American Indian Report - September/October 2008 - (Page 6)

Indian Country Notes from Language Learning Gets More High-Tech Thornton Media, Inc., a Indian-owned firm based in Banning Calif. plans to launch two new Native language learning products at the 2008 National Indian Education Association Conference, held October 23-26 in Seattle, Wash. The first is a hand-held language teacher called the iRez Language Pal™. The device is much like Phraselator®, a hand-held device developed by voxtec to help troops serving in the Middle East translate Arabic words to English. It records and translates audio and video files and stores language via a flash memory card, holding up to 85,000 phrases and words. Thornton Media adapted the product for Native language instruction and marketed it to tribes for about three years. But the $3,300 price tag limited accessibility. It decided to develop a more affordable product. 2008 Champ Charles Denny. Photo courtesy of the Heard Museum Hoop Dancing’s Best to Compete for World Champ Title in Phoenix Top American Indian and Canadian First Nation hoop dancers will be heading to the Heard Museum in Phoenix early next year to compete for the 2009 world champion title. The 19th Annual World Championship Hoop Dance Contest, scheduled for Feb. 7 and 8, will showcase some of Indian Country’s most accomplished dancers, including Charles Denny (Chippewa/Cree/Ute) 18, who will have to the defend the Adult Division champion title that he won last February. Could be tough. Denny is up against such favorites as Derrick Davis (Hopi/Choctaw), Nakotah La Rance (Hopi/ Tewa), Alex Wells (Lil Wat First Nation) and Brian Hammill (Ho Chunk), who took second-place in the 2008 championship. Other competition categories include Tiny Tot (under 5 years), Youth (5 to 12), Teen (13 to 17) and Senior (40 and older). Offered at a quarter of the cost, iRez Language Pal is smaller and more advanced. It comes with a half dozen new features, like crossword puzzles, flashcards and a car tutor system. The second product making its debut is RezWorld™, a 3-D video game that uses advanced voice recognition to place the user in the game as a character. The player must interact with other characters in the game — using their Native languages — to reach goals. 6 September/October 2008 American Indian Report http://www.ndnlanguage.com/ http://www.americanindianreport.com/video/rezworld.html http://www.heard.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of American Indian Report - September/October 2008

American Indian Report - September 2008 Contents Notes from Indian Country Language Learning Gets More High-Tech Native American Music Awards Celebrates 10th Anniversary Hoop Dancing's Best to Compete for World Champ Title in Phoenix Congress: Activity on the Hill Device Monitors Sobriety for Pueblo Planning for Economic Development Negotiated Rulemaking to Impact NAHASDA�Reauthorization Cherokee Takes Big Step Toward Health Care Vision Preparing a Vision for the Future Grants: NAHMI - Strengthening Native American Families Blogroll

American Indian Report - September/October 2008

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