Okinawa International School starts offering Shimakutuba classes
On May 1 at the Okinawa International School in Sobe, Naha City, the first-grade students of the elementary school learn Shimakutuba from Asako Tamanaha.
May 4, 2018 Ryukyu Shimpo
The Okinawa International School in Sobe, Naha City, began offering Shimakutuba classes this academic year.
The class is available to all 132 students of the elementary and junior high school.
School Director Masato Chinen said, “I would like the students to learn the culture of Okinawa through Shimakutuba.”
Shimakutuba classes take place once a month for the first through sixth graders in the elementary school, and twice a month at the junior high school.
Asako Tamanaha, who is a freelance Shimakutuba instructor, teaches the elementary level.
Professor emeritus of Okinawa University Hoshin Nakamura, who specializes in language teaching, will serve as a lecturer at the junior high school.
On May 1, 30 students of the first grade took the class.
Tamanaha started with greeting saying “Haisai for boys, Haitai for girls.
” With hand gestures, Tamanaha sang in Shimakutuba “Maaru kuuganu pachin tu wariti” (a round egg was snapped and cracked).
Using both hands, she made a circle and made a movement like the flapping of a bird’s wings.
She taught the pupils how to do self-introductions while writing the example “Waa naaya XX yaibiin” (My name is XX).
Seven-year-old Yuma Otsuka gave an energetic greeting, smiled, and said, “It was my first time, but I was able to say Haisai and Haitai smoothly.”
Shimakutuba classes at public schools are mostly offered to students who belong to an extra-carricular club.
Tamanaha, who serves as a lecturer, said, “It is great that this is available to all the students of the school. I hope to give students the ability to say short sentences.”
At this school, most of the classes are conducted in English.
English is used 50 percent of the time with the first and the second graders, and 70 percent of the time with the fifth to sixth graders.
School Director Chinen said, “Language is a culture.
I want students to grasp the history and identity of Okinawa through Shimakutuba.”
(English translation by T&CT and Megumi Chibana)
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