article_snippet: According to locals, Cherokee is teetering on the brink of extinction with only 300 native speakers left in North Carolina.
article_snippet: : This chart shows the Cherokee alphabet - there are now fewer than 300 native Cherokee speakers remaining in North Carolina .
article_snippet: Without New Kituwah or something like New Kituwah, 'the Cherokee language will for sure die,' said Walt Wolfram, director of the North Carolina Language and Life Project at N.C. State University. '
article_snippet: In that sense, New Kituwah Academy in Cherokee is the only antidote for what will be inevitable.'
article_snippet: New Kituwah is one part of the Eastern Band's effort to preserve the language, said Annette Clapsaddle, director of the Cherokee Preservation Foundation, which has given almost $2 million to the school.
article_snippet: New Kituwah - which has about 90 students - has had problems finding teachers fluent in Cherokee.
highlights_snippet: Without New Kituwah, 'the Cherokee language will for sure die,' said Walt Wolfram, director of the North Carolina Language and Life Project .