Monthly Archives: August 2010

Some of the attendees of the 2010 WAYK Unangax Language Camp. Iliodor Philemonof, our fluent guest speaker, is in the leftmost rear.

In partnership with Becky Bendixen, of NW Unangax Culture, the NW Indian College on the Lummi Reservation in Bellingham, WA, and the fluent knowledge of Iliodor Philemonof, Unangax Pribilof dialect speaker, we had 7 days of language revitalization play and learning.

The age span was quite broad, from children age 9 or 10 to folks in their 70s. Already some videos of game play have gone up, with the basic Unangax “Speed Curriculum” in full use.

Soon we’ll have a video of the event, but here are some previews of the game videos players uploaded to youtube.com.

This September 23, 24, and 25, Evan Gardner and Willem Larsen will be holding a WAYK workshop at Wyoming Catholic College in Lander, Wyoming.

Wyoming Catholic College

Believe it or not, Latin still has a living tradition of daily conversational vitality, as carried through the centuries in the church and monasteries. Latin is the official language of the Vatican, the sovereign catholic city-state in Rome. However, like many languages today, Latin is struggling, with a handful of fluent speakers left. We have partnered with Nancy Llewellyn of Wyoming Catholic College to bring WAYK to the campus and see if we can’t create a vital Latin speech community in Lander, WY, where the WCC campus resides. Can you imagine – the two centers of fluent daily conversational life in Latin: the Vatican, and Lander, WY?

Well, we can imagine it, and over this next year we will do everything we can to make it a reality. Contact Nancy Llewellyn at WCC for more information: nancy.llewellyn@wyomingcatholiccollege.com.

Here’s a link to the WAYK Latin workshop page at Wyoming Catholic College.

Here’s a bit of long-overdue news – we promised a group photo to the attendees of Vancouver, B.C.’s June WAYK conference hosted by Squamish Nation language instructor Dustin Rivers. Click on the picture to download a large-sized version of the image. Thanks for playing everyone!

We’ve been working for a while to get our non-profit status, and we’ve now found a partner organization to umbrella us. Your donations are now tax-deductible! We’ll also be able to go for many grants formerly unavailable to us. Thanks for your support everyone.

Join us in Seattle for our next WAYK workshop. Registration costs only $125 – we won’t be pricing WAYK workshops this affordably for too much longer!

Register now, and we look forward to seeing you there.

As time goes on, techniques are constantly improved or innovated. We’ve recently made a few short videos (below you’ll see the third, click here for the first and second videos) that show the current state of an array of fundamental WAYK techniques as of August 2010.

As time goes on, techniques are constantly improved or innovated. We’ve recently made a few short videos (below you’ll see the second, click here for the first) that show the current state of an array of fundamental WAYK techniques as of August 2010.

An ongoing issue of trying to share WAYK over the internet, is the paradox of it being so easy to learn in person, yet so difficult via video, podcast, and text.

We’re making a special offer; every Thursday, we’ll have a few hour-long slots dedicated to tutoring folks struggling to learn the game via the internet over skype.

There are some prerequisites, of course. First we’ll need a short video of your game play uploaded to youtube, so that we’ll have a sense of what techniques you know how to wield, and what issues may be coming up for you.

The second issue is that we will always give top priority to folks working with endangered languages and players supporting the WAYK events.

Otherwise, the slots will be offered on a first come, first-served basis. Just contact us at info@whereareyourkeys.org.

Thanks everyone for playing.

As time goes on, techniques are constantly improved or innovated. We’ve recently made a few short videos (below you’ll see the first) that show the current state of an array of fundamental WAYK techniques as of August 2010.

Scenes from a recent WAYK Chinuk Wawa Night. Note again the variety of conversation, from Novice to Advanced, and how different speaker-teachers wield (or don’t wield) sign language, depending on who’s involved, or on the lunatic fringe, of the conversation.

The beginning, highly structured, novice-level WAYK conversations are there to teach technique use (“the rules of the game”); players then use the techniques and signed bridge language depending on context, at more advanced levels seeming to just have relaxed, off-the-cuff conversations, the techniques almost entirely unmarked or discussed.

Sign language is a critical element of beginning conversations, and a more supportive element (though still very powerful!) of advanced conversations.