Luiseño cartridges for Nintendo games

Video games to help teach native language

By Deborah Sullivan BrennanHand-held video games may help Luiseno tribal members restore their traditional language, as tribal members and local professors devise a novel approach to teach the ancient language on Nintendo devices.

The Pauma Band of Luiseno Indians has provided a $50,000 grant to Cal State San Marcos' California Indian Culture and Sovereignty Center, and Palomar College's American Indian Studies Department, to create Luiseno language cartridges for the video games.

The cartridges will be distributed to members of the tribe's seven bands in Riverside and San Diego counties.

"What we're hoping to do is preserve the voices of current speakers for future generations, and to make learning the language fun, easy and accessible for all Luiseno people," said Joely Proudfit, a Cal State professor and director of the center.Below:  "Cal State San Marcos professor Joely Proudfit, front, is working on a project to restore Luiseno tribal language with the help of students Tommy Cooper, left, Michael Murphy, Tommy Devers and Temet McMichael." (Jamie Scott Lytle)