Educational Visit to Hawaii (1-6 October 2018)

As part of an enrichment programme of the Malay BA Year 4 course, AAD40B Bilingual Learners and Bilingual Education, four student teachers and two of their lecturers went on an educational visit to Hawaii in October 2018 visiting Nawahi Hawaiian Medium Laboratory School, College of Hawaiian Language, University of Hawaii at Hilo, and the museums in Hilo and Honolulu.

At Nawahi School, our student teachers learned on-site how the school nurtures native Hawaiian children’s Hawaiian identity through the Hawaiian language and culture. They also shared their Malay traditional games and attire with the students there. At the College, they learned how the revitalization efforts continue in the undergraduate programme in Hawaiian Studies and the postgraduate Teacher Training Programme. There, A/P Mukhlis Abu Bakar and Mdm Hayati Abdullah and two colleagues from the College, Prof William Wilson and Ms Pele Harman, sat on a panel to speak about bilingual education.

Upon their return to Singapore, each of the four student teachers teamed up with three of their course mates who did not go on the trip to work on a group project comparing the linguistic landscape (signs, notices, literacy materials) of the school in Hawaii and a selected school in Singapore. With posters that they created, each group discussed how the images reveal about the language aims of the schools.

Video : Trip to Nawahi School and College of Hawaiian Language

 

 

Source: ALC, Asian Languages & Cultures