Sept. 4-6, Friday-Sunday -- More than 200 California Indians will gather at UC Davis over Labor Day weekend for the ninth biennial Language Is Life Gathering, a conference dedicated to native language restoration and revival. Sessions will take place in Thompson Hall, one of the Segundo area residence halls.

Conference presentations will include:

* "Immersion Teaching Methods," a workshop led by Zeke Zahir, a speaker of Puget Salish and instructor of the Lushootseed language and culture of western Puget Sound.

* "Immersion Preschools and Language at Home," a presentation by Tony Johnson, cultural education coordinator for the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Language Program in Grand Ronde, Ore.

* A presentation by Leland Kinter, who teaches Patwin language classes at the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation (formerly Rumsey Rancheria) tribal school and Todd Gettleman, cultural and communications associate for Yocha Dehe.

"Language Is Life provides not just vital tools and resources, but also an ongoing atmosphere of optimism and success to California Indians working to restore their language and cultures," said conference host Martha Macri, the Rumsey Endowed Chair in California Indian Studies and director of the Native American Language Center at UC Davis.

"The language movement has reached a new plateau, with communities all over the state working on revitalization with increased urgency as more elders pass. We believe this is an extraordinarily fertile and critical time in the race to save the linguistic legacy," Macri said.

The Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival, a native-run nonprofit organization, organizes the Language Is Life Conference every other year. This year's conference is co-sponsored by the UC Davis Native American Language Center, the Second Language Acquisition Institute at UC Davis, and the University of California Consortium for Language Learning and Teaching. Supporters include the Lytton Band of Pomo Indians, the Yocha Dehe Community Fund, the Barona Band of Mission Indians, the Lannan Foundation, the Irvine Foundation and the California Council for the Humanities.

To register for Language Is Life, visit http://aicls.org. For more information, call or e-mail Marina Drummer at (707) 486-6806 or marina@communityfuturescollective.org.