Tuesday in Naweni, and the boredom of American apples…

August 12, 2008 — air fiji, global classrooms for peace, holy cross, maravu, meke, naweni, sarongs, savusavu, south pacific, Taveuni, teachers, vanua levu, volunteer teaching, volunteering, wairiki, working vacations

I’m watching the Naweni 1st and 2nd grades as they romp across the field, streaming their homemade windsocks behind.

Even from a distance, their pure joy is evident as they run with the abandon only young children seem to possess.

Lori is here with us this morning, and I can see her wind lesson using the donated parachute material we have brought is a real triumph.

Genna has been doing what sounds to me like a phenomenal math project, and I’ve asked her to switch grades for the morning to work her magic with my grades 7 and 8.

Throughout the past weeks, we seem to have all hit our stride, perfecting what we each do best of the lessons we have brought to Fiji. What a great gift we have been given to be able to come here and teach while learning so much ourselves.

“Come and join us in the other room”,

Our principal, Mr Ilisoni and his staff of 3 teachers have made us a wonderful table of snacks again. We enter to see a table set with mugs of hot tea, various cakes, all upon a Fijian tapa cloth embellished with traditional tribal art.

A tray of coconuts completes the display.

We are delighted. Genna, Lori, and I sit down with the staff, and as we talk and eat, our fraternal teacher-talk warms to a chummy and funny conversation as we listen to stories about their Friday kava-night antics.

In my afternoon class, we have some free time after doing an oragami earth project. I decide to do another, “getting to know you” activity.

I write about a dozen pairs of adjectives on the board……easy/difficult.. boring/interesting…old/modern, etc… I ask them to copy them on paper and list two of their own personal definitions for each word.

I explain that one person’s “easy” may be another’s “difficult” for subjects such as Math and English, and they may be surprised to hear what one person thinks of as interesting or boring.

To illustrate this further, I tell them I as an American think that apples are pretty boring compared to the Fijian fruits; mangoes and pawpaw. Fijian children hardly see apples, and think they’re wonderfully exotic as a rule. I conclude with saying most Americans probably think apples are really boring.

As they work quietly, I look over some shoulders. Their replies drive home to me the differences in the replies between my Fijian students, and what I expect my students in the U.S. would write. I read…..

“Village houses are ugly, Town houses are beautiful.”

“Pit toilets are old”

“Apples are interesting”

“Mangoes are boring”

But I also read……”Dogs are ugly”

And again, “Dogs are ugly”

And once again, “Dogs are really ugly”

Wow.

Then I see that maybe the language barrier is a little more clouded than I thought….

“American apples are really boring”

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