DOE Offers Free Hawaiian Language Classes To All Staff
The “Olelo Hawaii Initiative” is a partnership between DOE’s Office of Hawaiian Education and the University of Hawaii Community Colleges.
Starting next spring, all Hawaii Department of Education employees will be eligible to take free introductory Hawaiian language classes through a new partnership with the Office of Hawaiian Education and University of Hawaii Community Colleges.
All 22,000 DOE employees 鈥 from teachers to assistants to custodial staff 鈥 are invited to receive fully subsidized Hawaiian language instruction at any one of UH鈥檚 seven community college campuses, beginning in Spring 2020.
The program was Thursday by the DOE communications office, but first mentioned Wednesday evening at a Board of Education at Ke Kula Kaiapuni O Anuenue, a K-12 Hawaiian immersion school, to discuss priorities and concerns among immersion educators and parents.
Hawaiian and English are the state鈥檚 two official languages. Nearly a quarter of the state鈥檚 public student population is Native Hawaiian, while Hawaiian or part-Hawaiian teachers comprised just 10.5% of the teacher workforce .
The partnership is the result of a two-year effort spearheaded by the , a DOE entity established in February 2015 to expand Hawaiian education across the K-12 system.
鈥淥ur commitment to the public education system to have as many people as possible speaking Olelo Hawaii is a value statement that we鈥檙e making,鈥 Superintendent Christina Kishimoto told Civil Beat Thursday. “We鈥檙e absolutely committed to it.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not just Kaiapuni (immersion) programs, but all of us collectively being involved and being able to develop ourselves as at least bi-literate, if not in other languages.鈥听
Under the new partnership, which is funded internally by the education department, an employee can in Hawaiian 101 or 102 at any community college campus. Or, they can participate in a custom organized by a DOE leader for a designated group of employees taught by college-approved faculty.
The scholarship covers the cost of tuition and student fees, while the DOE employee is responsible for paying for books and materials, according to .
DOE employees are also eligible to enroll in intermediate Hawaiian 201 and 202, but must first be cleared by the Office of Hawaiian Education and meet prerequisite requirements.
Teachers who successfully complete a Hawaiian language course by receiving a C grade or better can receive professional development credit, while other DOE employees can receive college credit.
鈥淭his collaboration will support the advancement of Hawaiian language across public education,鈥 UH President David Lassner said in a statement. 鈥淭his project is an important extension of the foundation across the Department of Education and our public schools statewide.鈥
According to a of a Hawaiian 101 Elementary Hawaiian class offered by Kapiolani Community College, the class covers the basic structure of the language with an emphasis on listening, speaking, reading, writing and cultural understanding.
The DOE offers Hawaiian immersion education through 18 . There are also six public charter schools offering Hawaiian immersion education.
These schools teach exclusively in the Hawaiian language until English is introduced as a subject in grade 5.
Kishimoto, who herself is bilingual in English and Spanish, has put a high premium on promoting multilingualism in the state. The DOE convened its first-ever in March. And at a recent Board of Education data retreat, the superintendent spoke about how having high literacy skills in one’s home language in addition to English can help a student persist in upper levels of education.
The DOE’s push on the language front is evident in the earning a “Seal of Biliteracy,” a distinction awarded to high school graduates who demonstrate high proficiency in both English and Hawaiian, or one of those two languages and at least one other language.
The Board of Education鈥檚 community meeting Wednesday evening in the Anuenue school cafeteria was structured so that parents and educators could break up into small groups and discuss concerns and priority areas around three main areas: curriculum and standards, leadership and staffing.
According to Corey Rosenlee, president of the Hawaii State Teachers Association, one of the among the state’s teaching staff is in the area of Hawaiian language immersion.
鈥淎s a percentage of the (teaching) field, they have the highest shortage in the state,鈥 he said.
That’s partly due to the fact there is no bachelor of education program for Hawaiian Immersion offered in the UH system, although UH is looking to create such a program in 2021, .
