“The HI-SKILLS after-school program: Hawai’i School Kids Investigating Language in Life + Society”

Kids are experts about the language they hear around them every day. In this talk we present HI-SKILLS, an after-school program that puts kids at the center of linguistic discovery by guiding them through the process of carrying out original research on language use in their own peer groups, families, and communities, including the use of Pidgin in their homes, schools, and communities. HI-SKILLS is an outreach project of the Department of Linguistics at the University of Hawai’i and is sponsored in part by the Sato Center. If you are interested in having HI-SKILLS come to your school, please contact us at hiskills@hawaii.edu.
Contact: hiskills@hawaii.edu

https://sites.google.com/a/hawaii.edu/hi-skills/home

 

 

Presenters: (all affiliated with UH-Mānoa)
Kevin Bätscher is a PhD student at the Linguistics Department at UH Mānoa. A Swiss national and language enthusiast, he is actively working on the documentation and promotion of indigenous languages in the Philippines, Taiwan, and Canada.

Andrea Berez-Kroeker is a professor in the Linguistics Department at UH Mānoa. She specializes in language documentation and conservation, and has worked with speakers of endangered languages in Alaska, Canada, and Papua New Guinea.

Ashleigh Smith is a PhD student in the Linguistics Department at UH Mānoa. Originally from Minnesota, she spends her time on O`ahu studying linguistic diversity and learning how to document languages. She has worked with speakers of endangered languages in both the United States and Canada and is passionate about the revitalization of Indigenous languages.

Maggie Sood lived in the bayous of Louisiana and the mountains of Northern California before making her way out to the island of Oahu. Having lived in and traveled to many colorful places, it didn’t take her long to realize she loved language. That’s why she’s now a Master’s student in Linguistics at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa studying Language Documentation. Maggie has worked with speakers of endangered languages of Mexico, Micronesia, and Argentina. She has also taught Spanish and ESL, and currently works as an English tutor to high-school ESL students. When she’s not concentrating on her studies or work, she can usually be found filling in crossword puzzles, dashing around the basketball court, or relaxing with a cup of tea.