I know a guy here, an Australian geologist, who’s lived in Savaii for over 28 years. He takes tourists on tours and is more interested in keeping busy and showing people Samoa than making money. I highly recommend him. He has said on several occasions that even if he lived here a hundred years (and that’s unlikely since he’s already in his 80’s) he would never understand fa’a Samoa.
I’m right there with him. Next week is the last week of school for the kids. Teachers have an additional week of planning for next year. I suspect they will be very short days. After a full year of school I thought I was getting the hang of things.
For example, I know that when it’s raining in the morning when I wake up I might as well roll over because everyone will be late. I know that the teachers are always hungry and will make a sexual joke out of anything. I know that the afternoon before any event we’ll be told to come to the school at 3:00 p.m. to decorate the hall and that the other teachers will arrive at 4:30.
But preparing for English Day this week has thrown me. I won’t bore you with details but I made some mistaken assumptions (some based purely on my Western point of view). Although this week has been challenging, I think Friday’s show will go well. The teachers have stepped up and are working with their classes this week. I think everyone is on the same page that this isn’t Nancy/Palagi Day, it’s English Day and a chance to show what all the teachers and kids have done. Based on our final rehearsal yesterday, the teachers are as excited as I am in making sure the kids shine and the show goes well.
Some highlights (and lowlights) of yesterdays rehearsal, from my perspective:
The littlest kids in any school event are always my favorites. It’s why Art Linkletter’s Kids Say the Darndest Things was such a hit. Year 1 is just darned adorable.
I almost wet myself when Year 2 sang Thumpkin. You remember the song where you hold up the fingers on both hands as you sing about them? Pointer, Ring man, and my favorite – Tall man. The kids proudly raised the middle fingers on both hands, with the backs of the hands to the audience. In essence, flipping off the school. At home when we do the song, we turn our hands the other way. The little kids didn’t know what it meant. The older kids and teachers do. I had a street kid in Apia flip me off because I wouldn’t give him money. I thought it was wildly funny and may start singing Thumbkin the next time someone mocks my Samoan accent.
Year 3 sang The Wheels on the Bus. They started with the verse “The people on the bus….” but at first I couldn’t understand and for a second I thought they were saying “The beaver on the bus” and all I could picture was a local bus, packed full of beavers.
My host siblings were stellar. One Year 7 boy is not the best academically. He shows up every day, is always cheerful and tries. He’s a charmer. Today, as they performed a song, he was in the front, dancing. He loves to dance and turned it on. At the end he pulled out some break dancing moves. He brought down the house.
His sister, in Year 4, also is not an academic star, but like her brother, a sweet and cheerful girl. When the other kids introduced themselves, they tended to shuffle to the front and mumble. Not this star. She stepped forward, head high and yelled out her introduction. Even the teachers were impressed. Malo galue – good job!
All the classes did a good job. Years 7 and 8 performed plays I taught them and the teachers help refine this week. Almost ready for off-off-Broadway.
On the downside. A part of life here that I continue to struggle with is that it is considered very funny when someone makes a mistake. It is the norm for people to laugh and make fun of others. They do it to each other constantly. That’s why people think it’s perfectly fine to make fun of my Samoan. They view it as a way to encourage me to learn. If I don’t make a mistake, they won’t make fun of me.
My American view is that when you ridicule someone who’s trying but making a mistake, they’re not going to want to try again. I believe it is why so many people here won’t speak in English. They know English – perhaps in the same, broken way I know Samoan, but are afraid to speak because they can’t do it perfectly.
I’ve said repeatedly how much I love and enjoy these kids. So it really was hard yesterday to see a child stand in front of the whole school to make a short speech in English, only to be ridiculed. Then, with tears in their eyes as they tried again, they made more mistakes because they were nervous and upset. When kids/classes did well and finished their part of the program, I was frequently the only one applauding. In my classes, when someone does their best, even if it’s not perfect, we applaud. But that’s not the norm here.
I wrote some time ago about the fia fia where both palagi university students and local Samoan guys performed. I’m used to polite applause when someone gets up there to give it a shot. That doesn’t happen here. When the palagis didn’t do a great job, they got no applause. And after the program I was told “They were terrible. They shouldn’t have tried.”
It is a different approach to teaching than I am used to. I have to sign off now. There’s still a lot of details to wrap up before the show starts in 2 hours.
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