The Challenge of Teaching Hawaiian History...to Hawaiians

Only a small fraction of my seventh-grade Hawaiian History students are native Hawaiian or even partly Hawaiian. Still, most of them spent much more of their lives in Hawaiian than I. They've been surrounded by the culture, history, the language, and the traditions. I've only had two years to catch up. One of the toughest aspects of teaching Hawaiian History is the names. I'm going to share some of them with you in order that you can appreciate. The names all can start to all sound the same. They are mostly long and they virtually all are hard to pronounce. This past week, we've discussed the following historical figures:

Kamehameha
Kekuiapoiwa
Naeole
Alapa'inui
Kekuhaupio
Keoua
Kalanikupule
Kiwalao
Keawemauhili
Keeaumoku
Kahekili
Kaiana
Nahiolea
Kukailimoku
Pele
Pai'ea
John Young
Isaac Davis
Captain James Cook
(ok, those last three aren't THAT hard)

Some of the places names include:
Kohala
Ka'u
Kauai
Nuuanu
Waialae
Maui
Lana'i
O'ahu
Moloka'i
Mokuohai
Waimanalo

A few other relevant Hawaiian words:
mamalahoe
haole
ali'i

See why my head can start to spin? I'm actually thankful for the students who politely correct my pronunciation of some of these words they know. I've mostly got the hang of Hawaiian pronunciation, but just look at a word like "Keoua" and there are too many possibilities.

Ok. Back to grading the last of my Kamehameha projects.