If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head.
If you talk to him in his language, that goes straight to his hart.
-Nelson Mandela-
The Inchelium Language House opened it's doors in 2012, through a generous partnership the the Confederated Tribes of the colville Reservation.
The Inchelium Language House, serves as a hub for language and culture revitalization efforts for the Colville people. However, we focus our efforts on the lanugaes of the traditional territiories of Colville people including Southern British Columbia.
Our primary focus is the creation of new fluent speakers of the languages of the Colville people. We have hosted several trainings and sponored many projects with this focus in mind, including:
Teacher trainings in all three levels of the Nselxycin curriculum develped by the Salish School of Spokane. This includes three (3) levels of books that focus on language, stories and tradional knowledge of the Arrow Lakes people.
Evening community classes in Inchelium, Keller and Nespelem.
Critical partner for the ANA Language Nest Project with the Inchelium Childcare.
We also host cultural activities and enritchment for the Colville tribal community as well as Inchelium. These include trainings in the traditional arts such as;
Basket Weaving
Hide Tanning
Root Digging
Berry Picking
Story Gatherings
Salmon Ceremonies
We truly believe in the healing strength of our languages and culture. Our motto "Save the langauge and the language will save you" is one that comes from our hearts to yours.