Heritage Tribal Language Program
Immersion School for one of my classes. The school serviced children from kindergarten
up until the 8th grade. The children enrolled at this school were of Hawaiian decent
and a majority of them spoke English as the primary language within the home. The
schools schedule reflected that of a typical American school, with reading, writing,
mathematics, science, social studies, and the other content areas. However, the difference
was everything was taught in Hawaiian. Hawaiian was spoken throughout the school
day, during instruction and social interaction. English was taught on a daily basis for
a 45-minute period only. In addition to the regular content, the children also studied
a lot about the Hawaiian culture: dance, songs, and other traditions. When I observed
the school I was amazed at how advanced the students were in both languages. Many
of them came from households were English was the primary language spoken, but in
school the children understood and spoke the Hawaiian language with little difficulty.
It really opened my eyes to the positive effects of the Hawaiian immersion programs.
The Hawaiian Immersion School that I observed matched perfectly with the heritage
tribal language program discussed in chapter 20. The purpose of the Hawaiian Immersion
School was to teach the language and culture so that it could be revived and preserved by
the children. Since the implementation of the immersion schools there has been a great
revival of the Hawaiian culture and language among the younger generations of native
Hawaiians.
Hi Fina,
ReplyDeleteWhat you have shared is a valuable knowledge for all of us especially it was your own personal experience. After learning about the ideas and concept, maybe, some of us can be part of bringing that concept home to locally materialize the heritage tribal language programs for our own languages.
After reading this post it reminded me that we have this heritage tribal language program back home I was just never part of it when I was growing up. Don't get me wrong I love my culture and I will go all out to find ways to learn the culture. Our chiefs have the same mentality as the Hawaiians because that is how this heritage tribal language programs came about. Because of the exposure to the western world the chiefs of our islands were afraid that we'll loose our culture to the western world so they came up with the programs. They collaborated with the Department of Education and now our culture is taught in the schools from elementary to high school as part of the education curriculum. Every year the students from all the schools get together and show off to the community what they have learned. They would show case their products and the things they have acquired like navigation, building a canoe or a house and so fort.
ReplyDeleteWhen the program came to our islands I was already put in to private school. So most of the things that I learned from weaving a basket to fixing a lei or marmar I learned from my mom when I was young. Going back home these days and watching my young siblings doing these things on their own amazes me.
In the schools the content areas are taught in our native language. The chiefs concentrated too much on not loosing or culture but they forgot that in order for us to survive in the out side world we need to learn English. We are moving forward and these days English is becoming the universal language so as much as holding on to our culture we have to start enforcing English speaking in the classrooms.