GRANITE FALLS - Carolyn Schommer of the Upper Sioux Community started kindergarten at the Granite Falls school, learning English as her second language.
As a community elder, Schommer is now teaching the Dakota language to students at Yellow Medicine East.
"I'm very thankful I can do this," Schommer said Tuesday morning before her class started.
"I grew up with (the Dakota) language, English is my second language," she said.
A dozen students from the Upper Sioux Community, along with a few others, have been learning the Dakota language as an elective at YME since 2005.
Schommer said her students have embraced the language and have begun using it outside of the class room.
"We have taken them to language conferences where they have shared their language," Schommer said.
During a recent conference, Schommer said a group of her students impressed others who attended.
"I can't describe how it makes me feel," said Schommer. "I am proud of them, they are now using the language.
Schommer said sharing the language with young members of the community is important in keeping the culture thriving.
"I believe we are going in the right direction," said Schommer. "When people say it's a dead language I disagree. When we can share our language, that's what we need to do."
Roberta Bjerkeset, a teacher at YME, helps Schommer during her two morning classes. Bjerkeset said she is proud when she hears her students using the Dakota language in the halls and in their daily lives.
"It's really exciting," said Bjerkeset. "Both in the numbers of students taking the class and just hearing them use it in the halls."
Schommer said teaching young people the language means she is continuing to learn herself.
"They have small things like iPods that we didn't have before," said Schommer. "I have to know what these things do to know how to describe them (in the Dakota language)."