Manuia le Kerisimasi!

Merry Christmas from the Rock! Here's a photo/video montage of my Christmas activities!

The (HOT) day before vacation on the sea wall right in front of school

My StarBoys (learning about St. Lucia's Day in Sweden)

My St. Lucias (We used vegetation from behind the school - amazing finished products!)

Leraning about Diwali and lighting candles set afloat

We made pinatas for Los Posadas. Lydia broke the string when I dropped the pinatas lower, so we ended up smashing them on the pavement. Great fun!

On Dec. 15th, we went caroling at the hospital. We wanted to give back to our community since we have been the recipients of such goodness this year!

Nativity Scene in the church... Which of these does not belong?

The youth of the LMS church in Vatia during their Christmas Eve performance

Methodist churches across the island went caroling late on Christmas Eve.

The video is darker on this post than on my computer. Here's a photo to look at while listening to the carol :)

What Actually Happens to Your Books?

As I was sitting in my room last night, processing the latest (AMAZING - story to follow in another blog post) shipment of books for my school, I realized that you might be interested to know what actually happens to the books you send. Here's the process (I'll attach pictures to this someday, but I am on vacation now and don't want to go up to my classroom for at least one more day!):

1. The boxes arrive at Tafuna airport on one of the 2 flights a week that bring mail. They are sorted and brought to the post office in Pago Pago, where a yellow slip is added to WorldTeach's PO Box indicating a package is ready to be picked up. There are so many packages here that the post office uses a yellow cardstock and simply writes our box number on the back, so no one ever really knows how many packages are waiting.
2. My field director, Alison, checks the PO Box and does a package run (usually on Thursdays, though she tries to go more than once a week during the holidays, just in case...). If there are any boxes for me, she either contacts my host mom, Mata, who passes Alison's office on her way to work, or me (if there are only a few... to see if I'm coming into town and can pick them up myself). 
3. Once the boxes arrive in Vatia, they usually get unloaded to my door by the kids (CJ and Matalin). Then, the work begins...
4. The first thing I do after opening the boxes and doing happy dance is to label all books with "WorldTeach donated by _____." Each book you send has your name (or orgainzation's name) in it. I do this for 2 reasons. One, it identifies that the books have been donated through WorldTeach, which means that the DOE has no claim to them if ever challenged. Second, and most importantly, it allows me to say a "thank you" for each book as I write the donor's name(s) inside. This is my favorite part of the whole process because I get to think about YOU and skim through each book!
5. The next step (which I've only just recently added) is to bind the edges and spine of the book with tape. I took a hint from some books that had been donated by teachers to make the books hold up better. Island weather and kids who are not used to caring for books lead to a lot of issues keeping books in good condition. We are working on the latter (it takes a long time to educate a community and change old habits, but I can see progress already), and I'm hoping the tape helps with the former as well.
6. Books are then cataloged into my database and given a number. I write the number onto a sticker and attach it to the back corner of the book. This makes it easy to log the books borrowed into my other database. I'm trying to keep track of statistics: numbers of students attending, number of books borrowed daily, the frequency that each book is borrowed. I'm no Excel wiz, but I'm giving it a shot.
7. Finally, I attach a colored label to the book's spine that indiciates where it is shelved. The labels say "Vatia Reads!" and the genre (fiction, science, animals, biography, social studies, etc.). The colors help my students put the books back in an area that's generally correct. 
8. Soon, I'll be adding one more step: Attaching a letter to each book that will help keep books within each genre organized by author or topic.

The books are always presented to my fourth graders before I put them on the shelves. Usually this happens before the processing because I want them to benefit from having the books available as soon as possible. They are always thrilled and want to know who they came from (and the backstory of how you are all somehow connected to me).

Once books are on the shelves, they are free to be borrowed. Students come in every day of the week to look through and borrow books. They each have a library card (an index card) on which they write the title and number of each book they borrow. Each card has room for 10 titles, and some students are on their 3rd cards already. On the back of the card, I write "Vatia Reads!" in marker, and students move through the colors in the order of the rainbow. That means, I have some "Yellow Readers" already.

