ᏣᎳᎩ ᎦᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ ᏧᎾᏓᏂᎳᎨᎢ, the Cherokee Language Master Apprentice Program, is dedicated to creating new Cherokee language teachers through methodologies designed to honor and perpetuate the Cherokee culture and language, in order to develop intergeneration language growth. The Cherokee Language Master Apprentice Program (CLMAP) is an adult Cherokee language immersion program for novice learners who are paired with master-level fluent Cherokee speakers.
Language apprentices participate in a Cherokee language immersion environment Monday-Friday, 8:00am - 5:00pm and receive an educational cash benefit as a part of this 40/hour a week program. The number of applicants selected is based on program availability.
The program is a full-time, two year commitment. Upon completion, participants are expected to be, at minimum, conversational in Cherokee in the intermediate mid category, as defined by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages standards.
Interested individuals must meet the following criteria:
Typically, eight participants are selected for each new cohort. Participants are selected through an application and interview process. If you are not selected, please apply again.
Yes, please reapply. Some program participants applied multiple times before placed into the program. Your application will not transfer from one application period to the next, though. Please submit a new application each time.
Second language speakers who graduate from CLMAP are able to talk about most anything they want to discuss in Cherokee. It takes a lifetime to know as much Cherokee as our grandparents. However, the more committed and persistent a language apprentice is, the more proficient they become.
CLMAP is dedicated to meeting the needs of Cherokee language classrooms throughout the Cherokee Nation, specifically the Cherokee Language Immersion School. CLMAP graduates have gone on to work at the Cherokee Language Immersion School, area public schools, area universities, adult immersion programs, and as language curriculum developers.
