or recommended experience: none

Required equipment and/or materials: laptop, notebook, pen/pencils, sample language content to develop into teaching materials (documentation, audio/video recording, texts, stories, etc.)

Description: This workshop teaches how language documentation data can be used resourcefully by linguists and community members to create story books. The workshop brings native speakers’ insights from the Andes of Bolivia in producing a set of story books in Southern Bolivian Quechua and Southern Bolivian Aymara.

This workshop would be ideal for community members and linguists who work on language documentation. 

Objectives:

•  Design and produce story books for minority languages with fluent speakers and storytellers

Prerequisites and/or recommended experience: none

Required equipment and/or materials: notebook and pens/pencils for note-taking

Description: This workshop will specialize in stop motion animation and its application to Indigenous language revitalization, reclamation, documentation and supplementation to other activities such as Group Mentor Apprentice or independent language study. 

This workshop is ideal for language workers interested in using creative applications of technology, especially stop-motion animation, for language revitalization and reclamation.

Objectives:

• Help in building a corpus of stop animation templates that will be shared between language departments and grass roots efforts

Prerequisites and/or recommended experience: some experience in video editing software will be helpful but is not required

Required equipment and/or materials: A limited number of posable figures, mounting putty, and scenery backdrops will be provided by the instructors. If possible, please bring your own:

• • Laptop computer with any video editing software pre-downloaded to the computer (iMovie, Final Cut, or Adobe Premiere)

  • 2-4 posable action figures or doll characters 

  • Smart phone with high-quality video capturing capability

Description: This workshop offers a practical introduction to dictionary making  for Indigenous languages. We will discuss a range of topics, including dictionary types and users; ways of gathering, organizing, and presenting lexical materials; features of lexical entries and definitions; and community needs in relation to dictionary development work. Participants will also be introduced to software tools used in dictionary development and be encouraged to engage with them directly, either through hands-on exercises or through working with their own language materials.

This workshop is ideal for participants who have an interest in or are have been engaged in developing Indigenous language dictionaries. 

Objectives:

• Develop an understanding of basic principles and methods in dictionary design and the use of dictionaries in Indigenous language work

• Become familiar with software tools available for use in making dictionaries

• Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches and tools, and identify which of these are suited for your own work

Prerequisites and/or recommended experience: none

Required equipment and/or materials: laptop (access to Windows 10 or later is needed for some dictionary software tools), language materials that you would like to work with (recommended but not required)

Description: This interactive workshop is about how families can use their indigenous heritage languages at home. The languages in question are endangered, and not the language of the broader society, creating special challenges for both language learning and language use. Within this context, we will discuss approaches to language revitalization for families. The workshop will be interactive throughout, with families sharing their knowledge and experiences, as well as using exercises, games, brain-storming and other interactive processes to illustrate and help the a families who are using or want to start using their own heritage language at home

Objectives:

• Develop your own family language plan

• Discuss family kinship terms for your ancestral language(s), including grammatical differences for singular/plural, terminology for lineage dependent kinship and deceased relations (if applicable)

• Appraise and design a family language learning program

• Incorporate Indigenous pedagogies into their family language learning program

• Discuss caregivers’ discourse strategies

Prerequisites and/or recommended experience: none

Required equipment and/or materials: none

Description: Participants will learn important concepts that form the foundation of dictionary-making, including issues of writing systems, part-of-speech categories, and the relationships between words and meaning. We'll then introduce Fieldworks Language Explorer (FLEx), an application that allows users to create a database of word and meaning information. Workshop sessions will include a mix of informational sessions and practical tasks to be performed with FLEx.

This workshop is ideal for participants who are somewhat comfortable working with computers (though you don't need to be an expert!) and who would like to begin documenting the words of their language or community, either on their own or with cooperation from other community members.

Objectives:

• Create a language project in FLEx, with at least a few sample entries

• Know how to continue entering word and meaning information into their database

• Be well-prepared to continue learning how to use FLEx and to become more comfortable with its interface

Prerequisites and/or recommended experience: 

• Familiarity with using a computer and typing information into forms (recommended but not required). If you can navigate a web form, and if you're willing to learn some important concepts about language, you should be able to work with the basic functions of FLEx by the end of this workshop

• FLEx ties its language data to ISO language codes. If you already know the standard ISO code for your language, it will help speed up the FLEx set-up process. It is also possible to choose a custom ISO language code if you don't want to use one of the standard language codes. If you don't know which ISO code is best for your language, the workshop facilitators can help you once the workshop starts

• When setting up a new FLEx language project, one task will be to set up the writing system for your language--what alphabet or script you will use. If you have already made the decisions about how you want to write your language and how you will be typing it on a computer, this will also help speed up the FLEx set-up process

Required equipment and/or materials: 

• Participants will need to bring a computer that has the memory and processing ability to use FLEx; in most cases, computers that were produced within the last 5 years will be sufficient. You can find the official recommended minimum system requirements for FLEx at https://downloads.languagetechnology.org/fieldworks/9.0.4/ReadMes/SetupFW.pdf

• Participants will need to have language data that they can begin to enter into a FLEx database. This means that (1) participants need to have a way to type their language into a computer (ie, a provisional or official writing and spelling system), and (2) they need to have words and sample documents in their language that they can practice with. At a minimum, one text document with at least 50 words will allow users to have practice with the tools and processes that FLEx offers

Note: Participants from the same community are welcome to work together on one computer, with the same collection of sample language data. Although we recommend that participants bring a sample document in their language, it is also important that at least one participant from each language group is able to speak or understand the words that are used in that sample document

Description: This workshop will provide ideas and tools for building collaborative language reclamation programs. Participants will identify sustainable partners through hands-on activities for creating community-driven programs. This workshop is open to anyone interested in building a community-based language project.

