Skip to main content

Wampanoag School

 

Kia ora,

This is my last blog from UMASS Boston. I travelled by car with Professor Fung to the Mashpee Wampanoag Language School. The Wampanoag people are known as the people of the first light. Their traditional homelands are situated in South East Massachusetts. It was an incredible experience. Firstly, I watched a documentary called “We still live here” to prepare myself for the school visit. The documentary was made in 2010 and is a story about how they started a journey of revitalising the Wampanoag language, which had no fluent or native speakers.

One of the Wampanoag ancestors 

The school is within the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Centre – about 90 minutes from Boston. When we arrived there, it was nap time for the little kids. The school has around 25 students (Years 1- 4) with a small number of teachers with differing levels of Wampanoag language. The school has a Montessori theme that centres children's natural interests and activities rather than formal teaching methods. A Montessori classroom emphasises hands-on learning and developing real-world skills.

The spirit circle designed by the children 

I liked the idea of the curriculum based on the four different seasons. The head of the school spoke about trying to emulate the experiences of their ancestors by being out in the woods and the water and connecting with community elders. They aim to extend the school to year six students.

A calendar using Wampanoag language 

The Wampanoag language is taught at one of the local high schools. However, that could be finished due to sufficient resourcing and priorities.

Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe logo

I mentioned that AUT in Auckland is hosting the next WIPCE (World Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education) in November 2025. The educators were keen to travel to Aotearoa and learn about other models of language revitalisation.

WIPCE Conference, November 2025


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kia ora Boston!

Outside of UMASS Boston It's time to start writing a blog about my Fulbright adventure in Boston. First, let me go back to when I applied for this award. I found out about a year that I was a successful recipient. For many, a Fulbright award is a massive deal. The opportunity to spend time in the United States to work on a research project. I've been to the States three times beforehand but have yet to go to Boston. This city is the academic city of the world, with more than 35 universities and colleges here. So I knew I wanted to come here. I've spent my time, passion, energy, and work focused on better outcomes for our young people, particularly Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand. I wanted to work on a research project focusing on indigenous youth. So I choose the topic of how language, culture, and identity feature in the schooling experiences of Native American Youth. My time in Boston will also give me a glimpse of how indigenous people see the world. I decided to come to...
Post a Comment
Read more

Flight of the Albatross

  Will with the author, Deborah Savage Flight of the albatross was one of my favourite books growing up. My favourite is coming-of-age stories. It was a book written in the 1980s by American author Deborah Savage.  Earlier last year, I thought about the Flight of the albatross book. So I decided to google search Deborah Savage and found she lives in a town near the University of Massachusetts Amherst. So we decided to catch up when I went to Amherst in December.  A bit about the book: it's about two young people, Sarah and Mako. Sarah is from New York City and travelled to Aotearoa to visit her scientist mother. She meets Mako, who is Māori, and they both navigate a shared adventure with challenges on Kauri island, where the book is based. A movie came out in 1995, which can be watched on the New Zealand Film on Demand website, which I highly recommend.  It was nice to catch up with Deborah. She talked about her time coming to Aotearoa New Zealand, in her early 20s. ...
Post a Comment
Read more