Increasing Hawaiian Language Proficiency One Place at a Time

• In Event: 21.043 - Pushing Back Against the Post-Truth Paradigm: Indigenous Languages, Literacies, and Politics

Abstract

In language there is life, in language there is death. This wise saying inextricably links our survival as a people to the survival of our language. Languages convey nuances unique to our own worldviews, cultures, and traditions.

This paper will explore the impact that hoʻomoana ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian immersion camps) have had on increasing the language proficiency of ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language) students, introducing students to ancestral Kanaka practices, and grooming the next generations of Kānaka to become leaders within the lāhui (Hawaiian nation; Hawaiian community). Furthermore, it will demonstrate how the lessons learned from these language immersion camps intersect with the field of education.

Author

• Katrina-Ann R. Kapā‘anaokalāokeola Oliveira, University of Hawaii - Manoa