A Lesson in Culture

When I moved to Hawaii 4 years ago I knew no one here and nothing of the state except what I had seen in the exotic photos and the friends I knew lucky enough to vacation here.  I had a conversation today with a friend's mom that made me realize how far I've come since that wide-eyed, college graduate ready to take on second graders in a community I knew nothing about.  It wasn't easy at first- my students said things I didn't understand and had names for things that had to be explained to me.  "Slippers" are flip-flops, "puka" means "hole", "da kine" is a phrase that means "whatchamacallit", and so on.  Now these are words I use without blinking- if I said them back in South Bend people would look at me with blank stares and it would take me a moment to realize why.  It was so powerful knowing that teaching and learning was being reciprocated almost equally among me and my students.

Having a grasp of the culture is part of engaging students in prior knowledge that is so important to teaching. I used to catch myself using snow as a relationship with winter, road trips as an example of traveling (it takes 1 hour to drive to the other side of the island- where I LIVE), or even using squirrels when thinking of park animals (there aren't any squirrels in Hawaii...).  These are things I'm used to.  But that was the problem, I needed to think of my STUDENTS' prior knowledge.  To do that I had to gain more knowledge myself before I could teach to my students.

                                 

I embraced the culture in Hawaii the moment I set foot on the island.  I love it.  I love learning about it.  I know much more and can connect with my students better now.  I've gotten to visit other islands of Hawaii that some of my students haven't, gone to beaches that some of my students haven't, and have visited places around the island that some of my students haven't.  BUT what I need to do is take my experiences a step further and try learning and using even more of the language, historical culture in my lessons, and actually teaching students about Hawaii.  Sure, I've taught geographical lessons about the different islands, their characteristics/what the island is known for, and even studied Hawaii's natural resources.  Today, though, I had an eye-opening experience with one of the Kumus (Hawaiian for "Teachers") at my school.

Being led through the hei'au

We took a day off of Healthy Living to explore the community with Kumu Pua, learning Hawaiian Culture. More specifically, we visited a hei'au.  A hei'au is the ancient sacred ground of the Hawaiian Temple.  There were at least 30 students engaged and listening intently to the legends, stories, facts, and history of Hawaii.  I was one of those students.  I learned so much from this field trip and wanted to share with readers.  Hopefully someone out there is as interested as I am- I'd like to pass the knowledge on.

Getting permission to enter the sacred hei'au

1 Year Luau Tradition

How the babies were blessed at their 1 Year Luau, and explanation of white coral

The engineering behind building the walls of the hei'au 

This is just a taste of information she shared today.  I learned so much from Kumu Pua.  I can say with certainty: it left me craving more!