Integrating Situational Navajo with Healthy Foods

Abstract

This curriculum unit is a fourth-grade lesson, which will teach students food and health in a situational Navajo conversational context. The appropriate Navajo words for preparing and eating food teach us the richness of how the Navajo language reminds us of the importance of meals and feasts as a unifying factor. There are numerous cooking and eating verbiages that the Diné people use on a daily basis. It is sad to see that the majority of the younger Navajo students do not speak Navajo proficiently to express their wants and needs towards their parents, grandparents, or adults. When they speak, they lack phrases that have direct object, which is naming the nouns such as the food they are eating or cooking. They need to distinguish which food items fit into the category that each verb stem describes. This unit will be integrated with the Navajo principle of Hózhó (Beauty Way). Elders have built the Navajo concept of !d7[j7dl9 (Self Respect) around the activity of eating. They remind them of their family of the importance of a peaceful atmosphere at the table. When Navajo men finish eating, they rub their hands on their legs and announce, “Thank you for this meal, I will be happy because of this meal.” Then they rub their moccasins or shoes and say, “I will run fast.” This practice should be a reminder to eat only healthy foods. The situational Navajo strategy will be used to teach verbs on a one-to-one conversation. The Total Physical Response (TPR) will be implemented as an interactive learner-centered process that guides students in understanding and applying information and in conveying messages to others. The assessment given to students ensures that students have been engaged in the Navajo situational conversation.