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In this lesson, students will explore how climate change, among other factors, threatens thousands of endangered languages with extinction and will learn about the gravity of the issue.
Students will explore case studies of language revival efforts in Hawai'i and Northern Australia and also of the Hebrew language, understand the connection between language and climate change, and complete a video skit interviewing people about endangered languages.
This lesson demonstrates the multi-faceted issue of dying languages and highlights its importance.
The multi-media components of the lesson help students stay engaged and hear many perspectives on the topic.
Prerequisites
Students should understand climate change and some of its impacts.
Before teaching the lesson, teachers should read through the social and emotional learning considerations.
The Washington Post article may be behind a paywall. Additionally, the Wikitoungues link for Daniel Bögre Udel may not work.
Differentiation & Implementation
Though not in the actual lesson, students may want to listen to the TILclimate Podcast episodes linked in the resource to solidify their understanding of related climate change impacts.
Teachers can encourage students to explore their ancestral languages and determine the status of those languages.
Teachers can use strategic grouping in the final project, ensuring that each group has a student with technical video skills, a student with writing skills, and a student comfortable being on camera.
To make history connections, students can research the assimilation schools that contributed to the endangerment of many languages in North America.
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