Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 32, Number 4, 1 ʻApelila 2015 — Hoʻokuku Peia Hawaii [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Hoʻokuku Peia Hawaii

Trustee's note: This month's eolumn is written by Kilia Purdy-Avelino, resident of Moloka'i and Hawaiian Language and Studies teacher at the University ofHawai'i Maui College, Moloka 'i Campus. Aloha. 'ā-lā-'ō-hē-'ā. Aloha. Have you ever tried spelling Hawaiian words using the pī'āpā (Hawaiian alphabet)? It ean be quite

challenging even to Hawaiian speakers. Sincemany Hawaiian language

speakers are second-language learners, the English alphabet is so ingrained that it ean be hard to deviate from it. I mean, most of us were singing the "ABCs" before we could speak fluently. As a kumu 'ōlelo Hawai'i, I became aware of the frequent spelling dilemmas. A student would ask me how to spell a certain word and I would begin spelling it with the pī'āpā but then would get questions like, "Is that 'e' (the English letter) or ' 'ī' (the Hawaiian letter)?" "Is that 'a' or ' 'ē' ?" I finally decided that in order to get second-language learners more ma'a (familiar) to the pī'āpā, it needs to be used frequently and orally. This is something that ean easily be overlooked in classrooms with time constraints. It is one thing to spell a word on paper but to actually spell it orally is very different. How do you add a kahakō when spelling a word orally? The word "kahakō" is substitutted by the word "kō" and would eome directly after the vowel that has the kahakō. For example, "hā" is spelled "hē-'ā-kō." On February 27, with the support of our OHA trustee Colette Machado and staff Gayla Haliniak and Kapua Lauili, through the I Mana Ka Lāhui program, we took spelling orally in class to another level. In celebration of Hawaiian Language Month, a Hawaiian Spelling

. Bee was held at the University of Hawai'i Maui College, Moloka'i campus. Past, present and future college students, whieh included Moloka'i High School's Hawaiian Language students, were invited to participate. Thirteen students registered, however, only 10 showed up to compete. Despite the small number of contestants, the feedback received from both audience and participants were very positive; many are anhei-

pating the next competition.

The competition was judged by manaleo and recently retired Hawaiian Immersion kumu 'Ōpu'ulani Albino and longtime Hawaiian Immersion kumu Manuwai Peters. The first five rounds consisted of fairly simple Hawaiian words. Contestants were then challenged in the 6th-10th rounds with compound words such as "lumi ho'opau pilikia" having to determine whether or not the word given indeed had spaces and if so, would need to use the word "kōā," meaning "space" in between eaeh word. They were again challenged from the llth round, also known as speed rounds, having to spell their word without pausing. Clear pronunciation and good listening is of utmost importance in a competition such as this. All in all, it was a lot of fun for both competitors and viewers ! Besides the student learner outcome of knowing, understanding and using the pī'āpā, one of our other goals was to attract potential college students and to promote the Hawaiian Studies Associates degree. We also targeted OHA's Strategic Priority of Mo'omeheu with 100 percent of the participants and viewers being Native Hawaiian. Thank you to 'ō-hē-'ā (OHA), 'ū-hē-mū-sē (UHMC) Moloka'i and 'ā-kē-'ā-ke-'ū-kō (Akakū) for your partnerships that made this competition possible. ■

Cūlette Y. Machadū

TrustEE Muluka'i aūd Lāūa'i