The Wind River Community Alliance is hosting a free Arapaho language class during the month of April.
The 12 in-person sessions will take place 6-7 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays and 10-11 a.m. Saturdays beginning April 2 and ending April 27, according to the course flyer.
Volunteer instructor Eugene Ridgebear Jr. encouraged people to sign up for the class – and to plan to “be consistent about their attendance.”
“In order for them to learn, they’ve got to be there,” he said. “Attendance is important. (You’ve) got to be there to learn all of the language techniques that I’m going to be using.”
Some of those techniques involve “immersion” in the Arapaho language, Ridgebear said – a strategy that requires “interaction” with other students, “rather than just sitting there.”
Those interactions should extend “outside the classroom,” he added, so he will be encouraging his students to practice their new Arapaho language skills at home.
“It’s got to be spoken to one another,” Ridgebear said. “We need to use it.”
The course is limited to 20 students, and Ridgebear said 10 people have already signed up.
“We already got a really big, overwhelming response,” WRCA director Cherokee Brown said, predicting that more classes would be scheduled “throughout the year.”
For more information, or to sign up for the upcoming course, call the WRCA at (307) 349-7773 or stop by the office at 1202 S. Federal Blvd. in Riverton.