Hello Allyson! You are our final cohort of 2022 student spotlight! Thank you for sharing with us. First, could you introduce yourself?
Ink nash waníksha Taysíki ku suḵaputɨmtki Allyson Alvarado. My name is Taysíki and in English my name is Allyson Alvarado. I am Yakama and I’m from Wapato, Washington.
What has been the focus of your work during the LTS program? What makes this work meaningful to you?
Throughout LTS I have been working with the Ichishkíin language and exploring how best to teach and learn it. At first, I was really focused on incorporating language use and cooking together. Eventually, I came to focus on family language learning and meal-time ended up being a component of that. Family language learning is special to me because I’ve been learning Ichishkíin with my own family, especially my younger siblings so I wanted to create something that would make that easier/accessible for not only myself, but other Ichishkíin learners who want to speak with their families.
You had a very special living arrangement and housemate this year. Could you tell us more about that?
I have been living with Tuxámshish, my elder, my teacher and my inspiration! She has accomplished many things not only for the Ichishkíin language, but just in general! She is 100 years old and an L1 Ichishkíin speaker, she has taught me so much that I’m extremely grateful for. I didn’t grow up with an L1 speaker in my home, so I’m glad that I was able to experience this with her. She has also helped me many times translating my lesson plans, shared a whole bunch of good stories with me, and made me laugh a lot throughout my time here so living with her has been my home away from home.
What are you doing after LTS? Do you think you’ll miss Eugene?
After I graduate, I’ll immediately start preparing to teach Ichishkíin to 5th-8th graders in the district I went to school at! I’m really excited because there has never been a 5th or 6th program for Ichishkíin until now and since I have a lot of flexibility in the curriculum creation, I’m happy I’ll be able to use some of the lessons I’ve created throughout LTS.
I will miss Eugene! This is my 5th year being in this city so it’s emotional to be ending my time here. I’m going to miss food delivery 🙁 and even though I’ve complained many times about my wet socks, I will miss the rain. I do hope to come back for NILI Summer Institute as a chaperone for my future Ichishkíin students who could be possible LTS recruits 👀
What has been most important to you in LTS?
Most important to me in LTS has been the relationships that have come out of it. It takes me a long time to come out of my shell and make friends with people, so when I do make them the relationships are very precious to me 🙂 I’ve learned sooo much from everybody within the program and I just feel very privileged to have learned from everyone’s experience and expertise!
What is a fun fact about you that we may not know?
One fun fact about me is that I weave baskets. I use contemporary materials like yarn and cord to weave traditional Columbia plateau baskets and when I go home, I hope to gather and learn about more traditional materials to make baskets with those. I also love to watch tv!