He ’Ohana Punana Leo “Strengthening Family Engagement in Language Nests”

The ’Aha Pūnana Leo, Inc. will strengthen family engagement in language nests by facilitating an educational environment grounded in Hawaiian language and culture. Pūnana Leo families represent 13 sites across 5 islands. Current events have shifted classrooms from in-person to web-based. This shift illuminated a significant disadvantage — parents struggle with the language proficiency their children are taught in school. Only 25% of parents identify themselves as conversationally proficient. The overall goal of this project is to increase conversational fluency of Pūnana Leo families to support in-home language learning by supplying resources and actively engaging both the student and the parents.