”Evenk language intensively” - Revival and preservation of the vanishing Evenk language
Date: July 2000
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Organiser: Association of Evenks of the Neruyngri ulus, Republic of Sakha (Yakutiya), 678933 Iengra village, ul. 50 let Pobedy 1/1, g. Neryugri RS (Yakutiya)
Supporting organisation: Centre for intensive studies of foreign languages, Moscow State University
Project leader: Fenya Matveyevna Lekhanova, member of the board of the Association of Evenks of the Neryungri ulus, student of Moscow State University, 119899 Moscow, Vorobyovy gory, korpus “B”, room 1249, tel. 2848248, fax (095)2884751
e-mail: <iic@rs.msu.ru> and <iicl@orc.ru>.
Region of work: Republic of Sakha (Yakutiya), Moscow, Russia
Time schedule: 10 months (September 2000 – June 2001)
Total cost: USD 8,642.-
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1. Background
Among the 30,198 Evenks only 11% speak their own language, mainly persons of old age. The vanishing of the language is caused by the fact that for many decades Evenk children were educated in Russia or Yakutiya. The principle of equality between peoples and languages was neglected. As a result of this, many generations have been brought up without knowledge of their own language and traditions. The national identity degenerated. A people without its language is a people without roots, without intellectual culture. During recent years Evenk schools and day care centres have opened in some regions. But because of the lack of textbooks and competent teachers, there has been no teaching of the Evenk language up until now. In Russia there is a network of universities which give education to teachers of the Evenk language. However, students who come to the universities without speaking the language already do not learn the language even on a basic level. For this reason, a student with a university degree does not start to teach the Evenk language. There are no textbooks for people who want to learn Evenk by themselves.
The problem of revival and preserving the Evenk language is impossible to solve as long as: 
1)	There are no original textbooks for colleges, schools and pre-schools which reflect the material and intellectual richness of the people.
2)	There is no teaching of the Evenk language in colleges and schools according to the methodology of teaching foreign languages.
If no adequate measures are taken, there will not be any speakers of Evenk left in Russia twenty years from now.

2. Purpose
Revival and preservation of the vanishing Evenk language.

3. Tasks and results of the project
The project will carry out work towards developing a set of educational material, “Evenk language intensively”, consisting of four parts:
•	Book for the student
•	Exercise book
•	Grammar book
•	Series of tapes
This package of instructional material can be used for self-studying of the Evenk language. When the project is finalised, there will be arranged a three day’s seminar for the authors of the material about the methodology of the work with textbooks.

4. Measures
A first step in the project will be the establishment of a group of four persons which will include language experts and an illustrator. This group will:
1)	study theory and practice concerning this the production of language instruction material;
2)	carry out a fieldwork expedition. The members of the group will travel to places densely inhabited by the Evenks and they will study social, cultural and working habits;
3)	edit and analyse the collected material;
4)	select lexical and grammatical material concerning paralinguism, frequence, word formation, communicative and informative values;
5)	draft a textbook for students, and a companion exercise booklet;
6)	establish a phonoteque with texts by native speakers;
7)	illustrate the textbook;
8)	organise a three-day seminar on the methodology of the work on this textbook series.

5. Evaluation of the results of the project
The introduction of the textbook-methodological series “Evenk language intensively” in colleges and pedagogical schools give the students possibilities to learn spoken Evenk. In this way the Evenk schools will, in the future, have teachers mastering their own language.

6. Control of the progress of the project – the account
1)	The group will discuss every phase of the work which is done.
2)	The leader of the project will, at the end of the project, work out general and financial accounts, which will be handed over to the financing organisations and relevant state authorities.

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Information about the organisers:

ASSOCIATION OF THE EVENKS OF THE NERYUNGRI ULUS
The association was founded in 1993. The purpose of the organisation is to defend the rights and legal interests of the Evenk people, to solve their social and economical problems, and to help developing culture and education. With the support of the Association the old Evenk festival “Ikenipke” was reborn (1995), a regional competition-- “The woman – the Protector of the Fireplace” (1996), and a summer language school, “Turen”, has been founded. Members of the board have initiated and have been taking part in the seminars in the republic, in conferences “Ways of renewing and developing the northern schools” (1993) and “Linguistical-methodological problems of teaching Evenk language” (1994). Board members have written a book for teachers (“Teaching Evenk language”) and a textbook for children (“We start to learn Evenk”). The Association has close contact with Evenks from the Republic of Buryatiya and the oblasts of Amur, Chita and Irkutsk. Concerning problems of ecology, the Association co-operates with the ecological movement “Ekoyuris”. An Evenk youth organisation, “Ami”, has been established. 

CENTRE FOR INTENSIVE STUDIES OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
The Centre has existed for 25 years. It is headed by Prof. Galina Kitaigorodskaya. The method, which she has developed, “Activation of latent possibilities of the individual and the collective”, is well known in Russia and abroad. According to the method, there have been published and are being published textbooks of a new generation. The method of learning gives practical knowledge of relations between people in different spheres of life, teaches written and oral language, removes psychological barriers and develops creative abilities of the individual, and so on.

Remark: The editorial board of ANSIPRA acknowledges that the information presented here about this project is deficient. A more detailed project description, including a budget (in Russian), can be requested from the ANSIPRA secretariat. We ask all persons who are interested in this project to contact the editorial board or the author of the project, F. Lekhanova, e-mail: <iic@rs.msu.ru> and <iicl@orc.ru>.