P&M - Native Language Preservation & Maintenance

Halau Ku Mana will create a language education program for secondary school students that combines aina (land)-based learning, cultural practices, and standards-based content material to improve Native Hawaiian language fluency and proficiency levels and increase the number of Hawaiian language speakers in their community. Since the Hawaiian language has nearly disappeared within the span of four generations, only about 1.2% of people in Hawaii speak the Hawaiian language today. By providing ample opportunities to enhance Hawaiian language skills and develop practical communication skills in different contexts and learning environments, the students in the Halau Ku Mana school community will increase their Hawaiian language fluency by two levels on the Aloha Olelo proficiency assessment. Though the project will specifically target approximately 130 students each year over the entire project period, each student’s families and communities will have opportunities to engage in language learning opportunities. Ultimately, the project aims to create a dynamic and engaged learning community where the Halau Ku Mana students and community can learn and live by Native Hawaiian knowledge, beliefs, and values by speaking Hawaiian fluently and taking part in cultural activities that support the preservation and revival of the Hawaiian language and culture.

Aha Kane: Foundation for Advancement of Native Hawaiian Males will improve the spoken language proficiency of Native Hawaiian youth by offering an immersion cultural class about the practice of ho’oponopono, a practice that relies heavily on language. Only 9.1% (17 of 186) of the Hawaiian cultural classes currently available to youth in Hawaii are exclusively taught in the Hawaiian language. By offering immersion cultural classes intertwined with a traditional healing practice, Native Hawaiian youth will have an added opportunity to improve their spoken Hawaiian language proficiency. Aha Kane aims to specifically target 50 Native Hawaiians that are between the ages of 13 and 25, either enrolled in or alumni of Hawaiian immersion schools. Classes will be hybrid (in-person and Zoom) so that enrolled youth from across the state can participate. Ultimately, the project will foster and encourage Native Hawaiian youth to speak, think, and act in the way of their ancestors and to keep their Hawaiian culture alive and with them.

The “Na Lachok I Fino Chamorro Gi Faneyakan” project will increase the level of language proficiency by engaging Chamorro elders and youth in the intergenerational transmission of traditional practices. Currently native children, youth, and young adults show only 2% speaking/usage of the Chamorro language with 5% comprehension. This project will increase the speaking, usage, and proficiency of non-speaking Chamorro youth and young adults enrolled in the “Faneyakan Sinipok” immersion program. This project will impact approximately ninety (90) youth and young adults (ages 7-35) by increasing Chamorro language resources and making them accessible to the community. Ultimately this project will address the loss of language and cultural values and increase community capacity to preserve Chamorro tradition.

The Commission on CHamoru Language and the History and Culture of the Indigenous People of Guam (Kumisión) will work in conjunction with the Saint Frances Catholic School (SFCS) as leading support agencies to establish a bilingual school model for Guam. The CHamoru language is critically endangered. Currently SFCS is an “English only” school and, there is no classtime allocated for the use of CHamoru language learning resources. The Eyak I Fino’-ta project will provide CHamoru specific language learning resource stations in 14 classrooms of SFCS. The goal of this project will increase proficiency among students and teachers at the SFCS project site. By increasing the use of CHamoru in the classroom, language proficiency will increase within households throughout the community. The goal of the Eyak I Fino’-ta project is to help maintain the CHamoru language as the first language of the people of Guam.

The American Samoa Language Academy will increase the use of the Samoan language among youth in grades 7—12. In American Samoa, young people are using phonetic transliteration and becoming less fluent in the Samoan language because all levels of education, curricula, technology, and mainstream entertainment are primarily in English, causing a shift in our youth to decrease the use of the Samoan language. This signals the early stages of a Native Language in decline. The project seeks to increase 25 public school teachers’ ability to deliver Samoan Native language instruction through the completion of a language certification program and to increase the language usage of 100 public school students by 85% by the end of the 3-year project. Ultimately, the project ensures that the Samoan language is thriving and that training and resources are available to native language teachers and learners.