John Paul Montano has spent most of the last eight years acquiring the Nishnaabe language from his mentor, Barbara Nolan. Together, they have successfully transferred the language forward, across one generation - from Barbara to John Paul. He is profoundly grateful to be a speaker of Nishnaabemwin.

He is an experienced language researcher, immersion program developer and a coach of immersion instructors. Along with Barbara Nolan, John Paul is currently involved in the production of Nishnaabe-language immersion videos for their company barbaranolan.com.

Recently he's been investigating additional tools that can assist the revitalization of the Nishnaabe language. In particular, he's focused on augmented reality, compiler construction, and the languages C++, Objective-C, and Lisp.

John Paul is a very happy Nishnaabe from the Pokégnek Bodéwadmik. He currently lives in Baawitigong (Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan). He loves to laugh.