Objectives:

• Describe community-driven program development

• Identify an organization to administer the language project

• Identify appropriate funding sources

• Outline a language project for your community

Prerequisites and/or recommended experience: none

Required equipment and/or materials: notebook or computer for writing activities

Description: With a view toward balancing and merging the needs and interests of language revitalization communities on one-hand and research linguists on the other, we will explore the following questions: Why collaborate? How can we design projects together? What guidance can we provide to each other? What are the needs of each participant and how can they all be met? Who is in charge of the project and what difference does it make? How can we recognize and respond to varying cultural expectations that can play a role in a project? Who “owns” the project results? Where can collaboration lead? We will address these questions and others through sharing example situations, and group discussion.

This workshop would be ideal for participants who are active community language activists and Indigenist academics who are focused on supporting language documentation and revitalization efforts.

Prerequisites and/or recommended experience: none

Required equipment and/or materials: none

Description: This workshop will provide a practical introduction to the transcription software ELAN (https://archive.mpi.nl/tla/elan). Participants will gain hands-on experience in creating time-aligned transcripts in ELAN, and will learn how to utilize ELAN to accomplish common tasks in the field of language revitalization and description.

This workshop is ideal for participants who want to contribute to recording and transcribing their own communities' languages, or for those otherwise interested in language revitalization.

Objectives:

• Fully transcribe an audio/video recording, and export it into a fully subtitled YouTube video

• Reflect on the usefulness of ELAN for language revitalization work

• Relate the work done in class to the work that can be done, or is currently being done, in their own community

Prerequisites and/or recommended experience: none

Required equipment and/or materials: laptop running Windows, MacOS, or Linux (preferably with a working microphone)

Description: This course aims to teach basic information about US copyright law, clear up some common misconceptions about what is protected by copyright law, and discuss the contradictory, and often fraught, relationship between copyright and traditional Indigenous knowledge. Discussion will introduce related concepts, including ethics, privacy, informed consent, and permissions. A portion of the workshop will focus on the application of open licenses to the material output of language work, with a focus on when to apply a license or not, and which licenses could best serve various purposes. 

Objectives:

• Have a better understanding of copyright law, when and how it applies, its relevance to tangible materials that get used and created during language work (e.g., archival work, teaching, revitalization, reclamation, documentation), and the implications of protecting traditional Indigenous knowledge in the face of the economic intent of copyright law

• Determine when it is appropriate to apply an open license to their materials and pick an appropriate license to apply

• Understand when and how they can legally reuse archival materials in their language work

Prerequisites and/or recommended experience: none

Required equipment and/or materials: none, but do come with some specific language project in mind

Description: We will discuss, demonstrate, and analyze the method involved in the beginning stages of Group Mentor Apprentice work. We’ll focus on how a daily structure assists both the Apprentice speakers and Mentor speakers to increase the effectiveness of GMA sessions by providing a consistent framework upon which to build language acquisition. As the group does the same types of unstructured and structured immersion sets over and over both Apprentice speakers and Mentor speakers will grow more skilled in and comfortable with the mechanics of different kind of activities. This skill and comfort with structure will make it easier to expand and change the content of MA sessions later on to continue to facilitate "comprehensible input plus one" for accelerated language acquisition.

This workshop would be ideal for Tribal peoples and language programs with minimal internal resources for language teacher training, and a need to develop Apprentice speakers within the community in order to effectively implement an immersion program.

Objectives:

• Watch, participate in, and analyze the internal workings of a daily Group Mentor-Apprentice Session

• Talk about the affective filter, comprehensible input plus one, and effective adult immersion strategies

Prerequisites and/or recommended experience: none

Required equipment and/or materials: paper, pencil, tablet, or laptop for note taking

Description: This workshop is focused on creating quality audio recordings of spoken language. Participants will learn to develop a habit of looking for people and situations to record; negotiating with them, creating the highest quality recording possible, and organizing and archiving recordings. 

This workshop is geared toward participants who have no/little prior knowledge of audio recording.

Objectives:

• Record audio with an understanding of basic audio technology

• Identify potential people (and situations) to record

• Make high quality audio recordings

• Organize and archive recordings

Prerequisites and/or recommended experience: none

Required equipment and/or materials: laptop, headphones, USB drive

Description: This workshop presents usage-based grammars that are pedagogically sound and useful to learners of different linguistic backgrounds. We review six basic pedagogical principles that can support the creation of language materials for teaching and learning, and we apply them to design a methodology that can transform descriptive grammars into books that can be used by teachers and learners. Examples from the pedagogical grammar project for native Brazilian languages will be presented.  

Workshop objectives:

• Design language materials that can be used by students with different linguistic backgrounds

• Transform descriptive grammars into usage-based pedagogical grammars

• Better understand the roles that pedagogical materials can play in language instruction settings

Prerequisites and/or recommended experience: none

Required equipment and/or materials: none (laptops are recommended but not required)