I hope this sheds some light on the "afterlife" of your books! Thank you, again, for everything!

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

October 11th was White Sunday, Samoa's equivalent of Children's Day. It is the one day a year that children do not have to do chores, get to choose the menu for meals, and are served before adults. Normally, kids are working hard to serve the adults in the family, so this is supposed to be their "day off." Naturally, because this is American Samoa, the day revolves around church services. For weeks, children are practicing bible verses, song and dance routines, and skits to perform at church throughout the day. In the morning, there is a service for children to share what they've worked on (they ALL recite a bible verse and participate in numerous other routines). The morning service lasts anywhere from 3-5 hours. Then, families go home to have their Sunday tonai (BIG lunch), where children are served first. Then, after an afternoon rest, families return to church to participate in more skits and songs.

My school had an assembly to celebrate White Sunday, and I want to share with you a video of one of my favorite Samoan songs. I have no idea the title, but this is the 5th and 6th grade classes dancing to the song, cutting away to my students Solomona (boy) and Asenati (girl) participating from the audience. One of my absolute favorite things here in American Samoa is seeing Solomona dance and sing to religious music!

Ua E Manumalo

This is one of the many religious songs on the soundtrack of American Samoa... Thought I'd share this with you all! :)

General Blog Update

In case you didn't notice, I removed the "Mail Call!" tab from my blog. The lack of reliable internet access has forced me to make this decision, since I can't keep up with updating my posts, let alone the extra tab. I will try to send emails when I get packages from here on out (though, often I can't), and I will definitely keep sending snail mail thank yous so that you know that your packages arrived here safely.

On the mail/package note, I've heard rumors of the complete disorganization of the post office here in American Samoa at the holidays, so don't be surprised if it takes a while for things to get through. I'll send good vibes into the universe to try to combat this, but I wanted to send out a warning to you so that no one goes into a panic. Keep your receipts so that I can track packages down as necessary! Thanks, in advance :)

Butterflies!

In October (yes, it's been a while), my students did animal reports. Part of their responsibility was to create a model of their animal in its habitat. Solomona went one step beyond creating a model and actually brought in caterpillars in his habitat box.After my glowing reaction, he brought 5 chrysali (chrysalises?) in, attached to leaves. We hung the leaves in our windows and hoped for the best, not knowing how transporting them from their original location would fare. All hatched into butterflies before our eyes! What an amazing opportunity to witness the miracle of nature.

Quick Words of Thanks

A message from Katerina

A message from Al-Roni

A message from Solomona

A message from Asenati

A message from Hosanna

An AMERICAN Samoan Thanksgiving

I have worked the past 4 Thanksgivings, so one thing I was especially grateful for this year was a day off! Determined to spend my favorite holiday IN the country (a territory of the country, but still American soil), I had a wonderful stay-cation for Thanksgiving break.

Thanksgiving morning was spent with fellow volunteers in Utulei, whose host family created an umu (traditional oven) in which to cook their turkey. An umu takes about an hour to prepare and about 45 minutes to cook the turkey. Sure beats 4-5 hours slaving away in a kitchen, huh?

First, rocks are heated and placed on the ground. Then, the meat and other dishes are added. They, in turn, are covered by more rocks before adding several layers of leaves. Finally, old, wet leaves (or wet newspapers in this case) are added on top to trap the heat and smoke inside the cooking mound.

Adding the food to the umu

Steaming deliciousness

Covering the umu with banana leaves

All done! Removing the hot leaves and steamed bananas (yum!)

Mackerel and coconut cream in coconut shells... delicious!

Removing the food - note the tongs (scroll down for picture)

A cooked turkey, and lamb shanks, and taro, and cooked green bananas

Doesn't it look amazing? The green are mango leaves added to enhance flavor.

!

Mmm!

With one of the cooks (Junior? - can't remember his name)... He was very drunk by 11am... Umu and beer go hand in hand.

