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Syilx article:

Language:

'''The language of the Syilx people is Nsyilxcen. "Syilx" is at the root of Nsyilxcen surrounded by a prefix and suffix indicating a language Nsyilxcen is an Interior Salish language that is used across the Canadian and U.S.A. border in the southern British Columbia and northern Washington regions. This language is currently endangered and has only 50 fluent speakers remaining. To learn more about Nsyilxcen and the attempt to revitalize the language, visit the main page: Okanagan language.'''

Okanagan language article:

Revitalization in the United States:

(last paragraph)

The Salish School of Spokane makes a point of not falling into the trap of monopolizing teaching resources. Unlike Walsh's examples of tribes opting to not share materials, the Salish School maintains a variety of audio resources and curricula to advance Okanagan revitalization. Along with these efforts, the school not only provides curriculum, but also helps develop and translate it. The Salish School works alongside organizations such as the Paul Creek Language Association, a nonprofit based in British Columbia, on the N̓səl̓xcin̓ Curriculum Project . The N̓səl̓xcin̓ Project aims to create foundational lesson plans from which teachers of Okanagan can draw. The project is spearheaded by Christopher Parkin, and is translated primarily by the fluent elder Sarah Peterson, with the additional help of Hazel Abrahamson and Herman Edwards. The participation of native speakers ensures clear meaning and high fidelity to the Okanagan language. The project is composed of six textbooks divided into three levels: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Each level consists of a language book which contains a number of audio recordings, language, and learning software to ease language teaching. Additionally, each level includes a literature book. The literature book provides the vital function of providing entertainment for language learners when outside of class and also reinforces sentence construction for Okanagan. The project also contains daily quizzes, midterm-style tests, and both oral and written final exams for evaluation Most importantly, the curriculum developed by the N̓səl̓xcin̓ Curriculum Project is available in electronic format online free of charge.

Revitalization in Canada[edit]
To encourage interest in teaching vocations, the En'Owkin places a strong emphasis on its various certification programs. The Certificate of Aboriginal Language Revitalization is offered in the En'Owkin Centre and is taught by linguist Maxine Baptiste. The course does have a fee involved, but the certificate is offered in partnership with the University of Victoria. Additionally, the center also offers a certification to become a Certified Early Childhood Education Assistant which is in partnership with Nicola Valley Institute of Technology. The certificate does not qualify one to teach at the secondary level, but does ensure employability in daycare and pre-K. The strategy behind these two certificates ensures that potential teachers have easy access to college credits from centers of higher learning like the University of Victoria, and potential education assistants can be involved in the education of children, thus establishing fluency in Okanagan early on. Finally, the En'Owkin Centre places a heavy emphasis on its college readiness programs. The importance of these programs lies not only in setting up native students for success, but also incorporating Colville-Okanagan courses into curriculum for young adult to adult students. William Cohen notes in his article, that many native students perform poorly in school and the high school dropout rate for aboriginal high schoolers is very high.

'''Additionally, a Syilx Language House was developed in 2015 in British Columbia. The goal of the house is to create 10 fluent Nsyilxcen speakers in four years . In this program, participants spend 2000 hours over four years learning Nsyilxcen via a variety of different teaching methods, regular assessments, frequent visits from Elders, and full immersion . The surrounding Syilx community has been very supportive of this program and also very impressed with the amount of learning that has occurred over a short period of time . Following completion of the program in 2020, the Syilx Language House is hoping to expand by developing more language houses across the Okanagan and will increase the goal to creating 100 new Nsyilxcen speakers in the 2020 cohort .'''