Ola! A Guide to Oral Language Acquisition fills a gap in cultural and language studies by equipping heritage language communities who are impacted by language change with the tools necessary to prevent it. The book addresses this issue by rethinking language learning based on the following principles:

Any Language - Ola! is based on learning through questions of linguistic field research. These questions can be applied to any language.Learners work directly with their language speakers to develop vocabulary, listening, preliminary grammar, and cultural skills.

Community Based- Ola! is not intended for classroom use, the book is built for community settings. Speakers and learners build relationships through language knowledge. There is with no timescale to completion as time spent builds relationships with loved ones.

Oral Competence- Ola! learning is focused on listening, responding, and building the confidence in conversation so the learner is able to create their own unique expressions in the language.This book shows learners how to gain language skill through talking with those in their community. Sounds simple, but few other programs take this method. Most language learning materials are suited for classroom curriculum, or academic study. There are few resources for communities interested in conversation without academic goals.