The Flag of My Country = Shikéyah Bidah Na'at'a'íKing, Cecil S.
General
The Flag of My Country = Shikéyah Bidah Na'at'a'í
King, Cecil S.
Flags -- United States; Navajo language -- Readers
We have learned how to teach these non-English-speaking Navajos to speak
and read English very rapidly. However, there isn't much material for
them to read. They are maturing adolescents with adolescent interests.
Primers and first readers prepared for use by six-year-old school
children don't have much interest for them. Because most non-Indians
learn to read when they are young, very few books are published in which
the ideas are mature, but the vocabularies simple enough for beginning
readers. The Bureau of Indian Affairs, therefore, has undertaken the
preparation and printing of booklets written by the leaders who are
working directly with these children. Because the children are entering
a new culture, and their success will depend upon the degree to which
they make the basic ideas of this culture their own, these new books
will rely on the material of this new culture for their content. They
will present to these young people a new and different world from that
through which they have grown during their early years on the
reservation.
Willard W. Beatty
Chief, Branch of Education
[Illustration]
I am a Navajo boy.
Naabeehó 'ashkii nishłį́.
[Illustration]
This is my home.
Díí shighan 'át'é.
[Illustration]
My home is in Arizona.
Arizona bii' shighan.
[Illustration]
Arizona is in the United States.
Arizona 'éí kéyah dízdiin dóó ba'aan tseebíí sinilígíí bii'.
[Illustration]
The United States is my country.
Kéyah dízdiin dóó ba'aan tseebíí sinilígíí shikéyah 'át'é.
This is the flag of the United States.
This is the flag of my country.
This is my flag.
Dii dah na'at'a'í Kéyah dízdiin dóó ba'aan tseebíí sinilígíí bá 'át'é.
Dii dah na'at'a'í shikéyah bá 'át'é.
Dii shi dah na'at'a'í.
[Illustration]
I look at my flag.
Shi dah na'at'a'í nísh'į́.
[Illustration]
I think of my home.
I think of my mother.
I think of my baby brother.
Shighan baa nitséskees.
Shimá baa nitséskees.
'Awéé' sitsilí baa nitséskees.
[Illustration]
I think of my father.
I help my father.
Shizhé'é baa nitséskees.
Shizhé'é bíká 'anáshwo'.
[Illustration]
I think of the sheep.
I take care of the sheep.
I can herd the sheep.
Dibé baa nitséskees.
Dibé baa 'áháshyą́.
Shí na'nishkaad yiishchį́į́h.
[Illustration]
I think of the lambs.
I take care of the lambs.
The lambs can run.
I run and play with the lambs.
Shidibé yázhí baa nitséskees.
Shidibé yázhí baa 'áháshyą́.
Dibé yázhí naanáájah dayiichįįh.
Dibé yázhí bił naanááshjahgo bił nidaashnée łeh.
[Illustration]
I think of the corn.
I can plant corn.
I like to plant corn.
Shinaadą́ą́' baa nitséskees łeh.
Shinaadą́ą́' k'éédíshdlééh.
Naadą́ą́' k'éédíshdléehgo shił yá'át'ééh.
[Illustration]
I think of the sun.
I can play in the sun.
The sun is warm.
I am happy in the sun.
Shí jóhonaa'éí baa nitséskees.
Shą́ą́'góó naashnée łeh.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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