Na:tinixwe Mixine:whe Immersion Nest
Empowering Future Generations Through the Hupa Language.
Niwhong-xw xokyunsa’an ayundit’e ma: k’iwinya’nya:n, xine:wh, ninisa:n
In a good way their hearts will be towards people, language and the land.
The Language Nest program immerses children in Na:tinixwe Mixine:whe, fostering cultural connection and identity. Students in our program will emerge as the future leaders of our community in a good way. This requires that they maintain good hearts toward our people, Indigenous peoples, and all peoples. Our mission is to create a nurturing, collaborative environment where our students, language and traditions thrive.
Language is central to who we are as Na:tini-xwe. It is not only how we communicate and interact with one another, but our philosophy of the world. Our objective is to create a community of fluent Na:tinixwe Mixine:whe speakers that will transmit our language to future generations.
Our curriculum is centered around our relationships with our homelands and other beings, fostering in students a deep respect and love of our lands, in the ways of our ancestors, for years to come.
Domains of Knowledge
Our curriculum is part of our long-term efforts to research and reclaim traditional Hupa ways of teaching and raising our children, ways that were disrupted by colonization and the impact of boarding schools in our community. Through our work over the years we have begun to organize how and what we teach based on Na:tinixwe domains of knowledge.
These are ever evolving but strive to revitalize the ways in which we used to teach and learn with our children since time immemorial.
Ch’o:yahłts’it-te Hay Xwe:di-q’ Ya:dehsdilts’e-ne’en Dungwho-dung (They will know the ways of those that lived long ago)
Our ancestral knowledge, stories, songs, and practices are at the center of all of our curriculum. We hope that our students will learn and teach the ways of our ancestors to continue our line of intergenerational knowledge transmission starting from time immemorial and into the future.
Whinist’e’-Xoniwh
Our traditional values of “Xoniwh” - awareness of the connections between body, spirit, land and people - are promoted and practiced everyday in the Nest with our students and aunties/teachers. We hope that our students will be happy and healthy Na:tinixwe beings. We hope that they will be confident and aware in their bodies, minds and spirits.
Ninis’a:n Whohłts’it
We often spend the majority of our days out on the land (rain or shine) learning from the vast teachings it has to offer. We hope that our students will know our lands and that our lands will know them in a reciprocal relationship throughout their lives.
Whije:y’-Tilte’
We take a Na:tini-xwe approach to academic rigor to ensure we are meeting all of our students' needs. We hope that our students will build strong minds and spirits through their learning with us so that they will be intellectually and spiritually prepared to take on any path they wish to pursue in their lives.
