Page 6 - MidWeek Windward - Mar 16, 2022

6 MARCH 16, 2022
Kailua High School Joins In Hawaiian Immersion Program
This year, Kailua High School unites with 21 other public schools that host the state Department of Educa- tion Hawaiian Language Im- mersion Program. It is called Ka Papahana Kaiapuni — or Kaiapuni for short.
materials or starts from scratch for each class so that they fit Kaiapuni standards. Her students praise her for keeping their program going smoothly.
staff in the Office of Hawai- ian Education for the parts they played in assembling resources. Supporters of Kaiapuni state that they are always looking to expand the program and bring ‘ike (knowledge) to a wider pop- ulation of students. Taking it to Kailua High was a step in the right direction, and there is a need for more qualified teachers, they emphasize.
Students in Kaiapuni not only speak predominantly in ‘ōlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language) when in school, but also study a reworked curric- ulum that aligns with a Ha- waiian cultural perspective.
“We’re so thankful for kumu Kalae,” Coleman states. “Because we’re the first (Kaiapuni class in Kai- lua), teachers have to be cur- riculum developers. On top of that, translating is more than just changing the words from English to Hawaiian — there’s perspective and other things to consider. She does a lot of hard work.”
For more information about becoming a teacher and joining Kaiapuni, fill out an application through ha- waiipublicschools.org.
The new program is led by Kalae Akioka, an experi- enced educator who worked at Windward Community College, under a grant fo- cused on Early College for Kaiapuni before responding to the department’s request to help lead the effort at Kai- lua High.
(Above right) Kailua High School students participate in the Ka Papahana Kaiapuni Hawaiian Language Immersion Program, which is led by Kalae Akioka (above left). PHOTOS COURTESY HAWAI‘I DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
In recognition of this ef- fort, Hawaiian language immersion programs are a high-need area eligible for the state’s teacher pay differ- ential. Besides her devotion to the effort, Akioka also recognizes the successful implementation of the new Kaiapuni program to Kailua High principal Stacey Os- hio, deputy superintendent Phyllis Unebasami and the
She emphasizes the sig- nificance of balancing teach- ing her students through the Hawaiian perspective and readying them for life after Kaiapuni.
“There is no loss in choos- ing Kaiapuni,”states Pahonu Coleman, a freshman at Kai- lua High. “No loss, only op- portunity.”
Thus, it made the immer- sion choice difficult to pur- sue for many students. There are about 2,200 pupils in Kaiapuni programs across the state.
“It’s great to watch this program grow because, be- fore, it was like we went to Kaiapuni all our lives and then in high school, it just stopped,” Naluai states. “So when I heard they were mak- ing a Kaiapuni in Kailua, I was excited.”
“As (our students) get old- er, it’s important for them to have access to a diversity of perspectives and experienc- es to prepare them for their futures,” Akioka states. “Not only do they have to figure out how to navigate what is Hawaiian and what is West- ern in the world, but also in themselves. It’s a conversa- tion we need to have.”
One of the many stu- dent-led projects that have come out of this program is a Hawaiian Word of the Week video series. It was posted on the school’s Instagram page highlighting Hawaiian Language Month in February.
“I really wanted to go to a Kaiapuni high school but there were none, at least not close to where I live,” states Kailua High sophomore Kilinahe Naluai.
Akioka has multiple re- sponsibilities in steering Kailua’s Kaiapuni program.
Kaiapuni cohort express that, in less than a year, the program has assisted them in healing generational traumas and challenging the narrative that ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i is not rel- evant in today’s society.
Previously, only two schools on O‘ahu offered Kaiapuni for high school grades — Kahuku High and Interme- diate and Ke Kula Kaiapuni ‘o Ānuenue, a K-12 campus in Pālolo Valley.
her first year of high school. However, when she discov- ered that Kailua High was establishing Kaiapuni, she promptly returned.
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Establishing Kaiapuni in Kailua made the program more available to interested students and families, espe- cially on the Windward side.
Naluai, who was enrolled in Kaiapuni from grades kin- dergarten through eight, left the state school system in
“This is the life of every immersion teacher. You have to teach all of these different subject areas,” she states.
In addition, Akioka re- builds all of her teaching
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