Nuu-waa-ghii~-li~ shuꞌ dv-ghee nay-srii-ghit-ꞌa:

Nuu-daꞌ-yeꞌ xaa-maa naa-daa-ghitlh-nvsh;
Nuu-waa-trꞌvslh-a~ shuꞌ-nee-ghitlh-ꞌi~;
Nuu-hii-duꞌ-waa-te ꞌaa-ghitlh-sri.

Tolowa Dee-niꞌ Nation Mission Statement:

Honoring Our Past;
Serving Our Tribal Family;
Protecting Our Culture & Independence;
and Controlling Our Future.

Wee-yaꞌ (Language) Program

Contact Us: 380 Dat-naa-svt Loop Smith River CA 95567
Work number: 707-487-9255 Ext. 1550

The Wee-yaꞌ Program aims to restore the Tolowa Dee-niꞌ language to a thriving, viable, spoken language through the creation and expansion of speech communities for the assurance of its future and continual use in all aspects of our community’s daily life.

In order to achieve the goal of creating and expanding speech communities the Wee-yaꞌ Staff have a number of activities and programs aimed at reaching this goal, including:

  • Community Language Classes
  • High School Language Classes
  • Working with our Tribal Head Start
  • Mee-neꞌ-dvn (Home Place) – Language in the Home Program
  • NDN-tivities (Culture Classes)
  • Tolowa Dee-ni’ iOS App
  • Tolowa Dee-ni’ Android App
  • Curriculum development
  • Collaborating with local agencies to promote awareness and use of Tolowa Dee-niꞌ wee-yaꞌ

In order to promote language use, the themes of our curriculum often focuses on language that can be used everyday. By focusing on language that can be used in the kitchen, dining room, living room or other areas of the home, we intend to give language learners the skills and abilities to use the language outside of the classroom environment. Other themes we focus on include: cultural activities, stories, geographical locations and cultural awareness.

Wee-yaꞌ Committee

The Wee-yaꞌ Committee consists of 4 Tribal Citizens working together to advise the Wee-yaꞌ Program on its vision, planning and implementation of our Wee-yaꞌ programs and activities.

Loren Meꞌlash-ne Bommelyn- Chairperson

Daraxa Mattice – Vice Chairperson

Lacey Martinez – Committee Member

Ch’vski Jones-Scott – Committee Member

Wee-yaꞌ Staff

Marva Jones, Language & Culture Manager

Mattie Bommelyn, Language Specialist

Guylish Bommelyn, Language Teacher

Welantuk Jones, Language Specialist I