WOW, THAT LOOKS LIKE ME!

All but two of the first-graders in Abby Augustine's classroom in the Bethel Immersion School have the raven-black hair and deep-brown eyes of their Yup'ik ancestors, who for thousands of years have drawn sustenance from the marshes, ocean, and endless tundra of the Yukon and Kuskokwim deltas. Before Western culture, technology (including TV), and alcohol began eroding ancient practices, Yup'ik life centered around hunting, fishing, and gathering. Respect for nature and for animals was a core value. So was respect for others, especially elders. Sharing, helping, and cooperating-themes that pop up often in the Second Step curriculum-are among other values listed on a "Yup'ik Values" poster created by the district's art staff for classroom display.

Rekindling respect for native values-lost to many families in recent years-is a district goal. To that end, the district screens texts for compatibility with Yup'ik beliefs. It publishes storybooks and primers based on such traditional Yup'ik practices as gathering wild eggs, picking berries, and smoking fish. These books, along with richly illustrated legends such as "How the Crane Got Its Blue Eyes," are printed in both English and Yup'ik for use in bilingual and immersion classrooms. Bilingual specialists also are writing thematic units, based on Yup'ik practices and knowledge, that meet state standards in science, math, social studies, and language arts.

In the spirit of honoring local culture, the Second Step curriculum is being modified (with permission from the curriculum's publisher) to fit the community.

If children are to internalize the messages in the posters, they need to identify with the pictures, district curriculum specialists say. So they commissioned a photographer to capture images of local children modeling emotions and acting out scenarios such as playground disputes or bus-stop squabbles. These Yup'ik faces will replace the photos on 35 Second Step posters.

"It's very important for kids to see kids who look like them," says Nita Rearden, a specialist in bilingual programs for the district. "If they do, they can apply their own little feelings to that picture. It opens them up to talk about something that might be inside them."

Sophie Shield learned to read in the delta village of Tuntutuliak with the standard 1950s primer. Nothing in those pages reflected village life. The need for culturally appropriate materials is very real to her. "I grew up with Dick, Jane, and Sally," says Shield, who works closely with Rearden to translate and adapt materials. "It was all foreign to me. They were aliens to us. It was far away. For the local kids, how nice it would be for them to look at the pictures and say, 'Wow, that looks like me!' Instead of frilly dresses, they (would see) mukluks and parkas. How nice it would be!"

One November morning as snow falls steadily outside, Augustine's immersion students-many of them clad in snowsuits and boots- wrestle with a lesson in listening skills. The message is the same one Jennings delivered to his kindergartners moments earlier in the building next door. But this time, it's in Yup'ik: Qaneryukuvet yaggluten (If you want to speak, raise your hand). Unateten it'gaten-llu ilavnun agtuuteksaunaki (Keep your hands and feet to yourself). Ilaput qanqan niicugniaqluta (When someone is talking, we listen to them).

Augustine then segues to a Second Step lesson in empathy. Speaking in Yup'ik, she tells the first-graders to pretend they're detectives, looking for clues about how other kids are feeling. She holds up a picture of a little girl with a big grin. How is she feeling? the teacher asks the class. Happy, several students say. What clues tell us she's happy? the teacher asks. Mouth turned up, eyes wrinkled, teeth showing. Augustine writes angniq ("happy") on the board, and then calls Karis to the front of the room and asks her to imitate the emotion shown in the photo. Karis smiles broadly. What things make you happy? the teacher asks the students. One girl says she's happy when she has a birthday. Another says she's happy when she goes sledding.

Moving on with the lesson, Augustine shows first a photo of a boy looking sad (clues: mouth in a frown, chin wrinkled, eyes downcast) and a girl looking mad (clues: arms crossed, eyebrows knit, forehead wrinkled). In pairs, the children stand up and role play events that stir up different emotions. In one role play, a girl gives a sucker to a boy, who smiles and looks happy. In another role play, a boy hands a piece of paper to a girl, who abruptly tears it in half. This sets off an excited buzz among the watching children. They mimic the ripping motion, and chatter among themselves about the girl's aggressive action. At lesson's end, the children use crayons to color in faces showing anger, fear, happiness, and sadness. With glue, they tack down bits of yarn for hair.

Role playing, central to the Second Step curriculum, isn't a perfect fit with Yup'ik culture. Native children often are uncomfortable standing up and speaking out in class.

"It stems back to our ancestors, when only the elders spoke," says Shield. "In the old days, we as little kids were taught to listen to the elders all the time."

Teachers in Bethel and the villages beyond need to be sensitive, Shield says, to this deeply rooted discomfort. She suggests that teachers call for volunteers instead of demanding that students engage in role play.

Overcoming discomfort with role playing is the biggest challenge facing the district as it works to train teachers across the delta in using Second Step, says curriculum specialist Nancy Brown, who's leading the training effort. Eventually, she says, the district plans to translate the materials into Yup'ik. The curriculum will be presented to parents in coming months, in hopes that families will adopt-and thereby reinforce-the tools and words kids are learning in school. The district must skillfully blend "home language" with "school language" to reach parents in their comfort zone, Brown says. Parents need to understand that "trying to take over the role of parents" is not the district's goal, she says.

Sometimes, culture clashes show up in unexpected places. The family kit that accompanies the curriculum (Family Guide to Second Step: Parenting Strategies for a Safer Tomorrow) comes with refrigerator magnets-those ubiquitous trinkets of middle-class kitchens. But out on this windswept river delta, which feels like a deep-freeze much of the year, "not all villagers have fridges," Brown notes.

Cultural mismatches aside, Rearden believes that Second Step shows great promise for bringing change to this distant corner of Alaska.

"It's for every person," she says, "because we all have the same feelings."

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