Attendees of Iyapi Glukinipi / Lakota Immersion Childcare. Photo from Facebook

A unique Lakota language immersion program has received a $10,000 grant to support its efforts.

Iyapi Glukinipi / Lakota Immersion Childcare, operates on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Twelve students, who range in age from 18 to 24 months, only hear the Lakota language when they are in care.

The program hopes to expand as the children reach school age. For now, the grant from the South Dakota Community Foundation will help with daily costs.

Language immersion programs have been receiving more attention in Indian Country and on Capitol Hill in recent years. Tribes and Indian educators are lobbying for passage of S.1948, the Native Language Immersion Student Achievement Act, and S.2299, the Native American Languages Reauthorization Act, to provide more funding and support.

The Bureau of Indian Education has been promoting Native language instruction rather than immersion. After spending $24 million, Director Charles M. Roessel told tribal leaders at the recent National Congress of American Indians convention that the work hasn't been much of a success.

“We have not created one fluent speaker," Roessel said during a breakout session on Indian education at NCAI's convention in Atlanta, Georgia, last week.

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