Samoan tongs

Vatia Reads! Video

I put together a video of photos from the first month of Vatia Reads! This is an absolutely incredible program that our students LOVE! Our school has a population of about 70 students in grades 1-8. We average 40 students coming to each session on Mondays and Wednesdays. Every morning, I average 18 students coming in to exchange their books for new ones. We could run a successful program 5 days a week if we had the manpower to do it, as students ask daily "Is there Vatia Reads! today?" It breaks my heart to tell them no on our off days.

The power of one blog post explaining the book situation at my school and asking for donations of books has led to something incredible. I thought that perhaps two or three people would fill up a flat-rate box with old books laying around the house, but you all amazed me! You, my blog readers, have contributed to a library of over 700 books! I am grateful everyday for the love and support you have given my students and me. Being able to share these resources with the Vatia community through my outreach program (Vatia Reads!) is an incredible experience. Vatia is a ... unique... place. Your books have helped improve the lives of the children here, giving them something to share with each other, to talk about, to look forward to, to cherish, and to enjoy. As you'll see at the end of the video, I've come upon students reading in the most beautiful places, students who might otherwise be out causing trouble or simply sitting around the house. One of my toughest 3rd grade students (I teach 3rd grade science in addition to my 4th grade class) just lights up at the opportunity to come to Vatia Reads! He wrote a Thanksgiving card to me, thanking me for the program. I, in turn, have to pass that thanks on to all of you. When the emotional roller coaster that is teaching in my village is on an uphill climb, Vatia Reads! is part of the chain that grabs onto the slipping cars and pulls them up and over the peak. This video is intended to show you a bit of the excitement on the children's faces, some of our activities, and to be a tribute to your support. Thank you all for inspiring this amazing part of my life.

Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary

It's been a while since I posted anything unrelated to school, so I thought I'd share some photos from a trip to Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary. It's been over a month and a half since this trip, but I'm in the mood for looking at pictures of beautiful sunny skies on this gray, rainy day.

Fagatele Bay is out of "town" on the way to Leone (the last large village on the west side of the island). Keep in mind that my island (Tutuila) is large for American Samoa, but small in comparison to just about anything else! If I'm not mistaken, it's not more than 20 miles from west to east, and maybe 5 miles at the widest point north to south. (Yet, despite the small size, it still takes 2 hours to get to any decent grocery store from my village due to a 20mph speed limit!) After a bus ride, there's a nice walk/hike to the bay. Land in American Samoa is family-owned. Most of the land on the islands has been designated as part of the National Park System, but it is technically only on loan to the government (which pays a nice sum for rent). To get to Fagatele Bay, you have to sign in at the family's house before passing onto park land. The hike has breathtaking views of the coastline from a tall ridge before you descend on somewhat of a path down the side of the hill. Holding onto trees as I slipped and slided down the hill, I was ready for something amazing:

Amazing Peace

The smallest shell I have ever seen

Simply Delightful

Happy Veteran's Day!

Vatia Reads!

I've been trying to figure out my purpose here... other than teaching my classes... It's been a struggle that I have yet to blog about because I don't want this to be a space for complaints and venting. Some of the realities of teaching here (as an outsider) are tough to digest: corporal punishment (beating kids, hitting with rulers, etc... even though it's technically against the law), teachers who just don't care, smoking in the classrooms and right outside of the windows, unattended classes, teacher absences... It's been hard to figure out what I can do here other than teach my 9 students. I want to make more of an impact, to affect more of a change in SOMETHING... especially as an educator. I'd hoped that the teachers at my school would have been working toward goals to better the classroom environment, but I don't find that is the case. The principal has good ideas and a good heart, but she doesn't have the leadership power and motivational personality to put her ideas into action. So, I've been struggling with feeling un-used....

A few weeks ago, I decided to stop attending church in my village. I've never been a church-goer, but I was doing so out of respect for the culture and for my host family. However, I find that "religion" here is very hypocritical. While literally everyone is Christian and attends church and Sunday school, I find that most people here do not lead very Christian lives. Domestic abuse, lying, gossiping, fighting... all of this is commonplace. Seriously, I could base a soap opera on my village, which sometimes feels like a medieval town of warring families. People do not spend money for their kids. It seems that kids are not valued, except for their ability to do the household chores (is that why families have so many of them - my kids often have 67 or 7 brothers and sisters), yet in one day, the church can raise $10,700 for the preacher and families can go to bingo literally every night. All of this is pretty depressing when you're giving up a year of your life to affect some positivity on a community. I found myself wrapped up in all of these negative realities and feeling like I am making absolutely no difference. I have to remind myself daily that I am making a difference to my 9 students and to the other students in the school who get positive feedback and love from me. However, that's still not enough - not if I'm going to live in this community; not if I'm going to leave here in a year and reflect upon what I spent my time doing...

