WASHOE FAMILY AND COMMUNITY LIFE

OBJECTIVE: Students will learn about the traditional Washoe family and community organization, with emphasis on the respect given to elders. They will learn how these practices have changed since the arrival of white settlers.

TEACHER BACKGROUND: See student booklet with same title.

KEY POINTS: Extended families, how children learned skills, respect for elders, the importance of storytelling, the egalitarian society, the deu-'bayoo of the past, "captains.", the Tribal Council of today.

MATERIALS: Paper and markers or crayons, large sheet of paper and large marker (or chalkboard), index cards of chores, cassette tape player, overhead proJector.

MATERIALS FROM KIT: Washoe language tape, Lesson 9 notetaker and booklet.

ACTIVITIES:

1. Hand out the booklet for Lesson 9, and have them read to themselves or with partners, and fill out the notetaker. Have them keep the notetakers in their Washoe Culture folder.

2. Have the students draw a picture of their families, either just the people they live with or their extended families, or both. Have the students share their different living situations with each other (to show that there is not one "normal'' family).

3. Have the students write a paragraph or discuss why they like school as they know it and also why they would like to learn as young Washoe children did before the settlers came. Have the students make a list of the skills traditional Washoe children would have had to learn. Talk about why the things they needed to learn are different from what students today need to learn.

Have the students brainstorm a list of the ways in which they do learn from their families when they are not in school, as Washoe children did (cooking, cleaning, playing games, listening to stories, even walking and talking, etc.).

4. Hand out an index card to each student with a chore they may or may not do at home. Have each student read his or her card aloud as you compile a list on the board. Have each student say why this chore is important (to the family, to the home). Then have the students come up with chores a traditional Washoe nine-year-old might have had to do. Have the students discuss why each of these chores was important.

5. The Washoe vocabulary words for this lesson are: dih-'lah (my mother), dih-'goy (my father), dih-'aht-doo (my older brother) dih-'bay-eu (my younger brother), dih-'ees-sah (my older sister), dih-'wit-suk (my younger sister) dih-goo-ooh (my grandmother - mother's mother), dih-'um-ah (my grandmother - father's mother), dih-'el-el (my grandfather - mother's father), dih-'bah-bah (my grandfather - father's father). Use the cassette tape of Washoe words for pronunciation, and see Appendix A for suggested vocabulary activities and Washoe spellings.

OPTIONS:

1. Give the students the homework of asking an elder they know about that elder~s past. Have the students listen to the elder and report back to the class.

CLOSURE: Have the students write about a story or lesson they learned from an elder in their lives, or have them tell or write about an elder who has influenced their lives. Have the students illustrate their stories and compile them in a class book. Possible titles are ''Lessons from our Elders,'' or "'Advice."

EVALUATION: The class discussions (Activities 1 and 2) will demonstrate students, understanding of traditional and contemporary Washoe school and family life.