英语单词大师：Hawaiian Language

 Today on Wordmaster, Rosanne Skirble takes us to a school in America's Pacific island state, Hawaii, where students are immersed in the Hawaiian language and culture.

RS: Students at Anuenue (ah-new-new) Hawaiian Immersion¹ School in Honolulu straddle two worlds. At home they speak English. In school, from gym class to the science lab, they speak Hawaiian. They also learn Hawaiian chants and the ancient Hawaiian art of conflict resolution.

On this day we find a class of sixth graders outdoors in the taro² field. Taro - the root crop brought here long ago by migrating Polynesians - is a staple³ in Hawaii. They believed it was the plant form of the great god Kane - the giver of life.

The teacher for this agrarian⁴ lesson is Baba Yim, who learned Hawaiian as a second language in college.

BABA YIM: Every week we take part of our morning on Wednesday about two hours or so and take care of the taro patch down here and just clean up the leaves that fall and we make sure that the water is running. We take water from the river up there and we return it to the stream down here. They can see the importance of taking care of the whole stream because we take water from a stream that comes from somewhere else. But when we return it back to the stream it is actually cleaner than when we got it.

RS: What do you like about working with the students in Hawaiian in the taro patch?

BABA YIM: For me it is more like family. It is more of a life than a job. It is not just one child who goes here. (We have) brothers, sisters and cousins big extended families throughout our school.

Students in this 6th grade English class feel the same way. Thirteen year-old Kanani says the corridors of her school are like her home.

KANANI: I came to this school because I wanted to learn more about who I really am and how I became a Hawaiian and my family and stuff and who are my ancestors.

RS: And, are you getting some answers to those questions?

KANANI: Yes, I am. I learned that my people stick up for themselves. They have a lot of (ethical) rules that all Hawaiians follow and it is like we are all a family.

RS: "How about you? What do you think that you are learning in this school?

SECOND STUDENT: To learning that there are different chiefs in the Hawaiian nation and they teach us things they mostly don't know at other schools.

KANANI: Other schools, they only talk about English (non-native) people. They don't talk about Hawaiian people.

RS: How do you think this language and culture is going to make a difference for you as you grow up?

KANANI: At least when we grow up we will know who we really are, not like some people who forget who they really are.

Only one thousand native Hawaiians -- or less than 1 percent of the population -- speak Hawaiian as their first language. Native monarchs⁵ ruled Hawaii until it was annexed⁶ by the United States in 1898. At that time English was named the official language for school and government and Hawaiian was abandoned. The immersion school is part of a cultural renaissance⁷, which began in the 1970s to revitalize Hawaiian traditions.

Today, fourteen hundred students are enrolled⁸ in 22 public school immersion programs in Hawaii. Some, like the Anuenue program, are conducted school-wide, while others operate as an intensive course within the school curriculum.

Anuenue Principal Charles Naumu says English is not taught as a separate subject in the immersion school until grade five.

CHARLES NAUMU: And we are held to the same standards as a student who has had English for five years in a regular school setting.

RS: How are you doing in a general sense with students who have graduated from this program?

CHARLES NAUMU: We feel that our students do as well as or better in test results as students in a comparable public school.

RS: So what, at the end of the day, are your expectations for students who go through this school?

CHARLES NAUMU: We are preparing them to remember who they are, to have a positive self-image and to be a contributing member of the society, whether it be here in Hawaii or any place else throughout the world.

Kalehua Grug from the University of Hawaii prepares new teachers to work in immersion programs. Watching the basketball game from a grassy⁹ hill overlooking the school playground, he says these students unlike those in Spanish or French immersion programs are helping¹⁰ to revive their own language. KALEHUA GRUG: And so the kids, without even knowing it, are giving back to our entire race of people.

Kalehua Grug hopes that their success builds bridges between cultures at home and elsewhere around the globe. For more about Anuenue School you can log on to the Wordmaster website at www.voanews.com/Wordmaster. Or write to us at [email protected]. I'm Rosanne Skirble.

1 immersion   

n.沉浸；专心

参考例句：

• The dirt on the bottom of the bath didn't encourage total immersion.浴缸底有污垢，不宜全身浸泡于其中。
• The wood had become swollen from prolonged immersion.因长时间浸泡，木头发胀了。

2 taro   

n.芋，芋头

参考例句：

• Main grain crop has taro,corn,banana to wait.主要粮食作物有芋头、玉米、芭蕉等。
• You celebrate your birthday with taro,red bean and butter.用红豆、芋头和黄油给自己过生日。

3 staple   

n.主要产物，常用品，主要要素，原料，订书钉，钩环；adj.主要的，重要的；vt.分类

参考例句：

• Tea is the staple crop here.本地产品以茶叶为大宗。
• Potatoes are the staple of their diet.土豆是他们的主要食品。

4 agrarian   

adj.土地的，农村的，农业的

参考例句：

• People are leaving an agrarian way of life to go to the city.人们正在放弃农业生活方式而转向城市。
• This was a feature of agrarian development in Britain.这是大不列颠土地所有制发展的一个特征。

5 monarchs   

君主，帝王( monarch的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Monarchs ruled England for centuries. 世袭君主统治英格兰有许多世纪。
• Serving six monarchs of his native Great Britain, he has served all men's freedom and dignity. 他在大不列颠本国为六位君王服务，也为全人类的自由和尊严服务。 来自演讲部分

6 annexed   

[法] 附加的，附属的

参考例句：

• Germany annexed Austria in 1938. 1938年德国吞并了奥地利。
• The outlying villages were formally annexed by the town last year. 那些偏远的村庄于去年正式被并入该镇。

7 renaissance   

n.复活，复兴，文艺复兴

参考例句：

• The Renaissance was an epoch of unparalleled cultural achievement.文艺复兴是一个文化上取得空前成就的时代。
• The theme of the conference is renaissance Europe.大会的主题是文艺复兴时期的欧洲。

8 enrolled   

adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起

参考例句：

• They have been studying hard from the moment they enrolled. 从入学时起，他们就一直努力学习。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He enrolled with an employment agency for a teaching position. 他在职业介绍所登了记以谋求一个教师的职位。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 grassy   

adj.盖满草的；长满草的

参考例句：

• They sat and had their lunch on a grassy hillside.他们坐在长满草的山坡上吃午饭。
• Cattle move freely across the grassy plain.牛群自由自在地走过草原。

10 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。