So, the Sunday after I decided not to attend church anymore, I went for a LONG walk to the next village and back. In all, it took over 2 hours, on the road over the hill and along the coastline. It's a magnificent walk, and on Sunday morning, not a soul is out there. I have FINALLY found my space to be alone! I set out on this walk with the intention to keep walking until I felt better... until I found a way to get out of this horrible funk that was just sitting on my spirit. And... I came up with an idea that excites me to the point that I get tingles when I think and talk about it: Vatia Reads! A community outreach program to promote the importance of literacy from infancy through adulthood. Using the books and supplies that YOU have graciously donated, I'll be running literacy sessions for target age groups as well as holding open library sessions to give kids access to books. In case you didn't know, there is NOWHERE to get books on this island. There is one teacher store that has about 30 titles of books. There is a public library, but it extremely difficult for kids from my village to access it... My kids don't own books at home... With no internet, no awareness of ama.zon.com or Schol.astic book clubs, the children of Vatia do not grow up knowing how to love books. So, I'm going to share that with them. I'm going to copy and paste my project proposal here. I'm waiting for final approval so that I can hold the sessions on the school campus. If, for some reason, the DoE does not agree to the proposal, I will be holding the sessions in my host family's house instead, carting the books back and forth to my classroom as necessary. I cannot wait to get this program underway! :)

Project Title: Vatia Reads!

Coordinating Teacher: Jennifer Smith

Proposed Launch Date: November 8, 2010

Project Objective: To promote literacy among the community, and to give the community (the children, in particular) access to the resources necessary to become proficient, habitual readers

Project Duration: through the 2010-2011 school year

Participating Teachers: Jennifer Smith and Leslie Blaich

Project Description:

Vatia Reads! is a program designed to promote literacy among the community in Vatia. Through regularly scheduled, interactive literacy sessions, we hope to give the community access to books, thereby improving the reading habits and levels of the children of our community. Literacy is the key to success in school and beyond. As a remote village, the members of the Vatia community have limited access to the island’s literacy resources, namely Feleti Barstow Library. This limited access, combined with limited resources on-island has led to a community of students for whom reading is an activity done at school and for homework, rather than for pure enjoyment. This project will provide access to books and organized literacy-based activities for infants and their parents, toddlers, and school-aged children. We hope that the increased availability of resources and stressed importance of literacy will lead to a community of more proficient readers, thereby increasing the opportunities available to Vatia’s children in the future.

Vatia Reads! will utilize a growing library of books donated to WorldTeach by friends and family members of WorldTeach volunteers. These books will be used to create literacy-rich activities to stimulate an interest in and love of reading. During regularly held sessions, books will be made available to read and enjoy. Students of Mt. Alava Elementary School will be able to borrow books from this library, as well. We hope to involve other teachers and members of the community so that the project becomes a permanent part of the Vatia community.

Project Details:

Session Frequency: Initially, 2 days per week (Monday & Wednesday), increasing to 4 days per week (Monday-Thursday) as participation increases.

Session Duration:  2 hours (3:30pm to 5:30pm)

Session Structure:

·         3:30-4:30: Organized activity for target group

·         4:30-5:30: Open library and continued read-alouds (open to all ages)

Target Groups:

·         Early Elementary (Levels 1-2)

·         Middle Elementary (Levels 3-5)

·         Upper Elementary (Levels 6-8)

·         Moms & Babes (Moms, infants, and children under 2)

·         Tots and Toddlers (ages 3-5) (must be accompanied by an adult)

Additional Activities:

·         Weekend trips to the public library. Goal: To set up a regular rotation of parents willing to drive a group of students to the library on Saturday mornings

·         Famous Author Celebrations

·         Young Author Celebrations (to celebrate student writing)

·         Dramatic readings/skits/plays

Organization:

·         Session activities led and organized by a teacher. The activities will include a read aloud and hands-on project related to the text.

