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SAPULPA, Okla. – Richard Grounds left his work at the University of Tulsa to take on a more pressing task - teaching preschoolers in Sapulpa, Okla., the Yuchi language, which only five elders still speak.

The Hinono’ Eitiino’ Oowu’, or Arapaho Language Lodge, is a bright spot in the quest to keep Native languages alive. These girls were at the 2008 opening of the immersion school, which teaches the Arapaho language to children from pre-kindergarten through first grade on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. PHOTO COURTESY OF CULTURAL SURVIVAL

“We’re trying to be smart about it,” said Grounds, a professor of anthropology. “We’re trying to take advantage of the time we have with our elders. We feel blessed to have the opportunity we do have.”

On Tuesday, May 12, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian will host “From Code Talkers to Immersion: Native American Language Summit.” The participants are expected to be close to 200 Native language speakers and teachers who are concerned that without immediate steps, dozens of Native languages will disappear in their lifetime.

The effort to preserve many Native languages has become urgent. The Indigenous Language Institute in Santa Fe, N.M., has documented the decline in Native languages in the United States from 175 in 1997 to 154 today. In 1997, most languages were spoken by people middle-aged and older. Now more than half of Native language speakers are older than 70. Only 20 languages are now routinely spoken to children.

“Even strong places that were relatively safe have experienced an incredible decline,” said Ryan Wilson, who is Oglala Lakota and a board member of the National Indian Education Association. “At Navajo, it has been found that 1 or 2 percent of incoming kindergarten students were fluent, while just a few years ago it was 50 percent. This has to do with young parents not finding value in speaking their language to their children.”

Innovative approaches are being taken to language preservation among Indian nations including the Choctaw in Alabama and Blackfeet in Montana. Many Native language teachers look for inspiration at the Hawaiian language program ‘Aha Punana Leo, an immersion program started in 1984 that now has more than 2,300 students in 11 schools.

“It is the 59th minute of the last hour for Native languages,” said Ryan Wilson, of the Hinono’ Eitiino’ Oowu’, an Arapaho immersion school on Wyoming’s Wind River Reservation.

Wilson, who works with the Hinono’ Eitiino’ Oowu’, an Arapaho immersion school on Wyoming’s Wind River Reservation that opened last year, sees hope in its 22 young students. Grounds takes pride in the five Yuchi elders who keep working to save their language at an age when they might rightly be taking it easy.

But what Wilson calls the “59th minute of the last hour for Native languages” requires more concentrated efforts. Summit participants will examine issues about endangered languages that affect speakers, teachers, advocates and communities.

“The hope is that by hearing other people’s experiences you can learn from that and adapt other people’s ideas,” said Fred Nahwooksy, who is Comanche and a senior programs advisor for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian.

Summit organizers view the museum, in its physical location 400 yards from the U.S. Capitol and its position within the Smithsonian Institution, as having an important role in raising critical issues such as language preservation to public awareness.

“The good news is that there are effective methods for bringing back our languages,” Grounds said. “We have a good idea of what works. The problem is we have very few resources and very little time. If people knew the urgency, then communities could become more effective in finding resources.”