Project Head Start in Arizona (1970s)

Okay, let's put Sunni the dog on this card. [Music] Okay, Leandra. Okay, you sit. [Music] Okay. The Grand Canyon. There is no place like it anywhere on Earth. It was here millions of years before man came. When he finally did reach the canyon, a few, maybe a few hundred, established a home site on the canyon floor. They are still there. Their major link with the outside world is through pack trains that must carefully thread their way up and down 8 m of dangerous but fantastically beautiful canyon trails. The Havasupai Indians live here much the same as they always have, forming the remarkably fertile soil fed by the crystal clearar Havasu Creek. Life in this Arizona corner of the canyon is quiet. And it's this remoteness, this not really being part of 20th century America that has held the Havasupi Indians back. One of the biggest barriers to progress has not been the majestic canyon walls, but the English language. Several months ago, Mr. and Mrs. Steven Hurst came to the Havasupi village to live and to teach English to the children through the aid of Project Head Start. Two or three times a week, the Havasupis leave their Head Start school room, each carrying a Polaroid camera. The camera is the heart of this unique venture in learning. In the past few years, through Head Start, a nationwide government program to bring education to children in isolated areas, hundreds of thousands of children between the ages of three and six learn to read and write. [Music] In the canyon, the children go into the fields to take pictures, photographs of a familiar object. They see the picture almost instantaneously. They then are taught to say the English word and see it spelled out and they learn the language easily. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] here. Pull it out and count. One more. 20th century tools play a major part in the learning process together with the love and patience of the teachers and a compact device called a language master that incorporates a tape recorder is put to use. Thus sight and sound are tied together. Audiovisisual teaching at its most effective level. [Music] The card has a magnetic tape along the bottom. The picture is attached to it. The word is added. The rest is up to the machine. What is that? It's a horse. Okay, we're going to ride horse. Okay. Wait. Horsey. [Music] That says horse. Okay. Now, let's put that on a card. I'll put that on a card. And we'll put it on the card with a picture of a horse. Yeah. And put that on the card with the picture of a horse. I can move it. Put that on the pod with a picture of the horse. There. Now we have the picture of the horse. Yeah. And it says horse. Okay. Put the pictures back here and we'll use this card here first. I'll This is a horse. This is the horse. This is a horse. All right. Now, we should be able to hear me say it and then we'll hear Mark say it. This is a horse. This is the horse. [Music] Okay, Desane, you say this is a horse. This is a horse. This is a horse. Okay, let's hear Desane say it now. This is [Applause] okay. Now you say this is a horse. You say this is a horse. The Havasupi Indians of the Grand Canyon are catching up to the 20th century. One word at a time, but they are catching up. Sound it.