Reflection: Week 2

            This week we covered a lot of material during class. We learned things such as, Pepeke Aike ‘O, Pepeke ‘A’ano, the Pepeke Structure, P.I.N.K., Nā Hua’ōlelo, a few more Nā Helu as well as Papani, the “Golden Rule”, and lastly an oli. We reviewed Pepeke Aike He and started to get into Pepek Henua, however we didn’t fully cover it because Kumu planned to teach it to us next week. This week we really focused on the grammar side of learning Hawaiian. We learned how to create simple sentences and learned their rules/exceptions. Pepeke Aike ‘O is a specific statement sentence. Objects/subjects within the sentence in one way or another equate each other. In order to correctly have a Pepeke Aike ‘O sentence both sides of the equation (the sentence) must be equal. The ‘okina O, which is in the beginning of the sentence, only indicates that it is in fact a Pepeke Aike ‘O sentence. It does not translate/mean anything. Next, a Pepeke ‘A’ano sentence is a descriptive sentence. The sentence is set up, so that the descriptive adjective or the ‘a’ano begins the sentence while the subject/object finishes the sentence. We also learned P.I.N.K. P stands for Papani which are pronouns, such as au, ‘oe, ‘o ia. I stands for I’oa which are proper names for either places or a person. N stands for Nonoa which are possessive nouns, such as kou, ko’u, kona, etc. And finally K stands for Ka’i + kikino which are common nouns. The Ka’i always comes before for the kikino because it guides the kikino. Without the ka’i the kikino would be lost and if there is more than one ka’i than the two ka’i will fight and kill each other, leaving the kikino without a leader. Then we learned the Pepeke structure. This taught to us how to create both negative and positive sentences. The sentence structure diagram kind of resembles an octopus (he’e) but with a piko. With the po’o of the he’e there lies the ‘okena, which is the object/subject/what/adjective that is being talked about. Anything that is P.I.N.K. is allowed to go into the piko. Then the in the ‘awe there is basically just add-ons to make the sentence more decorative. However an ami is needed to connect the ‘awe to the piko. Now when you create a negative sentence however this whole structure is somewhat changed. The “Golden Rule” when creating/turning a sentence negative is “lele ka papani pili me ‘a’ole.” This means that the papani (pronoun) jumps to the beginning of the sentence next to the ‘a’ole, in order to make the sentence negative. On top of learning all these grammar rules, we had to memorize a lot of vocabulary words. A total of seventy-one words to be exact. We learned words from Nā mea hale and Nā ‘A’ano. Then we had to learn how to construct numbers larger than one hundred. We learned that kaukani meant a thousand. Writing numbers after a hundred is really simple as long as you know how to construct them. Then we learned more papani, like kāua, māua, lāua, ‘olua, mākou, kākou, lākou, and ‘oukou. Kāua means you and I, it includes both the speaker and the listener. Māua means me and another, it includes the speaker and another but not the listener. Lāua means him/her and another; it includes neither the speaker of the listener. ‘Olua means you and another; it includes the listener and another however it does not include the speaker. Kākou means everyone, mākou means we and it includes three other people except the listener. Lākou means they/them this also includes three however it does not include the speaker or the listener. ‘Oukou means you and it includes three as well, however it only includes the listener and not the speaker. Finally the last thing we learned was the oli. We had to learn the Kūnihi oli. An oli is done to ask permission and is also a standard protocol. Every morning before we begin class we will have chant this oli and ask Kumu for permission to enter his classroom. We also started to learn Pepeke Henua which is a location sentence. It tells the listener exactly where to find the certain object. Pepeke Henua sentences have words like, i hope, i mua, i lalo, i luna, etc. These words tell whether an object is in front of, behind of, on top of, or below another object.

This week we learned a lot of material and I really had to focus and work extra hard in order to grasp all these concepts. The test that we had to take on Friday was really long, but if you knew the material well it was sort of easy. It still was very challenging especially when we had to create our own sentences but it was good practice. I still have some kinks that I need to fix/ work out but after I take care of those kinks I think I will be fine.

