Members of Ka Imi Naauao o Hawaii Nei Institute announced the upcoming release of a teaching video and series of lesson plans, “He Mele no Kane; Hawaiians as Scientists.” This innovative teaching tool promotes cultural learning through films and photographs
Members of Ka Imi Naauao o Hawaii Nei Institute announced the upcoming release of a teaching video and series of lesson plans, “He Mele no Kane; Hawaiians as Scientists.”
This innovative teaching tool promotes cultural learning through films and photographs of traditional chant and hula combined with related lesson plans geared to the classroom.
Appropriate for elementary through middle school grades, the DVD will be made available this fall as part of the continuing educational mission of Ka Imi Naauao o Hawaii Nei Institute. Additional advanced lesson plans for high school and advanced levels will follow.
School principals, teachers and cultural leaders, librarians adding to Hawaiian resource materials, as well as anyone interested in furthering their understanding of Hawaiian conceptual knowledge may contact the Institute to reserve advance copies of this educational tool.
Ka Imi is a nonprofit 501 (c)3 educational institute that has been in existence since the 1970s. The purchase price of the DVD and lesson plans will be nominal, the organization said in a press release.
The “Hawaiians as Scientists” educational project grew out of the successful Ka Imi staged hula chronicles of “Recalling Hawaii,” choreographed and directed by Kumu Hula Bailey. Starring casts numbered up to 50 dancers and musicians of the Institute, hailing from school branches worldwide. The crowd-pleasing multi-media spectacular has proven its success in each of eight presentations to date, from Germany and Switzerland (2010), to Kauai (2011), Maui (2012), Hawaii and Oahu (2013), as well as Northern California (2014).
Following the Hilo Theater presentation, Brenda Lee, a Hawaiian activist, said, “Every school child in Hawaii should have the opportunity to see and learn from this show.”
Yumi Kawano Tinay, a teacher, wrote her thanks for the presentation, adding, “As a minority from the Mainland and having lived with, studied with, taught people of indigenous backgrounds and continuing to teach Hawaiians…a restoration needs to take place.”
In November, members of various Ka Imi branches from Hawaii, the U.S. Mainland, and Europe will travel to the Badu district of Kolkata in West Bengal, India by invitation to perform for the inauguration of a newly completed facility for the Jana Sanskriti International Research and Resource Institute.
This new venture will provide a home for international exchange amongst practitioners of the Theatre of the Oppressed and related performance practices. Cast members and musicians will also tour in the villages of the district to present Hawaiian hula as a performance art in a cultural exchange. They will take along the educational DVD, and also preview it during a brief stop in Japan toward future cultural exchange now in the planning stages.
To reserve your copies of the educational DVD or for more info visit http://www.kaimi.org.
