Left to Right: Jan Ullrich, Aolani Ka'ilihou, Wil Meya, Pila (Bill) Wilson
TB: Pila—please, tell me about your background and the Hawaiian Studies Program.
Pila: I am one of the founding board members of the 'Aha Punana Leo which began Hawaiian language revitalization with language nests in 1984. We then moved the programming through the public school system grade by grade. There are now over 2,000 children enrolled from preschool through grade 12. The children in this system are outperforming other children academically at the same time that they are revitalizing Hawaiian.
My wife Kauanoe Kamana and I were among the first families involved and our two children graduated through the system. In 1997, the state legislature mandated that the Hawaiian Studies Program where we both work in Hilo, become a Hawaiian language college. Our college provides support for Hawaiian language revitalization through curriculum development, lexicon development, teacher training, and technological services among other things. We serve both immersion and non-immersion schools.
TB: Your work focuses on the revitalization of the Hawaiian language. What was it like spending a week in North Dakota training teachers to teach Lakota as a second language?
Pila: Participating with the Lakota teachers was a wonderful experience. The level of participation from a range of different reservations and grade levels impressed me very much.
It was my first trip to the Dakotas and I was impressed with the beauty of the open land and also the wildlife that I saw. Everyone was extremely friendly and I was very much impressed by the honoring that was accorded my student Ms. Aolani Ka'ilihou and myself. Most of all, I was very happy to be among a group of kindred spirits - people passionate about the survival of their language and determined to succeed.
TB: This was the 3rd LSI program and the training has progressed from language basics and sounds to comprehension and putting sentences together. Were you able to make any observations on the progress made by returning teachers?
Pila: While I have absolutely no background in Lakota, my impression from talking to teachers is that they feel that the LSI and the books being developed for them have made it possible for them to make major progress. What impressed me most about the LSI was the large number of native speakers involved and the role that LSI is playing in making them more effective teachers.
We no longer have the number of traditional native speakers that Lakota has, but when we did in the 1970s, there was nothing of the level of LSI to assist them in their teaching in the English schools. I feel that if something like the LSI were available then, we would have made more progress in spreading Hawaiian to more people. While immersion has had a big effect, it still enrolls only a small fraction of Native Hawaiian children. I am now thinking how we could use some of the ideas of the LSI to affect the teaching of Hawaiian in the English medium schools.
TB: What do you think are the major strengths of the LSI program and how can LSI increase its impact on schools, teachers and students?
Pila: The thing that most impressed me was the provision of books for all teachers and then a follow up testing program. This is the foundation of the LSI program. The training gives teachers the background and tools to use the books and prepare the students for the testing. With LSI there is a solid basis for moving everyone forward. You can sense the feeling of progress among participants. I was also very impressed with the new dictionary. I think we could learn from it to create a new dictionary for Hawaiian.
While I think that LSI is on the right path for the circumstances of Lakota, one area that it might expand is into college teaching of the language for young people who are second language speakers. A great strength here is our college level teaching of Hawaiian, especially in our College of Hawaiian Language here at the University of Hawai'i at Hilo. Before we began K-12 immersion, we started a B.A. that produced fluent second language teachers who went on for certification. These teachers were also hired in high schools. Our native speakers then taught cultural matters through Hawaiian, which was their strength over the second language teachers.
TB: In referring to your 20 years of work with the revitalization of the Hawaiian language you made the statement that teacher training is the key to language revitalization. Why is this so? What about the importance of student curricula and pre-and post-testing?
Pila: Let me expand on that.
In today's world all Native children are required to attend compulsory education at least into high school. It has been over one hundred years since children were raised in communities in traditional ways isolated from schools.
If Native languages and cultures are to survive, they must take over contemporary schooling in the same way that the Japanese language and culture took over Western style schooling in Japan. With the Native American Languages Act, the federal government recognizes the right of Native Americans to use their languages in schools and even run schools through those languages. This change in policy is only words, if tribes cannot develop the contemporary human and material resources to integrate their languages and cultures into contemporary schooling.
The school setting is quite different from the home and community, and requires curricula and testing to gauge progress. Teachers must know both how to fluently use the language and also about the structure of the language so that they can use that background to guide student learning. It's an exciting challenge and I can see parallels between Lakota and Hawaiian in the progress being made to address it.
TB: Did any part of your experience really stand out?
Pila: The people were really terrific. I brought a student along to share the experience and then spread information about LSI to our college students here.
Lakota is in a situation similar to what was happening in Hawai'i thirty years ago. That is there are still many native speakers around and the people are rallying for their language. Our programs are strong in Hawai'i, but, you can't beat the exhilaration of the early days! Aolani was very much touched by the experience. She stayed up late talking to LSI participants and the whole experience opened her eyes to the overall process of language revitalization.
Both Aolani and I returned with some lovely gifts from the wonderful people that we met at LSI. Those gifts remind us of the aloha of the Lakota people for their language and culture.
Pila: One last thought…
I truly appreciate the effort of LSI to make the connection with the 'Aha Punana Leo and Hawaiian Language College at UH-Hilo. I see this as the beginning of an important relationship. If Native American language and cultures are to survive, we must all work together and support each other. I look forward to seeing some of the wonderful people that we met at LSI here in Hilo in the future.
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The Lakota Language Consortium (LLC) co-sponsored the Lakota Summer Institute held at Sitting Bull College. The other sponsors were: Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Sitting Bull College, and Prairie Knights Casino. Participants also came from the Rosebud, Cheyenne River and Pine Ridge Reservations.
The Lakota Summer Institute is the premier Lakota and Dakota language teacher professional development event in the country. Since 2007, over 140 teachers from more than five reservations and four states have participated. |
