O'odham language educator and Early Childhood Education Center parent Jonathan Curry will help beginners on their journey toward speaking, reading, and comprehension of the O'odham language.
The goal is for participants to share what they learn with others - in their homes, classrooms, or workplaces! This is a safe place to ask questions; recorders welcome.
All staff, students, families, and Communities are welcome to join these free lessons. We will also stream and record Mr. Curry's lessons and do our best to provide physical and digital copies of his materials to those who want them.
Please sign up if you plan to attend in person by calling the ECEC at 480-362-2200: You may bring your own lunch, but we are incredibly grateful that our partners at
StrongLife are sponsoring 10 meals for parents/caregivers who attend the in-person sessions! Snacks and refreshments will be provided during the event.
March 7: Beginning O'odham Lesson 3
ECEC parent Mr. Curry continues our O'odham language adventure through place and speaking about where we're from (and correcting the traditional name of his wife's village!). We also begin learning I:mig - how we relate to one another. Click here to view the PDF of the worksheets Mr. Curry uses in the video.
Feb. 28: Beginning O'odham Lesson 2
Mr. Curry takes our journey through the basics of conversation, including asking where folks are from (here, over there) and how to say the names of local towns and landmarks. Click here to view the PDF of the worksheets Mr. Curry uses in the video.
Feb. 21: Beginning O'odham Lesson 1
Mr. Curry takes us on a journey through the basics of conversation starters, including how to introduce yourself, say where you're from, ask important identity questions, and how to say the words for various stages of life.
Click here to view the PDF of the worksheet Mr. Curry uses in the video.
Feb. 4 & 7: Intro to Orthography
Here is the recording from the first session on 2/4.
Click here to view the PDF document Mr. Curry reviews in the presentation.
We know not everyone can view this video, so click this link to view the YouTube video from the 2/7 recording, which doesn't match up with the time stamps below, but follows closely.
Time Stamps/Discussion Points
- 4:00 Introduction
- 6:00 Linguistic History based on Region
- 8:00 A review of "northern" O'odham dialects
- 11:00 Two distinguished dialects of Akimel O'odham
- 13:30 Early O'odham Language Linguists
- 22:00 Introducing Dr. Hale & Albert Alvarez (the Orthography SRPMIC uses)
- 23:15 Dictionary and Grammar Book examples that are readily available
- 24:50 Using ECEC signs as examples to demonstrate orthography examples through history
- 30:36 (use PDF linked above) grammar resource from Dr. Ofelia Zepeta - how to associate O'odham sounds using colonial lettering
- 33:15 Picture showing bisection of a mouth to show the placement of a tongue when someone uses a "d" sound in O'odham
- 34:00 Picture showing bisection of mouth to show the placement of a tongue when someone uses a "t" sound in O'odham
- 35:00 "d" with dot underneath sound
- 35:38 "d" with line underneath sound
- 36:52 "l" sound
- 37:44 "n" with tilde on top sound
- 39:48 "n" with right foot sound
- 40:23 "c" and "s" with dot underneath sound
- 40:50 Diphthong sounds
- 41:25 Vowels and Consonants
- 44:52 Glottal Stop sounds
- 46:00 Where is the word stress (emphasis)?
- 47:40 Evolution, influences, and modernization of language
- 49:15 Examples of O'odham words seen on signage today
- 53:00 Storytime
- 56:00 End