Investigations

Navajo immersion schools pushed language instruction across the reservation

Elders described boarding schools that punished children for speaking Diné as principals reported a reservation-wide push to retain the language.

On the Navajo Nation, immersion programs pushed Navajo language instruction from Leupp Elementary to Window Rock as elders recalled federal boarding schools that beat children for speaking Diné. Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan filmed at Leupp Elementary and Tséhootsooí Diné Bi'ólta', where students recited a daily pledge to learn through their eyes, ears, and heart.

More than 160,000 people still speak Navajo, making it the most widely spoken Native language in the United States. Of roughly 300 Indigenous languages once spoken in the country, about half survived colonization, and linguists estimate that 99 percent of those remaining could be extinct by 2050.

Maria City, Eustus Edi, and Nelly Shirley grew up in cabins and sheep camps before agents sent them to Bureau of Indian Affairs schools at Fort Defiance and elsewhere. They were forbidden to use their own names and were beaten, washed with soap, or sent into canyons when they spoke Navajo. Parents later raised children in English to spare them that punishment, a pattern the BIA reinforced with English-only mandates.

Principals at the immersion schools said every reservation school system now pushed to retain the language. Dr. Platero, principal at Tséhootsooí Diné Bi'ólta', said students hungered for culture and identity and needed teachers who let them hear, see, and feel Diné every day. A Leupp Elementary official said the effort gave Navajo people a chance to share solutions embedded in their cultures with the world.

The report also visited a remote homestead where a man who had never learned English still spoke only Navajo. When asked whether the language mattered for new generations, he answered yes through an interpreter and said writing and spelling were the hardest parts of literacy.

In Window Rock, Navajo Nation Council Delegate Carl Russell Slater said the executive branch awarded about $25 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to a housing contractor, an amount that fell to roughly $24 million after taxes, with the understanding that the nation would receive a set number of homes. Slater said the company used much of the money for infrastructure at its site and that only about 18 houses were in final construction despite funding tied to 160 new homes. Opponents collected about 11,000 signatures calling for President Buu Nygren's removal.

Slater also said $250,000 budgeted for missing and murdered Indigenous relatives work was routed toward the president's office operating budget until the controller blocked the transfer. After disputes over purchase-card reporting, Nygren sought to remove the controller, which Slater said violated Navajo Nation law. The Navajo Nation Council opened an investigation into ARPA housing contracts, and Nygren's office denied that $24 million was missing from nation accounts.

The crew had a confirmed 5 p.m. interview with Nygren, who was elected in 2023 and had avoided one-on-one outside media interviews. After waiting 45 minutes in the president's office, they were told Nygren would not meet because he was in council chambers for proceedings that included litigation over the attorney general and because Channel 5 was not a family-friendly platform. Residents interviewed on the reservation called Nygren a sellout over coal expansion plans and said accountability failures fed a recall drive.

Students at an immersion school split on whether they would leave the reservation for jobs, but several said they feared losing Navajo if they moved. One boy said he would keep prayers, clans, and traditional dances close. Navajo is now available on Duolingo, and Disney translated its cartoon catalog into Navajo for its streaming app.

Source video: Navajo Language Revival