BLACKFEET ECO KNOWLEDGE
Blackfeet language project
Growing the next generation of Blackfeet speakers from the very beginning.
Language carries our teachings, relationships, identity, and ways of understanding the world. The Oyiss Blackfeet Language Project is creating a new pathway for language revitalization by beginning language exposure during the earliest stages of life and surrounding babies with Blackfeet language as they grow.
about oyiss baby project
The Oyiss Blackfeet Language Project is a three-year language immersion journey beginning during pregnancy and continuing through a child's first three years of life. The project brings mothers, babies, families, fluent Blackfeet speakers, and Knowledge Keepers together to create an environment where children can hear and experience Blackfeet language from their earliest stages of development.
Through regular gatherings, families are surrounded by Blackfeet language alongside songs, storytelling, cultural teachings, traditional practices, and ceremony. The goal is not only for babies to hear the language, but for families to strengthen their own language use and help make Blackfeet a living presence within the home and community.
why begin so early?
Babies begin listening to and learning the sounds of language long before they speak their first words. During infancy, their brains are especially responsive to the sounds, rhythms, and patterns of the languages they hear around them. Oyiss uses this important developmental period to introduce Blackfeet language early and consistently.
By beginning during pregnancy and continuing throughout early childhood, BEK is exploring what becomes possible when Blackfeet children are surrounded by their heritage language from the very beginning.
Hear
Language from the beginning.
Babies are surrounded by the sounds, rhythms, and patterns of Blackfeet language beginning during pregnancy and continuing through early childhood.
LIVE
Language Beyond the Classroom
Families are encouraged to bring Blackfeet words and phrases into everyday routines so that language continues between program gatherings and within the home.
Connect
Fluent Speakers & Families.
Families learn alongside first-generation fluent Blackfeet speakers and Knowledge Keepers, creating relationships centered around language and cultural knowledge.
Grow
Language Through Childhood
The project follows children through their first three years, creating sustained language exposure during an important period of development.
Learning From Our Fluent Speakers
At the heart of Oyiss are fluent Blackfeet speakers who carry the sounds, expressions, and ways of speaking that we want future generations to know.
Through relationships with babies and their families, fluent speakers are able to share language naturally—through talking, playing, singing, storytelling, and simply spending time together. Families can then continue using what they learn at home, extending language beyond each gathering.
More than language
Growing up Blackfeet
Oyiss surrounds children with more than vocabulary. Language is experienced alongside the cultural teachings, relationships, songs, stories, practices, and values that give words their meaning.
SONG &
STORYTELLING
CULTURAL
TEACHINGS
CEREMONY
& SPIRITUALITY
CRADLEBOARD
MAKING
NAMING
CEREMONY
TIME WITH
KNOWLEDGE
KEEPERS
TRADITIONAL
SWINGS
FAMILY
LEARNING
BLACKFOOT
WAY OF LIFE
MEET THE COORDINATOR
BRANTLEE FISH
LANGUAGE PROJECT COORDINATOR