Videos


Moʻolelo


Itʻs story time! Learn about the history and importance of moʻolelo.

Unit lesson

Moʻolelo

Video Questions

1) What are different kinds of moʻolelo?

2) Do you have a favorite moʻolelo? What do you like about it? How did you learn about this moʻolelo?

3) What is the importance of moʻolelo?

4) Some of the best moʻolelo aren’t written in any book and are of people we know and love. Ask your aunties, uncles, or grandparents about what your parents were like when they were little, and if they have any funny memories of them. Write down the moʻolelo, illustrate it, and surprise your mom or dad with it. What does the moʻolelo tell you about your makua? Are those characteristics of your makua still evident today?

5) How are mele (traditional Hawaiian poetry and song) connected to moʻolelo?

6) If you could write a song about a moʻolelo from your own life, what would it say?

 

Video Vocabulary

1) waʻa kaulua
double-hulled canoe

2) moʻolelo
story, history, genealogy, succession of our language and knowledge

3) waʻa
canoe

4) kūpuna
grandparents or ancestors

5) Tūtū
nickname for grandparent

6) māmā
mother

7) pāpā
father

8) mele
traditional Hawaiian poetry or song

9) Kumulipo
genealogy of Kalaninuiʻīamamao, of the Hawaiian universe, and of our people

10) Hiʻiakaikapoliopele
youngest sister of volcano goddess Pele whose journey to fetch Pele’s lover is a story of legend

11) aliʻi
ruler

12) Hawaiʻi Ponoʻī
song written by King Kalākaua that later became the state anthem

13) Kamehameha
king who united the Hawaiian islands in 1810

14) ihe
spear

15) aloha kākou
aloha to us all (three or more people)

 

Guiding Questions

English

Hawaiian