Young members of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe of Massachusetts participate in the Wopanaak Language Reclamation Project. Photo from Facebook

The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and the Wopanaak Language Reclamation Project are launching language immersion programs in 2016.

Starting in January, the tribe and the project will offer after-school language immersion classes for students from kindergarten through grade 8. Later in the fall, they will launch a language immersion program for preschool students.

The preschool will be located at the Montessori Academy of Cape Cod in North Falmouth. It will be replacing, for now, a public charter school that was going to focus on Wampanoag language and culture.

"Although WLRP had initially pursued launching a charter school, this alternative Montessori-based approach moves us in a new direction that represents a positive, community-driven choice that reinforces tribal sovereignty and self determination," the project said in a press release.

Jennifer Weston, the director of the tribe's language department, told The Cape Cod Times that the charter school faced numerous hurdles at the state level. It was unclear whether it would have received approval to open next year, she said.

The Wopanaak Language Reclamation Project was founded by Jessie "Little Doe" Baird, who received a genius grant" from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in 2010 for her language efforts. She now serves as vice chair of the tribe.

Get the Story:
Wampanoag Language Reclamation Project sets aside pursuit of charter school (The Cape Cod Times 11/10)
Tribe To Launch Montessori, Language Immersion School Next Year (Cape News 11/10)

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