User:Nagh SopwI'/CW Sandbox

Revitalization at Grand Ronde
In 1997, Grand Ronde reservation in Northern Oregon hired Tony Johnson, a Chinook linguist, to head its language program. Chinuk Wawa was chosen due to its strong connection to native identity on the reservation as well as being the only indigenous language still spoken at Grand Ronde. Prior to this, there were formal Chinuk Wawa classes taught by Eula Holmes from 1978 to her death in 1986. Eula Holmes' sister, Ila, also held informal and sporadic classes to teach the language to the public. Henry Zenk was brought onto the project in 1998 after having previous experience with the language, documenting it in the late 1970s to early 1980s. They were able to get community classes started in the summer of 1998 and the dictionary released in 2012. This dictionary was compiled from the Chinuk Wawa of Grand Ronde elders, chiefly from the Hudson, Wacheno and Riggs families. Additionally, the dictionary features a section on Chinuk Wawa recorded from Natives of the lower Columbia, but not used by the elders at Grand Ronde. In 2014, the tribe made an app spanning traditional to modern vocabulary.

In 2001 with funding from the Administration for Native Americans, the tribe started an immersion preschool. A kindergarten was started in 2004 by Kathy Cole, a tribal member and certified teacher, which has since then expanded to a half-day immersion K-4 with slots for 25 students for students at Willamina Elementary School. Cole also started Chinuk Wawa elective classes at Willamina High School in 2011, and today student there and at Willamina Middle School can earn high school and college credit for completion of the course. Lane Community College also teaches a two year course of Chinuk Wawa. The online magazine Kaltash Wawa was founded in November 2020 using BC Chinuk Wawa and written in Chinuk Pipa, the alphabet based on Dupoyan shorthand.