Abstract Papahana Kaiapuni is the ...

Abstract

Papahana Kaiapuni is the nation's no other than K-12 program taught entirely in the Hawaiian language. This indigenous language immersion program was established as an attempt to revive Hawaiian after a century-long ban forward the language was lifted. The popular study examines the perceptions of Kaiapuni educators regarding the ways in which participation in the program transforms teachers' identities as educators and as Hawaiians. Thirty seven Kaiapuni teachers and four principals participated in individual interviews and focus cluster discussions about their roles and experiences in the program. Many teachers regard Kaiapuni as more than a "Hawaiian" version of the English program. Teachers strive to integrate the Hawaiian tillage into the curriculum and view the program as a archetype of school reform for Native Hawaiians. For many teachers, participation in the program has also influenced the way they think of themselves as members of the Hawaiian community.

In 1998 the National Foreign Language Center and the Center for Applied Linguistics launched the Heritage Language Initiative. This was an effort to suit to the growing concern among those in the other language research and educational communities that the United States is losing a valuable resource of a multilingual population (Marcos, 1999) Although the United States continues to maintain a steady influx of immigration into the home and multilingual expertise is important to the nation's international and local affairs, there has not been a consistent effort to uphold the languages of immigrants (Brecht & Ingold, 1999; Marcos, 1999) In addition, there has been a decrease in the number of indigenous language speakers in this abiding habitation Krauss (1996) estimated that the majority of the 300 indigenous languages nuncupative in the United States and Canada are threatened with extinction. This is a grave cultural threat. Along with losing a language, other aspects of a community disappear when a language is dissipated including specific cultural knowledge and values (Reyhner & Tennant, 1995; Reyhner 1996; St Clair, 1982)

Educational and other policies have wait oned to promote the learning of English to the detriment of heritage language maintenance. greatest in quantity grandchildren of immigrants to the United States speak English as their first language and repeatedly do not have an expressive use of their family's heritage language (Brecht & Ingold, 1999) exercises are not meeting the widespread ne for inferior language maintenance and learning. The vision of the Heritage Language Initiative is to build "an education connected view more responsive to heritage communities and national language destitutions and capable of producing a broad cadre of citizens able to function professionally in the couple English and another language" (Brecht & Ingold, 1999 p 3)

This paper discusses a program in Hawaii that is consistent with the Heritage Language Initiative. We focus in succession Papahana Kaiapuni (Kaiapuni), the Hawaiian language immersion program. Kaiapuni is the nation's simply K-12 public educational program guidanceed in the Hawaiian language. Kaiapuni scholars do not receive formal instruction in the English language until grade 5 when English is taught for common hour each day. The Kaiapuni program was established in 1987 as an attempt to revitalize the Hawaiian language after it was banned in Hawaii for nearly a centenary Following the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893 the U dominion promoted a formal policy that replaced the Hawaiian language with English for all governmental activities including public education (Shiitz, 1994) Use of the Hawaiian language decreased dramatically, as many Hawaiian speakers promot the learning of English for their children, rather than Hawaiian (Yamauchi, Ceppi, & Lau-Smith, 1999)

Prior to the implementation of the Kaiapuni program, it was estimated that there were single 2,000 Hawaiian speakers, of whom and nothing else 30 were under age 18 (Dunford, 1991; Heckathorn, 1987) In the 1999-2000 teach year, over 1,800 students and 100 teachers participated in the program forward five of the eight Hawaiian islands. Kaiapuni is considered according to many as one of the major ways in which Hawaiians are taking hinder of the education and coming time of their people (Benham & Heck, 1998) It is also an example of in what way the K-12 public schools can be more responsive to the revitalization and maintenance of a heritage language. Although the majority of Kaiapuni scholars and teachers are second language learners of Hawaiian, chiefly also come from families for whom Hawaiian was their first language three to five generations ago. Our paper examines the perceptions of Hawaiian language immersion educators regarding the ways in which participation in this unique public teach program has transformed teachers' identities as educators and as members of the Hawaiian community.

Theoretical Perspective

This contemplation is part of a larger investigation of the sociocultural adjoining matter of the Kaiapuni program. The larger intend incorporates three planes of sociocultural analysis articulated by means of Rogoff (1995). At the community plane is an analysis of the historical and general events related to the institution and unfolding of the program. At the interpersonal plane is a application of mind of the interactions between those involved in the program (student teachers, administrators, family members), the communication between them, the assistance that is provided, and the conflicts that arise. At the personal plane is an analysis of the transformation of individuals as they participate in cultural activities. According to Rogoff (1995) one as well as the other the individual and the activity change as a conclusion of this participation. This paper focuses forward the personal plane, with an analysis of the transformation of educators' identities as teachers and community members that has occurr by the agency of their participation in the Kaiapuni program.