·         Students from Levels 4 & 5 will act as librarians and monitors on a rotational, voluntary basis.

·         Additional read-alouds will be provided by older students (high school, community college), members of the community (parents, village chiefs, etc.), and invited guests (role-models and personalities from around the island).

·         Parents recruited to provide refreshments and transportation for special events

Awareness and Publicity:

The project launch is deliberately planned to coincide with National Young Readers Week (November 8-12). We hope to create buzz about both events through the following avenues:

·         Send home notices with students of Mt. Alava Elementary

·         Create signs/posters to hang around Mt. Alava Elementary

·         Logo design contest among Mt. Alava students

·         Announce the upcoming project during an assembly

·         Announcements during PTA meetings

·         Announcements made and posted at local churches

·         Notices posted at local stores

·         Notices posted at PiCED in Nu’uli

·         Contact Samoa News and local radio stations for potential publicity

Incentives (dependent on available funds):

·         Vatia Reads! pencils, bookmarks, t-shirts

·         Books

·         refreshments

Potential Growth:

·         Increase the number of sessions per week

·         Plant programs in other communities around the island

Sources of Potential Resources:

·         Additional donations of books and materials

·         Fundraising for the purchase of additional books and supplies

·         Scholastic Book Club

·         Research grant availability

November Calendar (Tentative)

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
8	9	10	11	12	13
Project Launch Celebration! 3:30-4:30 Early Elementary 4:30-5:30 Open Library		3:30-4:30 Middle Elementary 4:30-5:30 Open Library
15	16	17	18	19	20
3:30-4:30 Upper Elementary 4:30-5:30 Open Library		3:30-4:30 Tots & Toddlers 4:30-5:30 Open Library			Field Trip: Books & Swimming (Library & Swimming)
22	23	24	25	26	27
3:30-4:30 Early Elementary 4:30-5:30 Open Library (Thanksgiving Theme)	3:30-4:30 Middle Elementary 4:30-5:30 Open Library (Thanksgiving theme)
29	30	1	2	3	4
3:30-4:30 Upper Elementary 4:30-5:30 Open Library		3:30-4:30 Moms & Babes 4:30-5:30 Open Library			Field Trip: Books & a Movie (Library & Movie)

Happy Halloween!

Spirit Week and Halloween all rolled into one. It's been a distracting week as far as learning is concerned, but definitely a fun one! Most of our spirit week days were simply color-themed (boring, but for a culture into uniforms, it works well). We had "Opposite Day" in which the boys dress up as girls, and the girls dress up as boys. For a culture with a recognized 3rd gender (fa'afafines... basically males living as females), this seems a bit odd/insensitive, but it was hilarious nonetheless.

Sanele (5th Grade) and Mose (4th Grade) posing

Cassandra and Asenati (4th grade)

Mose, Solomona, and Al-Roni (4th Grade)

Al-Roni, Donovan (2nd Grade), Mose, Sanele, Cassandra, Asenati, and her brother

Mele (6th Grade) and Hosanna (4th Grade)

Cassandra, Asenati, Kitana (4th Grade), and Mele

CJ and Matalin, my host nephew and niece

Feau - my 5 year old boyfriend

We had a competition-based assembly for Halloween. The student body was split into 3 groups: Casper (my group), Pumpkin, and Ghostbusters. We had to create a flying ghost, a dramatic reading, and a dance. Our group won the competition (Yay!)! 

Kitana and Al-Roni in front of our Halloween-inspired door

Lydia gets her bag of goodies

Katerina enjoys the blow-up pumpkin and eye candy from Jenny

mmm... eye candy... delicious! Al-Roni and Hosanna

Mose, the cool lion

Solomona

Hosanna, posing

Kitana in a puletasi

Lydia as a princess

Here's a video of Casper group's dramatic reading of "Five Little Pumpkins," starring Al-Roni: