Inland Empire Community Newspapers • June 6, 2013 • Page A11 CSUSB to offer Serrano language course By Cynthia Mendoza allow Serrano Indian people and talization Project staff will teach ter. The course will cover the lan - sity’s College of Extended Learn - Cal State San Bernardino students the Serrano language course series, guage, history and culture of the ing and receive college credit. n an effort to preserve the rich an opportunity to bring new life to including: Serrano 101, 102 and Serrano people. Along with Visit the Dorothy Ramon Learn - culture of the San Manuel our ancient and sacred language.” 103 for the academic year 2013- CSUSB students, tribal citizens ing Center website at Band of Mission Indians Under the agreement, San 2014, in collaboration with Siva of also will be able to take the Serrano www.dorothyramon.org for more (YIuhaviatam Clan of Serrano), Cal Manuel's Serrano Language Revi - the Dorothy Ramon Learning Cen - course series through the univer - information, as well as the San State San Bernardino, in a formal Manuel Band of Serrano Mission agreement with the tribe, will be Indians website at http://www.san - offering a course in the ancient Na - manuel-nsn.gov/ tive American language of Ser - rano. Native speakers are decreasing in numbers but the COURTESY PHOTO course offering will be a “lifeline” On Friday, May 24, the San to keep it going strong. Manuel Band of Mission Indians “Serrano is a language that came and Cal State San Bernardino close to extinction,” said CSUSB entered into a formal agreement President Tomás D. Morales. that will provide for a Serrano “Now through this agreement, the language course at CSUSB. Serrano language will not only be From left: San Manuel Chair - perpetuated, but also its use will be expanded.” person Carla Rodriguez, San The historic agreement took place Manuel Education Committee on Friday, May 24. The course will Chairman Paakuma’ Tawinat, be taught at the university by San Serrano elder and professor Manuel linguists and a tribal elder Ernest Siva, CSUSB Vice Pres - through CSUSB’s world languages ident for University Advance - and literature department. As part ment Ron Fremont and CSUSB of the agreement, the tribe’s spon - President Dr. Tomás Morales. sorship in providing the instructors and curriculum for the course will be considered as a donation to the CSUSB Philanthropic Foundation. “As we increasingly become an academic center that supports and encourages tribal heritage, we want to continue to build our relations with our native partners,” Morales said. “We want the tribal members of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians to feel CSUSB is their home. We also want to extend that feeling of welcome to other tribes in our region.” The Serrano Language Revital - ization Program, a function of the San Manuel Education Depart - ment, conducts ongoing research to develop and publish Serrano re - sources, including a dictionary and grammar book. This process in - cludes weekly field work with Ernest Siva, a Serrano elder from Morongo who has taught at CSUSB, and is directed by San Manuel Tribal Members, including Education Committee Chairman Paakuma’ Tawinat, who helped lead the tribal effort to establish the Serrano language course series. “The language itself is very old,” said Tawinat. “My grandmother and godmother Pauline were the last tribal members to speak it flu - ently. I learned when I was younger but didn’t pick it up again until three years ago. It became more important after my grand - mother and godmother passed away.” Tawinat went on to say that apart from teaching tribal children the language through textbooks, they are also using technology, such as cell phone apps, to teach the lan - guage. At this time, the apps are only available to students, but in the future may be available to the general public. And why as a course like this im - portant? “Our language flows into our tra - ditional beliefs and traditional way of life,” he said. “Without lan - guage, we lose our identity.” San Manuel Chairperson Carla Rodriguez expressed similar senti - ments about the importance of lan - guage and the value of the CSUSB course. “It is my belief that our identity as Serrano people is rooted in our land, our culture and our lan - guage,” she said. “Each an aspect of the Serrano world connecting us to all that has passed before and all that is yet to come. This course will.