DETROIT Nov. 7, 2019 PRNewswire —
The Michigan-based Pokagon Band of the Potawatomi Nation has leveraged the latest in education technology to promote their language via the release of a course developed in partnership with Mango Languages.
Language specialists from the Pokagon Band worked with linguists and developers from Mango to create a course specifically designed to promote the Potawatomi language.
“When you lose a language, you can also lose all that is tied to it, including culture, history, wisdom, community…” said Mango Languages CEO Jason Teshuba, “for that reason, we’re very passionate about helping the Potawatomi preserve their voice.”
Hartford High School and Southwestern Michigan College will be implementing the Mango learning system to streamline lesson planning and enhance student engagement and proficiency.
“It’s more or less like a seed being planted for these young citizens to understand that this is your language, this is your sound,” Rhonda Purcell, Language Program Manager, Pokagon Band of Potawatomi said. “It gets them to open up the door of questions about what those sounds mean to them. ‘What does it mean to be Potawatomi? I have my own language?’ A lot of these kids didn’t have access to that sound until we put it into the school system. So, we’re just planting seeds.”
The November release of the first chapter coincides with the UN’s International Year of Indigenous Languages, and will be followed by subsequent releases in the coming months. Potawatomi will be offered as a part of Mango’s free Indigenous and Endangered Languages bundle.
About Mango Languages
Mango Languages is the award-winning language-training resource used by academic institutions and businesses. On a mission to inspire curious people to forge deeper connections, Mango is the only adaptive language-learning system powered by proven methodologies, designed to naturally establish retention and rapidly build conversation skills. To learn more about how Mango prepares you to start the conversation, visit mangolanguages.com.
About The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi
The Pokagon Band’s sovereignty was reaffirmed under legislation signed into law in September 1994. The Band provides community services such as housing, education, health care, and cultural preservation for its 5,800 citizens. The Pokagon homeland includes four counties in Southwestern Michigan and six in Northern Indiana. www.pokagonband-nsn.gov.