Kamehameha Summer School: Overview of Week 1

This week during Hawaiian class we learned multiple things such as: Nā Ninau ‘elima and ‘umi, the KEAO rule, the Pepeke Aike He/Ho’ōle, the Pī’āpā/Papani, Nā Helu, and finally spelling rules. Nā Ninau ‘elima and ‘umi consist of simple questions like: what is your name, where you are from, where do you live, what grade are you in, what is your parent’s name, how old are you, where is your house, what school do you go to, and when is your birthday? The KEAO rule basically said that for Hawaiian words that begin with the letters K, E, A, or O you need to put a “Ke” in front of it and for the words that don’t start with those four letters you put a “Ka” in front of it. The Pepeke Aike He was a general statement and consisted of simple sentences, using Keia, Kēnā, and Kēlā. The Ho’ōle is the negative form of the Pepeke Aike He.  The Pī’āpā is the Hawaiian alphabet. It consists of thirteen letters such as: a, e, i, o, u, he, ke, la, mu, nu, pi, we, and ‘okina. The Papani are pronouns such as: I, you, and he/she. Finally, Nā Helu is the numbers and we learned all the numbers from zero to one hundred.  Nā Ninau ‘elima I believed was simple and easy to learn quickly, but Nā Ninau ‘umi, even though they are still basic sentences are a bit longer. So, I believe they will require more time and effort to memorize than the first five questions/answers. I was able to pick up the KEAO rule, the Pī’āpā/Papani, and Nā Helu pretty quickly. At first I was a bit confused with the Pepeke Aike He/Ho’ōle, but studying a bit harder and with a little help from my parents I was able to understand it. We also participated in a lot of activities this week during the class. On the first day we observed our Nā Kumu preparing pa’i’ai and learned about connections. We also learned about how the older siblings care for the younger ones and in return the younger ones respect the older ones. Then we read a book in class about Hāloa and about his parents, Wākea and Papa. Wākea and Papa and their other partners were responsible for creating the Hawaiian Islands and the Hawaiian race. We also went to the Midkiff lab twice this week. The first time we went to the lab we broke off into groups and participated in a scavenger hunt. The second time we went to the lab, we created a blog so we could go upload our reflections online. On Friday we were able to play Jeopardy against the other classes and it was really fun. Of course, since our class is the best we won. After the game was over, all the Hawaiian 1 classes went together to plant Kalo. First you put a little bit of dirt in the pot, then you put the sapling of the Kalo into the pot, and then put more dirt over it. Overall this has been an amazing week and I can’t wait for more!

Kamehameha Summer School: Day 2

Today we began class by first reading a book called Hāloa. We read it out loud in order to practice pronouncing Hawaiian words correctly. I thought this exercise was really good because it pushed me out of my comfort zone and I learned a lot of new material about the ancestry of Hāloa, Wākea, Papa, and the Hawaiian islands. After finishing the book, we began to sing a few songs, for example we sang Mele Kino. This song gave us all the Hawaiian names for our body parts. We also sang a song that taught us how to count from one to ten in Hawaiian and another one but I forgot what it was called. After our twenty minute break we took a quiz on our Nā ninau. Then we went on to learn how to count from zero to one hundred in Hawaiian. After practicing our numbers, we finally moved on to learning the papani, which are au, ‘oe, and ‘oia. These three words translated into I, you, and he/she. The number one thing that I believe I am struggling with is reading Hawaiian out loud. I’m not sure how to pronounce a lot of the Hawaiian words when I see them.

KAMEHAMEHA SUMMER SCHOOL: DAY 1

After taking the attendance of the class, my classmates and I went outside onto Kōnia field, were the other Hawaiian 1 classes were waiting. There we watched as nā kumu pounded the Kalo into fresh pa’i’ai. While pounding the Kalo they told us the names of the instruments they used to make the pa’i’ai such as the pohaku and the papa. After serving us the fresh pa’i’ai, nā kumu explained their motive behind doing this activity the very first day of school. The main motive was to learn about connections. We learned about how the Kalo was our older brother. Also about how the duty of the older siblings were to care for the younger and the duty of the younger siblings were to listen and respect the older siblings. Nā kumu also told us that if we didn’t understand something to just ask and not to be shy, which really helped because I was super shy and worried today. Finally we went back to our classrooms where Mr. Soller gave us a syllabus and went through it. We then went on to learn Nā Niau 5. I was really nervous when Kumu Kalani called on me during class because I don’t like speaking in front of people and I was worried that I would make a mistake but after a while it became easier to do. Then we went to the Mid-kiff lab where we were divided into groups and participated in a scavenger hunt. It was really fun! Overall, today was really amazing and I am excited to take this course.