CASLE

Master-Apprentice Course

The Master-Apprentice training was a critical element of the CASLE program and the student’s favorite part of the program. There were 23 Language Masters in total and the goal of this training was for Masters to spend time with their Apprentices, talking and doing ordinary everyday things. This Master-Apprentice training was modeled and adapted from the original AICLS Master-Apprentice program in California. Each student spent at least 70 hours, a total of 10 days in Master- Apprentice training. This training did not begin right at the start of the CASLE program; instead students first gained a basic knowledge of the language. The targets set for the M-A training were:

• The Apprentice gets a chance to use AS actively.
• The Apprentice gets used to spontaneous interaction in AS.
• The Apprentice gets to hear AS in different kinds of environments, used for different kinds of topics with different people (as compared to the classroom).
• The Apprentice gets to know the AS community.
• The Apprentice gets to know modern AS culture and, through Masters’ stories, to become more aware of the past.
• The Apprentice learns to interview and transcribe.
• The CASLE project succeeds in documenting and recording the lives and language of AS people.
• The M-A revitalization method can be tested and documented.
• The M-A training gives Masters the opportunity to transmit their language and culture. They feel important in the process of language transmission.