Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 27, Number 4, 1 April 2010 — Storybooks pave new path in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi revival [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Storybooks pave new path in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi revival

By Liza Simon KaWai Ola Our youngest learners of 'ōlelo Hawai'i have received a wondrous gift: 31 original Hawaiian language storybooks sweetly illustrated and boxed into bright sets have

been distributed to Hawaiian language classrooms and libraries across the state. This includes 'Aha Pūnana Leo preschools, Native Hawaiian-focused charter schools and state Department of Education immersion programs. The hardcover books, collectively titled / Mua Nō Ka 'Uhi, culminate five years of work by No'eau Warner. A professor of Hawaiian at UH Mānoa's Kawaihuelani Center for Hawaiian Language, who also holds a doctorate in educational psychology, Warner has made his mark in scholarly pursuits - not the sometimes-quirky world of authoring kids books. In fact, he doesn't even consider himself a writer. But his academic investigation into the reinvigoration of Hawaiian language revealed a void he felt compelled to fill: the immersion curriculum material was made up of translations from English. Mueh of it lacked 'ōlelo Hawai'i's natural flow and structure. Wamer said studies show that the true Hawaiian language has survived most intact in the conversation of the few kūpuna who defied the suppression of the

native tongue, outlawed in 1896 - a constraint that remained in plaee until Hawaiian was declared an official language of the state in 1978. Warner said that kūpuna conversation is not only truer to the rich oral tradition that existed prior to suppression, it's also a vehicle for Hawaiian culture and values - another huge motive to get it on the page for young students. Warner wrote and published the books through a federal grant funded under the Native Hawaiian Education Act. The aim of the grant wasn't only to increase quantity of Hawaiian language material; it was expressly to promote better quality. Warner knows first hand about the shortcomings of translated materials in Hawaiian language revival. He was a teacher at Pearl City's Waiau Elementary, site of one of the DOE's first immersion programs. Warner's series is targeted to children in grades K-2, when language acquisition is at its peak. However, he hopes that Hawaiian language students of all ages will find themappealing. He has arranged for book sets to be distributed to classrooms and to families of students in immersion schools, whieh ask parents to take some language classes in order to foster the leaming environment at home. So far, parents and teachers say that the new books have passed the most important tests of all: kids clamor for them. And no wonder. Besides being easy to read, they are wonderfully illustrated. Warner searched for and found talented loeal illustrators for the books, Solomon Enos, Chuck Souza, Harinani Orme and Debra Koonohiokala Gregory, among them. ■

nā puke "h

The IMuaNōKa 'Ulu co\leelion of 31 original ehildren books written in Hawaiian includes No Ka Mau Hea Kēia Nuku?, whieh asks the question, To Whieh Bird Does This Beak Belong? - Photo : liza Simon