Before the arrival of Captain Cook in Hawai’i in 1778, Hawaiians had lived and thrived for centuries in the islands, creating a distinct and rich culture, including a plentiful oral tradition. The Hawaiian language, or ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i embodied a cultural history that linked Hawaiians to their history, cosmology, and worldview. Kāhuna (priests) could recite from memory the origin chant, or Kumulipo, which contains over 2,000 lines of text (Beckwith, 1972; Mitchell, 1992) Countless mo‘olelo (stories), ka‘ao (epic legends), mele (songs) and pule (prayers) were vehicles for conveying values, teachings, and histories to the people.

In the nineteenth century, the arrival of American missionaries prompted profound changes on ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i. Missionaries built schools with the intention of using education to convert Hawaiians to christianity. Hawaiians learned Latin and French, in addition to English with per capita literacy rates at 91 percent in the late 1800s (Nogelmeier, 2003).

One primary tool the missionaries utilized in their efforts was the printing press. With this technology, books and newspapers written in ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i, printed, and circulated in the community. One of the first printed books was the Bible. Despite the increased circulation of ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i in printed text, however, ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i was considered a lower-status language than English, and instruction in ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i was not prioritized.

In the late 1800s, political unrest, Foreign influence in the islands by American investors and businessmen, as well as the involvement of the U.S. military, culminated in the illegal overthrow of Queen Lili‘uokalani in 1893. This was followed by the establishment of a provisional government, which supported the American annexation of Hawai’i. The Republic of Hawai’i was established, made up of foreign businessmen and missionary descendents, who viewed ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i as a political threat. In June 1896, Act 57 was passed, which declared that only English could be used as the language of instruction in schools. Thus, children would no longer receive instruction in schools in ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i. Children were shamed and punished for speaking Hawaiian at school, and the language was stigmatized. This stigma expanded to other areas of Hawaiian society (Kawai‘ae‘a et al., 2007).

During the years of 1898-1959, ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i was mostly limited to the entertainment sector, while English permeated all other aspects of people’s daily lives, in addition to dealings in business, schools, and government. Thus, the only remaining group of people who spoke ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i as their native language was a group of küpuna (elders) in their 70s in a small, isolated community on the island of Ni’ihau (Kawai‘ae‘a et al., 2007). What is more, in 1922, ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i was being taught as a foreign language at the University of Hawai’i.. By the late 1970s, fewer than 50 children were reported to speak Hawaiian. The felt sense of fear was that once the küpuna were gone, the language would also disappear (Kawai‘ae‘a et al., 2007). A once thriving language was at a precarious point.

Elders in some communities were concerned at the dwindling use of ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i., and began strident efforts to revitalize its usage. In 1977, Ka Leo O Hawaiÿi, a Hawaiian language radio show 1977 on KCCN, aired its first broadcast in ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i. Then, in 1977, the non-profit organization ‘Ahahui ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i, established standardized Hawaiian orthography. Progress continued as ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i was recognized as a state language in 1978, and the 1896 law banning ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i-medium instruction in schools was lifted.

A small group of parents and educators wanted their children to learn ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i, but it had not been taught in schools for many decades, and the law that banned the language as a medium of instruction had only recently been lifted.The parents wanted their children to not only speak Hawaiian at home, but also wanted their children to be educated through instruction delivered in the Hawaiian language. The parents know that, if ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i were to flourish again, it needed to be spoken in various settings (Kawai‘ae‘a et al., 2007). Thus, in 1984, the ‘Aha Pünana Leo Hawaiian language immersion preschool was launched.

The establishment of the family-based, language immersion preschool program provided multiple challenges for the teachers and parents for the first years it operated. There were many questions, such as where would the curriculum and books come from? Which school principles would be willing to allow a HAwaiian language immersion program in their school? Who had a teaching certificate and could speak Hawaiian? How would the program be funded?

The solutions to these questions came from the dedication from the first group of parents and educators, who created a program patterned after the successful efforts of the language and cultural revitalization of the Mäori of Aotearoa (New Zealand) in the early 1980s (Kawai‘ae‘a et al., 2007). School staff would translate materials and develop curriculum on a year basis, essentially laying the path for the children as the first cohort of students made their way through the program (Kawai‘ae‘a et al., 2007). The preschool program expanded into a preschool through kindergarten, and then added first grade, then second grade, and successively added a year to their repertoire of curriculum. Finally, the program had been expanded to cover pre-school, all the way to 12th grade for graduating high school seniors. By 1992, the program was K-12. In 1999, a cohort of students graduated that, for the first time in over 100 years, had been educated entirely in Hawaiian from kindergarten to grade 12. The program was not without its critics. Some doubted the validity and rigor of the academics. Others expected the program to fizzle out. Teachers were pressured to adopt the bilingual education model, used with immigrant emergent bilingual children, which focuses on transitioning the student to instruction in English by second or third grade. But, the parents and teachers remained steadfastly dedicated to the immersion model (Kawai‘ae‘a et al., 2007). One parent shared, “As we are frequently met with unsupportive policies, institutional resistance, and supporters of the status quo, we continue to relay our aloha for the language, sharing the potential of and need for Hawaiian language immersion education” (Kawai‘ae‘a et al., 2007, p. 202).

Some critics considered Hawaiian to be a “dead language,” and expressed concern for the children’s future, believing the children would not be able to attend college because they did not know English. The opposite was true, however, as the immersion program has a 100% high school graduation rate, and 80% of the graduates pursue higher education at the university level (Kawai‘ae‘a et al., 2007).

For the educators, parents, and now grandparents of the children who attend ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i programs, the revitalization of ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i is deeply important. It is the reconnection to their rich cultural heritage, the passing on of cultural wisdom from one generation to another, as well as a source of traditional knowledge. One parent marveled, “It was amazing to witness the keiki [children] fluently speaking, singing, praying, learning, playing, creating, fighting, and, I would surmise, dreaming, all in Hawaiian” (Kawai‘ae‘a et al., 2007, p. 200).

Children who learned in the language immersion program developed proficiency in multiple languages, formed strong cultural and self-identity, and grounded the children’s cultural Hawaiian identity (Kawai‘ae‘a et al., 2007).

Parents, grandparents, and educators, and involved in the language immersion program, as well as the graduates themselves, believe that their legacy is the Hawaiian language that lives on and continues to flourish in their children and grandchildren. Thus, the language, and rich traditions, are on the pathway to thrive once again. What is more, the model employed in the development of the language immersion program has provided a model for other language revitalization efforts. In 2008, the ‘Aha Pünana Leo Hawaiian language immersion preschool celebrated its 25th anniversary.

5.6.2 References

Beckwith, Martha. 1972. The Kumulipo: A Hawaiian creation chant. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai‘i Press.

Kawai’ae’a, K.K., Housman, A.K., & Alencastre, M. (2007). Pu’a i ka ‘Olelo, Ola ka ‘Ohana: Three Generations of Hawaiian Language Revitalization. In Kawai’ae’a, K.K., Housman, A.K., & Alencastre, M. (2007). Pu’a i ka ‘Olelo, Ola ka ‘Ohana: Three Generations of Hawaiian Language Revitalization.

Mitchell, D. D. K., & Middlesworth, N. (1992). Resource units in Hawaiian culture. Kamehameha Schools Press.

Nogelmeier, M. P. (2003). Mai Pa’a I Ka Leo: Historical voice in Hawaiian primary materials, looking forward and listening back. University of Hawai’i at Manoa.