Track 32

Track 32

Anna: Well, shall we look at our route now? Most of the speakers we’re looking for are in California, so we could start there. We can spend two weeks travelling around and meeting people to get some background information and then start collecting data.

Suzanne: What do you think about beginning in the south-west corner of the state and visiting the Barona reservation?

Anna: That’s a good idea. We’ll be able to get some interviews with native language speakers there. and then we could go to the eastern mountains to visit the local education authority of North County — Eye got a native language project for school children.

James: Why there? Wouldn’t it be better to go to the education department in San Diego? It’s bigger.

Anna: But they focus more on Spanish and English bilingualism and less on native languages.

James: In that case, the North County Education Authority will be more valuable so let’s do that. After that, we could head south-east to the town of Bishop. There’s a company there called Co—Tech, which employs only bilingual speakers. I’ve emailed the managing director, who’s happy to give us an interview.

Suzanne: That’s great work, James! It sounds like something we should definitely do.

James: Right, well I’ll email her to confirm.

Anna: Also, we should go to Sun City. It’s this bilingual town in the south-central area of the region. They have a policy whereby all signs in the town must be in the local language as well as English. We can take photos of these signs — they’ll make good visuals for our report.

Suzanne: But won’t that be intrusive for the people who live there?

Anna: No, they’re used to it — the village is used as a model for other communities who’d like to do the same thing.

Suzanne: In that case, let’s add it to the itinerary.