At a recent camp at Belwin Conservancy in Afton, Minnesota, children and adults spent the day learning a language that was almost wiped out.

"It was our ancesters who were told not to speak our language when they were children. And so they grew up kind of disconnected from the Dakota language," said Sisokaduta, Dakota linguistic director.

He says that because of that disconnect, the language wasn't passed down. 

"And then that's kind of where the language started dying out," he said. 

But there are many people interested in learning the language, he added.

"We're keeping it alive. We're speaking it with each other, and we're encouraging more families to come together," said Dakota language teacher Nichole Subola.

"That's what makes me smile, is to see the children speaking the language," said Sisokaduta.

"And because we're Dakota people, we do things seasonally, so by the season and today, we were doing fall activities," said Subola.

Having participants speak the language while doing fun activities helps tie joy with learning, she said.

"It's so important to keep that language and that culture alive and practicing," said Katie Bloome, executive director of the Belwin Conservancy.

The conservancy is a nonprofit with a mission to protect land and connect people to nature. 

The next day camp is in January. You can find more information about speaking Dakota here.