Fort Gibson students learn Cherokee language
Apr. 13—Eight students in a classroom repeated Cherokee phrases when teacher Victor Wildcat spoke them Monday morning.
About 13 more possibly listened from their homes while linked onto the Google Classroom online meeting program.
"We do everything on Google classroom," Wildcat said. "On Google Classroom, they have a computer prompt at school or they read it on their phone."
Wildcat has been teaching Cherokee language at Fort Gibson High for about 10 years. His focus has been to teach students to speak the Cherokee language and read the Cherokee syllabary.
Online learning, prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic, is changing how Wildcat teaches the class this year.
Wildcat said most of the students in his two Cherokee language classes learn virtually through an online meeting program.
During a free study time Monday, students in the classroom read or did their lessons on their smartphones.
About eight students learn in person in the morning class, while the rest learn online, Wildcat said. The afternoon class has 25 students, mostly online," he said.
Wildcat said it takes a long time for him and other teachers to prepare lessons for both virtual and in-person students.
"We've got to spend hours putting things online," he said. "And if they (students) don't put their email in, we'll never see it here."
He said some students don't have Wi-Fi access at their homes, "so they have to drive somewhere to get it."
Each class is recorded for his online students, he said.
Wildcat's classes are made up of Cherokee and non-Cherokee students.
"Our school population is 45 percent card-carrying Cherokee," he said. "We have 1,800 kids, so 800/850 kids are card-carrying Cherokee."
Sophomore Eli Elkins said he's taking the class so he could learn another language.
"I only know English, so I think it would be fun to learn another one," he said, adding that Cherokee is easy to learn.
Classmate Jace Austin said his sister took the class.
Students learned to type using the Cherokee syllabary.
Wildcat said there has been a resurgence in wanting to learn Cherokee.
"But they've got to speak it, and they've got to hear it," he said.
He showed a chart with phrases written in Cherokee, how they sound in Cherokee and their English translations.
Wildcat said he values being able to teach Cherokee language and traditions.
He said his family came to the Fort Gibson area years before the Trail of Tears relocation in 1839. Cherokees settled Fort Gibson early as the 1700s, he said.
"Everything was Indian land," he said. "Here, we're all in Cherokee Nation, so the first house abstract is going to be a Cherokee allotment."
Wildcat said the area that now is Fort Gibson was called "ani gi tu we gi" in Cherokee.
That's translated to "the area that's closer to God," he said.
