First Oklahoma Cherokee immersion students to graduate

 

February 18, 2018



TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Thirteen years ago, in an unguarded moment on her first day of kindergarten, Emilee Chavez spoke a single word of English. And a classmate immediately ran to tell the teacher.

"Hey," the teacher raised her voice harshly, "you can't use English here. Speak Cherokee, or don't say anything at all."

Chavez's parents would have gotten in trouble if a teacher had caught them speaking a word of Cherokee, which is one reason the language began plummeting toward extinction. Schools banned it, so nearly an entire generation stopped speaking it.

For Chavez and her classmates, how...



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