OUR SHOOLS • PU'OHALA ELEMENTARY
Immersion students spread the words to schoolmates
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer
KANE'OHE — At Pu'ohala Elementary more than 20 percent of the children participate in the Hawaiian immersion program, but from the morning chant to interaction on the playground, the students spread the language and culture to the entire school.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
The campus has offered the program for 13 years, making it one of the longest-running immersion programs in the state, and it attracts students from Honolulu, Waimanalo, Kailua and Kane'ohe.
Pu'ohala Elementary pupils enrolled in the Hawaiian language immersion program practice a welcoming chant. Other youngsters on the Kane'ohe campus are learning Hawaiian ways from them.
"Librarian, tech persons and education assistants are learning words and phrases because they have to talk to the (immersion) students," said Lorelei Karasaki, school principal. Even a new education assistant has picked up the language and uses the phrases with both English and Hawaiian speakers.
One drawback to the immersion program is that SAT scores may suffer. The test given to third- and fifth-graders is in English, and immersion students don't begin the transition to English until the fifth grade. The transition usually takes about 1 1/2 years, Karasaki said. Nevertheless, she said, half of the fifth-graders last year scored above average. The third-graders didn't take the test.
This year the math portion of the SAT will be translated into Hawaiian for the first time and all third-graders and fifth-graders will take the test.
Parent participation is necessary in immersion classes, Karasaki said, so like other immersion schools, Pu'ohala provides an adult evening language class for parents. Students also can practice the language at summer school.
Carol Paaoao, the school parent/community network coordinator, said the program offers children a bilingual education that prepares them well for further education.
In the school's very first immersion class, seven of 18 students applied to Kamehameha Schools and six were accepted, Paaoao said. Those students went on to distinguish themselves at Kamehameha, she said. From that class, one other student is at Saint Louis School and another attends Mid-Pacific Institute.
Most recently, three Pu'ohala immersion students placed in an Office of Hawaiian Affairs-sponsored Hawaiian language essay and poster contest.
To show their appreciation for the program, former Pu'ohala students return to volunteer in the immersion program as tutors, she said.
Paaoao has three children of her own in the program and said she is confident they are receiving a good education.
"They're getting the best of both worlds," she said.
March is the month to sign up children for the program at Pu'ohala. Parents can learn more about the Pu'ohala program and other immersion schools from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Windward Mall.
• What are you most proud of? "We are very proud of our warm, welcoming climate," Karasaki said. "Our students are loving, appreciative and eager to learn. Teachers, staff, parents and students do everything they can to help children succeed so that 'no child is left behind.' "
• Best-kept secret: The Hawaiian language immersion program.
• Everybody at our school knows: Auntie Iwa Villanida, school health aide and attendance keeper. She not only takes care of cuts and bruises, but also dispenses hugs and kisses, Karasaki said. Students know they can get a pat on the back from Auntie Iwa when they are having a bad day, she said.
• Our biggest challenge: Obtaining up-to-date resources in the Hawaiian language.
• What we need: Hawaiian language speakers who can volunteer to tutor students, financial support for curriculum resources, extra time for teachers to translate into Hawaiian and more Hawaiian immersion teachers.
• Projects: University of Hawai'i language professor S. Noeau Warner comes to the school weekly to train teachers in the Hawaiian language.
• Special events: The school sponsors a quarterly Parent Math Night for parents and their children in which they participate in math activities. Parents are given a lesson, then must solve a math problem with their children.
Learning last semester focused on the era when the Beatles were popular. Students showed off their newly acquired knowledge of history, language, culture and song during Beatlemania Night last month, where they also performed for their parents and grandparents.
To get your school profiled, reach education editor Dan Woods at 525-5441 or dwoods@honoluluadvertiser.com.
• • •
| At a glance
Where: 45-233 Kulauli St., Kane'ohe Phone: 233-5660 Principal: Lorelei Karasaki, in her second year. School nickname: Pueo School colors: Green and gold History: Built in 1967 on wetland, the school enrolled 800 students, most of whom were part of a new bedroom community of middle-income families. Today the area is considered a retirement community of lower-income families. The school is a Title I school, meaning that more than 50 percent of the students receive free or reduced-price lunch. SATs: Here's how Pu'ohala students fared on the most recent Stanford Achievement Test. Listed is the combined percentage of students scoring average and above average, compared with the national combined average of 77 percent. Third-grade reading,73 percent; math, 71 percent. Fifth-grade reading, 90 percent; math, 94 percent. Computers: About 60 Macs and PCs, including 18 in a computer lab. Enrollment: 394 in a school built for 660. |
