Lost City, Okla. ? The kindergarten teacher speaks to her class in Cherokee, telling the children to pull out mats for nap time. Using their Cherokee names, she instructs “Yo-na,” or Bear, to place his mat away from “A-wi,” or Deer. Cherokee music lulls them to sleep.

These youngsters’ parents were mocked for speaking Cherokee. Their grandparents were punished. But Cherokee is the only language these children will speak in their public school classroom.

By immersing the youngsters in the language of their ancestors, tribal leaders are hoping to save one of the many American Indian tongues.

It is a modest start, consisting of just 10 kindergartners in a single classroom at the Lost City School, 50 miles east of Tulsa. But their Cherokee language instruction will continue throughout their school years.

“The language is going to be gone if we don’t do something, and the best people to learn are kids in the developmental stage of kindergarten,” said Annette Millard, a non-Cherokee who is superintendent of the Lost City School, with about 100 students, two-thirds from the tribe.

Around the country, other Indian languages are disappearing as well. The native speakers are dying off, and the language cannot compete against English, which is pervasive through television and other forms of pop culture.

While many tribes are trying to reinvigorate their languages, doing so can be particularly difficult in places like Oklahoma, where Indians generally attend public schools and do not live on reservations.

On the vast Navajo reservation in the Southwest, for example, the Navajo language is taught on reservation schools and most tribal members speak it. In Oklahoma, fewer than 8,000 of the 100,000 Cherokees can speak the language fluently, and most of those who can are over 45.

The children are encouraged to speak Cherokee at home.

After five weeks of school, Lane Smith, or “A-wi,” told his mother in Cherokee that he was going outside to play. She was not quite sure what he said, but she is now starting to relearn the language she knew at age 5.

“My family has asked Lane what he has learned today and they are learning right along with him,” said Kristal Smith.

Cassandra Copeland, whose hands are visible at lower right, and Matt Keener touch their names written in Cherokee at their places during Lost City School's Cherokee-language immersion kindergarten in Lost City, Okla. Tribal leaders hope the program will save their dying language.