Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Today, the average Lakota speaker is nearly 70 years old, and these existing speakers are not being replaced by new Lakota-speaking generations. This leaves us with a very short window of opportunity to complete a thorough infrastructure for Lakota language education.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Lakota Language Instructional Publications
Sequenced K-16 Textbooks and Teacher Guides
Textbook Companion Audio CDs
Teaching Posters
Conversational CDs
Children's Song CDs
Children's Picture Books
Flash Cards
DVDs
Lakota Orthographic Font Program
New Lakota Dictionary
Teacher Trainings & Support
3-week Lakota Summer Institute
Teacher workshops throughout year
Only professional teacher trainings in Second Language methods for Lakota in the Northern Plains (Lakota Country) region.
Pre- and post-testing of students for language proficiency.
Berenstain Bears Speak Lakota
20 episodes of the "Berenstain Bears" cartoon series are being translated into Lakota for broadcast on South Dakota public television and DVD release in 2011.
Lakota Language Forum
Online community of international tribal members, scholars and enthusiasts learning Lakota. Based around the online New Lakota Dictionary, with rapid search and translation functions as well as interactive quizzes and pronunciation guides. www.lakotadictionary.org
Where we work
Awards
Ken Hale Prize for community-driven language revitalization programs 2005
Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas
Bronze Medal - Reference, for the New Lakota Dictionary 2009
Independent Publisher Book Awards
External reviews

Photos
Videos
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
The Lakota Language Consortium's goal is the complete revitalization of the Lakota language as a living, developing tongue. Our objectives are grassroots leadership (majority Lakota Board of Directors and engagement of fluent speakers as consultants); linguistic accuracy (engagement of linguists with Siouan specialization); a comprehensive pedagogical plan (sequenced textbooks and support materials, dictionary, grammar handbook, digital and mobile applications); professional teacher training and development (Lakota Summer Institute, Total Physical Response trainings); and committed school systems (more than 80 schools now use LLC materials and trainings).
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Partnering with professional linguists and educators to implement a unified language revitalization plan, including a K-12 sequence of language textbooks with audio CDs, training support for language teachers to develop their skills for teaching Lakota as a second language, publication of the print and online New Lakota Dictionary, and the development of innovative multimedia platforms to bring valuable technology to the forefront of our efforts.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
LLC is an organization with broad and committed support across Lakota communities, working together to bring the Lakota language back into common use. LLC is fundamentally a community-driven organization—over 300 Lakota language consultants have contributed to LLC materials over the last ten years. Lakota language consultants create much of our new content, including audio CD recordings, animation voiceover and narration, and many other documentation activities. The planning and review phases for developing all Consortium materials are done locally, among teachers and community language experts.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
LLC has published Lakota Level 1-5 textbooks, audio CDs and flash cards; Lakota bi-lingual picture books; the Lakota Alphabet Strip; the Lakota Computer Keyboard and Fonts Bundle; language-learning posters, and the award-winning 23,000-entry New Lakota Dictionary (2nd Edition) that involved over 300 Lakota-Dakota speakers as consultants; and, together with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, the 20 Lakota-dubbed episodes of the Berenstain Bears animated series which were broadcast on regional public television stations. New LLC Products include an electronic multimedia dictionary with 46,000 recorded audio files, so that learners can hear the words spoken. LLC has recently released Dictionary and Vocab Builder Apps for smart-phones and tablets, as well as specialized keyboard apps. Most notable, however, has been the effort to improve and standardize Lakota language teaching, particularly through the Lakota Summer Institute (LSI). LSI is now in its eleventh year, with over 170 attendees and 40 instructors teaching and learning best practices for Lakota language instruction annually. We are excited to build this curriculum with upcoming apps and multimedia materials, and we will continue to expand our continuing education programs in the coming years.
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
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Lakota Language Consortium, Inc.
Board of directorsas of 09/05/2019
Wilhelm Meya
Lakota Language Consortium
Term: 2004 -
Jan Ullrich
Lakota Language Consortium Linguistic Director
Kevin Locke
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Cultural Ambassador
Wilhelm Meya
Lakota Language Consortium Executive Director
Ben Black Bear Jr.
Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Lakota Language Specialist, St. Francis Mission
Joe Bendickson
University of Minnesota, Sisseton Dakota Sioux Tribe
Travis Condon
Hunkpapa Lakota; PharmD NDSU; Pharmacist, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.
Nacole Walker
Hunkapapa Lakota; Director, Sitting Bull College Language Immersion Nest; Dartmouth Graduate in Linguistics.