Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 29, Number 12, 1 December 2012 — Curriculum materials are a hidden treasure in Ulukau [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Curriculum materials are a hidden treasure in Ulukau

By Wendy Roylo Hee There is a wonderful resource on the Internet for Hawaiian students, teachers and anybody interested in Hawaiian language and/or the culture. Ulukau, the Hawaiian Electronic Library, is a weahh of information. It is a free resource for access to Hawaiian knowledge, presented and maintained as a community service by Ka Haka 'Ula O Ke'elikōlani College of Hawaiian Language at the University of Hawai'i-Hilo. Besides the extensive library of books that are accessible at Ulukau,

the website also contains a valuable "Special Leatures" section. My daughter uses the Hawaiian dictionary in that section to look up Hawaiian words. My son uses the "Island Music Source Book" under the MELE Project of that section to find Hawaiian songs. An underappreciated treasure in that section of the Ulukau site is "Hawaiian Curriculum Materials." Here, educators ean download teachers' guides and other materials, such as student workbooks and even standards-based unit plans. Subjects that are covered in the 27 curricula entered here run the gamut frombiology to voyages and travels. All of them are Hawaiian-focused and introduce Hawaiian words; one is entirely in Hawaiian. They are written for various grade levels from preschool to 12th grade. The information is accessible in four ways. One ean search by word.

Lor example, if interested in sharks, a search by that word uncovered 18 curricula that mention sharks somewhere in their materials. The curricula ean also be accessed by title, author or subject matter. Many of the curricula were written by Pacific American Loundation,

and an overwhelming majority of the curricula were funded by grants from the Native Hawaiian Education Act. The Native Hawaiian Education Council was instrumental in getting these curricula on the website by funding the demonstration project that developed

the protocol used as a template for all subsequent additions. Onee the template was developed, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs financed the inclusion of the remainder of the curricula that are available today on the Ulukau website. Support from others, including Alu Like Ine. and the copyright holders of these curricula, helped make this project possible. The curriculummaterials on the Ulukau site is a terrific example of federal, state and private resources leveraged to create a valuable educational asset for the benefit of all in our eommunity. Questions about this electronic library or requests for someone to present the library to you or your group ean be sent to ulukau® hawaii.edu. ■

Wendy Roylo Hee is executive director ofthe Native Hawaiian Education Council.

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Find Ulukau online at ulukau.org. - Photo: John Matsuzaki