The course contents (tentative):

Week 1 Orientation, Introduction to the Okinawan language and culture; pronunciation practice with useful expressions
Week 2

Linguistic rules for sound changes and structural characteristics of the Okinawan language; rules of the standard orthographic system; pronunciation practice, Okinawan map with place-names

Week 3

Lesson 1 & 2. Using the text Hajimirana Uchinaaguchu (Let's Start Okinawan Language); Topics: greetings, family, friends and people's Okinawan names

Week 4-5

Language and culture through proverbs (Selected readings from Kotowaza ni miru Okinawa no kokoro (The Okinawan mind in proverbs)); Lessons 3, 4, & 5. Numbers, Food and Clothes

Week 6-7

Annual events, Okinawan traditional cultural practices: Relationships dealing with cultural products, practices, and their underlying value system

Week 8-9

Annual festival: Eisaa, Kachaashii. Lesson 6: Animals. More useful expressions, Okinawan Karuta game, Hoogen News

Week 10 Reading practice (Text: The Hoogen Shinbun (Okinawan Dialect Newspaper). Toyama Kyuzo, Father of Okinawan Immigrants, Okinawan tea gathering: Bukubukuu cha
Week 11

Okinawan song: (Text: "Tinsagu nu hana" [Hoosenka || The touch-me-not song])
Visit to Okinawan Cultural Center and Okinwan Hoogen Circle (Dialect study group in Honolulu)

Week 12

Small Group Projects: Survey on Okinawan language, local news in Okinawan language, and culture in Hawai'i; Small Group Projects: Group discussions for choosing group projects

Week 13

Example Projects: (1) Interviewing and meeting community people for interaction in the use of Okinawan language and culture; (2) Visiting Okinawan cultural organizations; and (3) Announcing 'hoogen news', etc.

Week 14-15

Presentations / Reports of Small Group Projects/Video taking / Feedback; Okinawan folk tales, John Shirota's works

Week 16 Student-Teacher course assessment and evaluation (for improvement in following years), and semester-end party with Kachaashii and Okinawan dishes