A Native American language school for grades 6-12 will open in North Carolina in a bid to keep Cherokee culture alive . According to locals , Cherokee is teetering on the brink of extinction with only 300 native speakers left in the state . The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools accredited the new division of New Kituwah Academy in January . The school has been operating since 2004 but up until now only taken students from early childhood through fifth grade . Continuing studies : A Native American language school for grades 6-12 will open in North Carolina in a bid to keep Cherokee culture alive - the New Kituwah Academy has only been open to young students up until now . From their earliest years , children learn only in Cherokee at the facility . Only in the higher grades is English introduced , mostly as a bow to parents concerned about what happens after their children leave the school . Cherokee had no writing system until the early 1800s , when the renowned silversmith Sequoyah wrote a syllabary to put its sounds on paper . While English has one symbol for every letter , Cherokee has one symbol for each of its 80-plus syllables . Unlike many other languages , which focus on nouns and adjectives , Cherokee focuses on verbs . One verb can reveal how many people are talking , what they 're doing and how near they are . The near demise of the language came largely thanks to the U.S. government . Written words : This chart shows the Cherokee alphabet - there are now fewer than 300 native Cherokee speakers remaining in North Carolina . Learning process : Cherokee tribe member Haley Smith , 11 , works on an English assignment at New Kituwah Academy in Cherokee . Most Cherokee were forced to make a brutal march from the Southeast to Oklahoma in the 1830s . A few stayed behind , keeping a desperate grip on their way of life . Then , beginning in the late 1800s , officials set up boarding schools to eradicate the American Indian languages . Teachers punished students for speaking their native tongues . Without New Kituwah or something like it , 'the Cherokee language will for sure die , ' said Walt Wolfram , director of the North Carolina Language and Life Project at N.C. State University . 'Lots of people remain skeptical about whether languages can be revived . But the [ other ] option is certain death . In that sense , Kituwah Academy is the only antidote for what will be inevitable . ' 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 . Heritage : In this February 10 , 2015 photo , a statue of Sequoya , creator of the Cherokee alphabet , stands in front of the New Kituwah Academy in Cherokee , North Carolina . Other initiatives include Cherokee language programs at public schools and a Cherokee studies program at Western Carolina University , she said . Throughout the U.S. , Native American tribes in recent years have launched efforts to preserve their languages . The Cherokee nation in Oklahoma opened the Cherokee Immersion Charter School in 2002 , said Julie Hubbard , a spokeswoman for Cherokees there . Students start at age three and go through eighth grade , when they can transfer to a public school or to Sequoyah High School , where the Cherokee immersion students study together , she said . New Kituwah - which has about 90 students - has had problems finding teachers fluent in Cherokee . Most native speakers are in their 60s and 70s and struggle with health issues , school administrators said .
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools accredited the new division of New Kituwah Academy in 2004 . The school has been operating since January but up until now has only taken students from early childhood through fifth grade . Without New Kituwah , 'the Cherokee language will for sure die , ' said Walt Wolfram , director of the North Carolina Language and Life Project .