Advanced Year 6 Group

My advanced Year 6 class is my highlight of the week.  There are 7 children in it:  Petina, Sinalei, Victoria, Philip, Malele, Risati, and Jacinta.  Their English is at a level that I can have candid conversations with them about things more than “What did you eat for lunch?”.  This term, we’ve been reading “The Iron Giant”, the book that the subsequent movie was based on.  It’s only about 60 pages so an easy read over 10 weeks.  Every week the kids have been getting more and more sucked into the story till this week where we’re on the second to last chapter and when I announced that we’d be finishing up next week, they all groaned and begged to continue.  It was so genuine that I felt an instant surge of gratitude to these kids.  This was their first chapter book ever and they were eating it up.  Today we were working on questions for the chapter and one involved a Space Dragon (omitted from the movie) and somehow we got on to the topic of space and planets and galaxies.  Their minds were utterly blown.  They knew about the planets in our galaxy but wouldn’t believe me when I said most of the stars in the night sky have planets as well.  Then I went on about a news article I had read that said people were sending a space ship to Mars next year and that it’d take years to get there.  Ohhh my gosh well then the conversation really got going!  The book questions were forgotten and they went on and on about different questions about the universe including once we die and go to Heaven, if we’d be able to look down on Pluto (sure…?).  These kids are a blast to work with and I’ll miss not working with them next year as they move on to Year 7.

L to R, Back Row: Risati, Peteli, Malele, Philip

Front Row: Sinalei, Victoria, Jacinta

When Bus Rides Go Wrong

Last month, a terrible accident happened on Savaii where a bus driver attempted to cross a road that was flooded by the river.  This video is what happened.  Luckily only two people died where as it could have easily been the entire bus load.  This event is of course a rarity and investigations are on going as to if the driver was drinking at the time.

Science Fair

I was approached about a week before our district science fair about heading up the project for our school.  In Samoan schools, the school sends a team to the science fair instead of individuals competing within a school.  So the Year 8s in my school came up with a 5 person team of girls who were very involved in science and English.  The principal asked me to come up with a project idea for the girls to work on and I decided to do “Composting as an Alternative to Burning Rubbish”.  Burning rubbish is wide-spread throughout Samoa and is the most common way to get rid of trash, dead leaves, and grass cuttings.  It’s actually caused a problem with soil replenishment because all of the dead leaves and grass is burnt instead of allowed to decompose.  So I proposed to teach the girls about composting as a way to prevent health effects from burning rubbish and to replenish nutrients into the soil.  So with a week to the science fair, the girls and I set off to Apia to do research for the project and to buy resources.  The girls were thrilled to get the day off of school and to get on the computers in Apia. 

The entire week we worked on the project to help the girls understand the material, practice their presentation, and work on the poster.  By the day of the presentation, they were completely ready to go.  The science fair was held at the local Palalaua College and Primary Schools from four different districts competed, all on projects pertaining to Adapting to Climate Change.  There were some really great projects there and I was worried about how my kids would do but I shouldn’t have even worried, the kids beasted their presentation and blew the judges away.  They placed 2^nd overall and that qualified them to go on to the National Science Fair in Apia next month.  Just seeing the smiles on the girls faces made this whole last week of stress worth it.  They were thrilled beyond belief.  On the whole way back to the village the kids stood up in the back of the pickup and sang, holding their trophy above their heads.  It was quite a sight to see them so happy.

The girls, proud as can be!

Our lovely compost bin!

Samoan TV

TV is TV is TV, right?  You’d think that until you turn into a Japanese game show and see a parliament member bouncing around in a chicken costume or a Bollywood romance where a couple sings there way into marriage.  TV differs greatly around the world and Samoa is no different.  There are only 3 channels on the regular TV.  TV1, TV2, and TV3 and one of them is a religious channel.  Here are but a few things that I’ve noticed from watching:

Old Reruns

A lot of different shows are sponsored on Samoan TV, shows like Modern Family, Law and Order, and other such ones.  However, the most popular are the old reruns.  Shows such as Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Cheers that have been off the air for 20, 30 (!) years (imagine, Woody Harrelson with hair).  Those are on every night and a lot of people tune into them.  It’s hysterical watching Will Smith dance around the screen like it was yesterday.  Cheers, I’d never actually seen before Samoa and I don’t find it very funny, but everyone else seems to really like it.  Another odd show on TV is called Father Ted.  It’s a comedy out of Ireland that follows the antics of a Catholic priest.  The humor is beyond me, I guess it’s all about what you grow up with.

Singing Shows

Samoans have an intense mania about singing shows of any kind.  Throughout the year, you see American Idol, X Factor, The Voice, The Voice UK, and Samoan Star Search.  Guaranteed, if you ask a kid about the show that week, they’ll be able to name the singers and what they sang AND give you an opinion on it.  Samoan Star Search is the Samoan version of the singing shows.  The song Halleighlua was sung so often on the show that it was apparently banned. 

Black and White Bon Jovi videos

Sometimes in place of commercials, the TV channels will play old music videos.  The most popular ones are old Black and White Bon Jovi videos.  I’ve never even heard of most of these songs and my host family is singing right along.

Obits

This one really blew my mind.  On one of the channels, you are able to pay money and have the obituary of your loved one read.  People usually submit pictures along with it.  The guy reading the obituary has a long, droning, monotone voice and will usually repeat the obituary several times creating a running, 5-10 minute long section per person.

Spelling Bee

This was on just last week.  The high schools from across Samoa were competing in a spelling bee that incorporated words from all school subjects in English as well as Samoan.  I heard words like vector, interval, and history.  I was really impressed by how well these kids were doing, but I was also equally impressed by how much my host family was into watching it.  They were cheering for our local secondary school the entire time.

Past Dances

The last thing that’s really popular on Samoan TV is in place of commercials, they’ll play recordings of previous dance performances.  They’ll play ones from the Teuila festival, from performances at Aggie Greys, or from school performances.  They’re usually the traditional dances and they’re really neat to watch.  It’s a great cultural injection and really shows Samoan pride.  Love it!