Hawaii : Getting to know your roots

[Francis Hult]

The Star Online

 

Getting to know your roots

 

State-funded immersion schools have given native Hawaiians an opportunity to reconnect with their culture, language and history.  

 

CARING for the taro patch (a tropical plant with edible starchy corms and fleshy leaves, grown as a staple in the Pacific) is an integral part of studies at the Anueneu Immersion School in Honolulu, Hawaii. Native Hawaiians believe that the taro represents the essence of the family, hence its importance in the school curriculum.  

 

Other subjects you wouldn't find in a regular curriculum are genealogy and hula dance as well as native Hawaiian music and traditional medicine.  

Anueneu is just one of the success stories of the Hawaiian Language Immersion Programme, which was first introduced by the state of Hawaii in the United States in 1987. 

 

Full story:

http://thestar.com.my/education/story.asp?file=/2007/12/9/education/19694239

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