Nawahi Japanese language program awarded grant

Ke Kula ‘O Nawahiokalani‘opu‘u, a state Department of Education Hawaiian language immersion school in Keaau, received a Japanese teaching material purchase grant in April from the Japan Foundation, Los Angeles.

At Nawahi, Japanese language has been taught since 1994. All elementary students learn oral and written Japanese. Nawahi offers Japanese curriculum to help students become more open-minded to new ideas and people of other cultures, improve their world-view and look at their own native language and culture from a new perspective.

Applications for the JFLA grant were selected based on such criteria as role/influence of the school in the region, ability to sustain the Japanese language program at school, total number of student enrollment in the Japanese language courses, and necessity of financial support. The majority of past recipients are high schools and universities.

Nawahi will use the grant to purchase teaching materials for its pilot program to learn how to operate a traditional Japanese calculating tool, “soroban,” or abacus.

“I would like to enhance awareness of the accumulated wisdom of Japanese ancestors and the contributions made by Japanese culture through exposing students to soroban and all the benefits associated with using this tool,” said kumu “Pilialoha” Kimiko Tomita Smith, Nawahi’s Japanese language arts teacher.

“Learning soroban is said to help students better understand base 10s and place values while improving concentration, perseverance and the ability to process information and expanding right-brain power,” Tomita Smith said. “I want them to gain a real confidence in their math abilities while instilling within them a sense of pride in Japanese mathematical heritage.”

For more information about Ke Kula ‘O Nawahiokalani‘opu‘u, visit www.nawahi.org.