Projects
CHamoru Kada Ha’åni
CHamoru Everyday Interview Series
CHamoru Kada Ha’åni was a program produced by the Guam Museum in 2021 which features interviews with Kumisión board members, Dr. Laura M. Torres Souder, Dr. Robert A. Underwood, and Kumisión staff member, Dr. Francine Naputi.
CHamoru Kada Ha’åni Interview w/ Dr. Robert Underwood | EVERYDAY LIFE
CHamoru Kada Ha’åni Interview w/ Dr. Robert Underwood | BRIDGING THE GAP
CHamoru Kada Ha’åni Interview w/ Dr. Robert Underwood | GROWING UP CHAMORU
Fino’ i Ha’åni
Word of the Day
Fino’ i Ha’åni is an ongoing program which features a CHamoru word and its usage in a sentence. The vocabulary word is defined and a recording provides listeners with pronunciation guidance. This is a fun way to build vocabulary and promote the usage of CHamoru in conversation. Fino’ i Ha’åni entries are posted on the Legislative Channel, in the Guam Daily Post, and other Kumisión social media platforms on a daily basis.
Hinenggen CHamoru
Cultural Vignettes
This video series of cultural vignettes was produced in 2018 to promote our indigenous på’a – a deeper knowledge and understanding of lina’la’ CHamoru. The vignettes emphasize different CHamoru values and traditions such as Ináfa’maolek, Inageftao, Inarespeta and Inayudu. These short video clips are designed to be used as teaching tools by teachers and families.
The Kumisión developed the vignettes with the support of educators and students from the University of Guam’s CHamoru Studies Program and the Guam Department of Education’s CHamoru Studies and Special Projects Division. Members of the community volunteered their time and services to make this project possible.
Cultural Vignettes | INAGEFTAO
Cultural Vignettes | INAFA’MAOLEK (pt. 2)
Cultural Vignettes | INARESPETA
Linakngos Linakse’
CHamoru Expert Interview Series
This project seeks to document and showcase the cultural knowledge and eloquent use of spoken CHamoru by traditional practitioners and members of our island community who are recognized for their wisdom in a particular area. Interviews with cultural experts are an integral component of our Multimedia Archive. As they are produced, these interviews will be featured in podcasts and other platforms to promote cultural values, customs, traditions, and historical events.
Listan Palåbra
Word Search App
The Kumisión’s enabling legislation directs us to provide requisite updates to the CHamoru-English Dictionary. As there are two modern CHamoru dictionaries that are readily available for public use, the Kumisión has opted to execute this mandate through a digital Word-Finder feature on our website based on an online CHamoru dictionary program developed by Dr. David Ruskin.
A team of CHamoru Experts has been engaged to assist the Kumisión in building a comprehensive database of terms drawn from Tan Ana Garcia’s original compendium entitled, Listan Palåbra; the Topping/Dungca/Ogo Chamorro-English Dictionary published in 1975 by the University of Hawaii Press; and, the Official Chamorro-English Dictionary compiled by Dr. Katherine Aguon with a team of educators and published in 2009 by the Department of CHamoru Affairs.
The database features CHamoru root words and their most popular affixed forms. Each entry is defined. Examples of usage are also provided. As new words are added to the CHamoru lexicon, they will be incorporated into the database as a community resource. All words in the Listan Palåbra Word-Finder database are orthographically aligned using the Utugrafihan CHamoru, Guåhan.
Nina’fitme Ineyak CHamoru
CHamoru Immersion Teacher Certificate Program
Through an Administration for Native Americans (ANA) grant, The Kumisión developed a certificate program to strengthen the teaching of CHamoru as a second language through immersion techniques. The certificate program consisted of 12-credit hours of coursework in direct response to professional development needs identified by our partners Chief Hurao Academy, University of Guam (UOG), Guam Community College (GCC), and Guam Department of Education’s (GDOE) CSSP/ Faneyåkan. Classes were held at GCC. The grant funded 60 scholarships for four cohorts of teachers. Additional funding is being sought to continue and expand the certificate program.
Nubena yan Kånta Siha
Novena and Songs
CHamoru prayers and songs comprise the most comprehensive collection of written CHamoru in the historical record. Many of these prayers and songs were documented by Spanish priests, among them Påle’ Roman de Vera in the early 1900s. They used the Spanish language spelling canons of the period. Nonetheless, novenas and songs are priceless forms of literature containing rich metaphors and samples of the most sophisticated and eloquent forms of CHamoru language use. The Kumisión has initiated a long-term project to collect and orthographically align existing songs and prayers as language-learning tools. This collection will be housed in the Kumisión’s archive and will be made available to the public through our website.
Rinikohen Tiningo’ Fino’ Manaotao Tåno’
CHamoru Fluency and Proficiency Assessment Tools
Reliable information regarding the number, fluency, and proficiency of CHamoru language speakers is critical for planning revitalization projects and activities. In order to maintain and perpetuate our indigenous language for future generations, we as a community must understand our current status. We need to know how many speakers we have representing different generations so that we can target our efforts strategically.
As there are no standardized assessment tools currently in use to measure community fluency and proficiency, the Kumisión sought funding from the Administration for Native Americans (ANA) to develop a Fluency and Proficiency Assessment tool for different age cohorts, across the language domains and for each of five levels of language capacity. This tool will be offered on our website to those interested.