Pageant
The school held a Mr. and Ms. Pageant last week. There were eight contestants, four guys and
four girls. The contestants competed in
designing and modeling a puletasi, dancing, and doing a talent. The students
then voted for the winner (who I never found out). There was also entertainment between each of
the categories. A few of my students
were in the entertainment. They danced
to Azonto and another song that I can’t remember. The competition was fun to watch in an
inappropriate way. It will have a while
to get comfortable with seeing my students half naked and covered with baby oil
dancing on a stage with money being thrown at them.
In class last week to review of our quiz I split the class
into eight groups and had each group become an “expert” on one of the parts of
speech. Then each group took a turn sharing
with the rest of the class and teaching their peers. The presentations for the most part were
painfully boring, until one group in my 2nd period got up to
present. Unlike the rest of the groups
how just said their information Ta’auso and Edward decided to “teach like
Kristina does” so they asked questions such as, “Class, can anyone let me the
definition of a noun?” “How can raise their hand and tell me an example?” They did that for their whole presentation, which
is totally how I teach, by asking questions and guiding a discussion. They had the class doing all the talking and
giving information while they sat back and listened. They did know of the investigating the part
of speech like I wanted them too, but the presentation was just too good to fail. I was laughing the entire time and they had
the class engaged.
Last week was my field observation and evaluation for this
semester. Long story short…It went
great! My good class was good and my bad
class was bad. The only thing I need to
improve on is being more relaxed and having a teacher voice (the back of the
class could hear me if they would stop talking). Success!
I get to stay in American Samoa.
Sara, Amber, and I have been attending the football games
and riding the bus back with the team.
(The bus driver drops us at our houses).
This past Friday both JV and Varsity won! I must say my JV players know how to
play. I am starting to real their
numbers and I’m able to follow what is going on 25% of the team. That’s an improvement. Now close your eyes and imagine yourself
sitting in the stadium here in Samoa.
Beyond the field is the ocean.
The kids are chanting in both Samoan and English. Now you hear the PA system click on. You stop to listen and a Tennessee accent
comes over the intercom! Totally ruins
the experience. If I can’t understand
what the announcer is saying how can anyone else? Lol.
I have noticed a part of Samoan sportsmanship that I enjoy. When a player is hurt on the field the
students start singing, “Lean on Me.”
It’s sweet and a nice why to fill the time and encourage the hurt
player.
Finally, at the game the three of us were sitting talking
and watching the game when all of a sudden a big boom and bright flash
happens! Sara and I are both like, “um
did someone get shot?” and Amber goes, “no it was probably just a transformer
that blew.” The verdict? A rival team blew up a cherry bomb. Was the stadium evacuated? No.
What the game stopped? No. Only in Samoa.
Circus
Sara and I went to The Magic Circus of Samoa. This has to be one of the best circus’
ever. There were no animals only people. We saw tight ropewalkers, unicyclist, clowns,
jugglers, and all the other “circus” acts.
It was definitely worth the cost of the ticket. And of course I saw one of my students there. We were like little kids in awe all night.
Escaping the island
One of the girls that spends a lot of time in my room and
that I help after school came in last week and was telling me about some
problems going on at home. She talked
about wanting to escape and how she wasn’t going home that night. I talked to her and told her that it would be
best if she at least let her mom know where she would be at and prepared myself
to receive a call later in the night wanting to know if I knew where the girl
was. She went home that night and I
later found out that when kids talk about escaping it means that they want to
get off the island. It’s sad that they
feel like they must escape. Even when
the kids go off island to college the other students will say that the student
was able to escape. It’s just bizarre to
me.
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