Bilingual education in Alaska, circa 1970s

This 1970s film titled "Elitnaureyaraq Yupigtun, Education in Eskimo" demonstrates early approaches to bilingual education in Alaska. The program contains scenes of daily life and school in Akiachak, Alaska, along the lower Kuskokwim River. Teachers are shown instructing students of various ages and are interviewed about the process of providing education in both Yup'ik and English languages. The film also contains scenes of people hauling water in winter, girls using story knives, people listening to a radio, men repairing a snowmachine, boys with a dog team, students saying the Pledge of Allegiance in school, and men and women at a school board meeting. University of Alaska educators and local instructors work together to create new instructional materials. Students sing a song to the tune of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” in Yup'ik. This film was produced by the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs, Juneau Area Office. The high-resolution digital scan of this film was made possible by the Lower Kuskokwim School District (Color/Sound/16mm film).
Viewer Advisory: This program contains some outdated terminology and attitudes, but provides insight into past educational experiences. The Alaska Film Archives does not endorse offensive or biased content.
The Yup'ik language version of the film, titled "Elitnaureyaraq Yupigtun," is also available through the Alaska Film Archives at University of Alaska Fairbanks. Contact the archives for more information: library.uaf.edu/aprca/film-ar...
This is item AAF-14564 from the Lower Kuskokwim School District collection held by the Alaska Film Archives, a unit of the Alaska and Polar Regions Collections & Archives Department in the Elmer E. Rasmuson Library, University of Alaska Fairbanks. For more information please contact the Alaska Film Archives.
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