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Ka Lei Ha'aheo: Beginning Hawaiian
HOPKINS, Alberta P. and Anna ASQUITH (illustrator), Ka Lei Ha'aheo: Beginning Hawaiian. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press (2840 Kolowalu St., Honolulu, HI 96822), 1992. xiv, 278p. ISBN 0-8248-1259-X (pa), $26.00. Index. Bib. Illus (b&w). Acid-Free.
Ka Lei Ha`aheo is a Hawaiian language textbook consisting of twenty four chapters according to grammatical topics. The author, the late Dr. Alberta Pualani Hopkins, was an associate professor of Indo-Pacific languages at the University of Hawaii. She taught Hawaiian language and culture for more than thirty years. She was awarded the UH Regents' Medal for Excellence in Teaching in 1989 and Ke Kukui Malama for Excellence in Hawaiian Education from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs in 1996. She is a co-author of E Kama'ilio Hawai'i Kakou: Let's Speak Hawai'ian, the earlier college level Hawaiian language textbook. Although originally written for college use, it can also be useful as a comprehensive text for any beginning students. As one who has studied a second language for a long time, I think this textbook is very well presented and recommend it for the language section in both academic and public libraries.
The strengths of this textbook are its good explanations about the cultural context behind the unique features of the Hawaiian language. It has good explanations on the relationship between the language and the Hawaiian point of view. Since some grammatical concepts are hard to understand without some knowledge on Hawaiian values, having those explanations makes a distinctive difference over the other Hawaiian language textbooks. There are vocabulary, idiom, and phrase indexes available for both Hawaiian-English and English-Hawaiian. Even though I am not an expert in language study, I think this feature is the result of the author's striving to provide a very user-friendly language textbook. The basic framework of each chapter, consisting of the sections for basic sentences, grammar explanations, dialogs, and exercises, will be ideal for those who would like to follow the consistent flow of each lesson to maximize their learning. This book is on acid-free paper and appears well bound for a paperback.
There are some minor shortcomings of this text as a self-study library selection. Its accompanying cassette tapes or CD-ROM aids are very expensive. The designs of the individual pages are monotonous and lack variety in the visual appeal. Since the illustrations are descriptive of example sentences for grammatical topics in each chapter, they could be helpful for learners to improve their memory about what they learn. However, the quality of these illustrations is very disappointing. These illustrations take up an entire page per chapter. Learners would appreciate it if the space is saved for providing more useful contents such as example sentences or grammatical explanations. This textbook is recommended for the self-study, but many of the exercises are difficult to work on independently for a beginner.
Since there are more and more home schoolers, public libraries might also consider the Teacher's Guide and Answer Key as a teaching aid with translation and answers to exercises.
Other Works Mentioned:
Ka Lei Ha`aheo is a Hawaiian language textbook consisting of twenty four chapters according to grammatical topics. The author, the late Dr. Alberta Pualani Hopkins, was an associate professor of Indo-Pacific languages at the University of Hawaii. She taught Hawaiian language and culture for more than thirty years. She was awarded the UH Regents' Medal for Excellence in Teaching in 1989 and Ke Kukui Malama for Excellence in Hawaiian Education from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs in 1996. She is a co-author of E Kama'ilio Hawai'i Kakou: Let's Speak Hawai'ian, the earlier college level Hawaiian language textbook. Although originally written for college use, it can also be useful as a comprehensive text for any beginning students. As one who has studied a second language for a long time, I think this textbook is very well presented and recommend it for the language section in both academic and public libraries.
The strengths of this textbook are its good explanations about the cultural context behind the unique features of the Hawaiian language. It has good explanations on the relationship between the language and the Hawaiian point of view. Since some grammatical concepts are hard to understand without some knowledge on Hawaiian values, having those explanations makes a distinctive difference over the other Hawaiian language textbooks. There are vocabulary, idiom, and phrase indexes available for both Hawaiian-English and English-Hawaiian. Even though I am not an expert in language study, I think this feature is the result of the author's striving to provide a very user-friendly language textbook. The basic framework of each chapter, consisting of the sections for basic sentences, grammar explanations, dialogs, and exercises, will be ideal for those who would like to follow the consistent flow of each lesson to maximize their learning. This book is on acid-free paper and appears well bound for a paperback.
There are some minor shortcomings of this text as a self-study library selection. Its accompanying cassette tapes or CD-ROM aids are very expensive. The designs of the individual pages are monotonous and lack variety in the visual appeal. Since the illustrations are descriptive of example sentences for grammatical topics in each chapter, they could be helpful for learners to improve their memory about what they learn. However, the quality of these illustrations is very disappointing. These illustrations take up an entire page per chapter. Learners would appreciate it if the space is saved for providing more useful contents such as example sentences or grammatical explanations. This textbook is recommended for the self-study, but many of the exercises are difficult to work on independently for a beginner.
Since there are more and more home schoolers, public libraries might also consider the Teacher's Guide and Answer Key as a teaching aid with translation and answers to exercises.
Submitted by Masashi Shimonao, LIS Student, University of Hawaii at Manoa, April 2004
Other Works Mentioned:
- KAHANANUI, Dorothy M. and Alberta P. ANTHONY, E Kama'ilio Hawai'i Kakou: Let's Speak Hawai'ian. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, Hawaii, 1974.
- HOPKINS, Alberta P. Ka Lei Ha`aheo: Beginning Hawaiian (Teacher's Guide and Answer Key) University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, Hawaii, 1992.
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