Summer Days

The time has been flying lately, and I can hardly believe it’s already the middle of June. The last day of classes has come and gone (a relief), and so has our second in-service training (a good time). Graduation is this Thursday, and then I’ve got about two months of summer to fill. And I think I’ll be filling the time rather nicely.

But before I get to my summer plans, a couple other notes:

First, graduation. They take it seriously here. Classes ended on Tuesday, and every weekday since then has been spent in preparation for the commencement ceremony. Mostly this means having the entire student body of 100+ kids (depending on how many actually show up) sit in rows in the biggest classroom to practice the two songs they’ll be singing during the ceremony. Each song is sung through two or three times. They’re long songs. Then we run through the entire ceremony, starting with the processional. And if you thought the processionals at huge commencement ceremonies in America can be tedious, you have no idea. The eleven 8th graders march into the room to an electronic keyboard remake of “Pomp and Circumstance” (whoever introduced the electronic keyboard to Chuuk needs to be severely punished), and they march as slow as humanly possible. I mean, really painfully slow. I think my college graduating class of 500+ made it through our processional in about the same amount of time as it takes these eleven kids to march across a 30-foot-long classroom. Anyway, we then run through the rest of the ceremony, which is basically a bunch of speeches given by different important individuals, from the PTA chairman to the director of the Dept. of Education. The valedictorian and salutatorian (yep, they have those for 8th grade here) also have speeches. Curiously, the two students don’t write their own speeches; two of the teachers wrote the speeches (in Chuukese) for them, and the students just memorize them. Doesn’t that defeat half the point of even having a valedictorian and salutatorian? Oh well. And all through this big long process, the whole student body is sitting cross-legged in rows, with the teachers roving around pulling at the ears of any kid who starts making too much noise, or fighting with a neighbor, or swaying in the wrong direction during a song. I guess it’s good for the kids to have the practice of sitting still for the length of the ceremony, but still…they’re kids. Even I start to get antsy halfway through the morning.

Oh, yeah–and since being a Peace Corps Volunteer sometimes means taking on jobs that you’re maybe really not totally qualified for, I agreed at my principal’s request to teach the 8th graders two songs in English to sing during the ceremony. I’m not much of a singer and was nervous about how well the kids would be able to pick up a song based on my shaky voice alone, but thankfully the Chuukese have a good ear for melody (even if their idea of strong singing leans more on the side of shouting than singing), so it turned out pretty well. I couldn’t think of any songs specifically related to graduation (except for that Vitamin C song that was so popular back in junior high, which isn’t exactly teachable), so I taught them “Lean on Me”–a classic–and also the short worship song “Sanctuary” (the principal had asked for a religious song; they’re not exactly strict about separation of church and state here). The kids, and the teachers, all loved “Sanctuary,” and were so disappointed by the fact that it only has one verse that they actually asked me to compose more verses. I wouldn’t have really minded this, except that half of the song’s strength is the fact that it’s so short. So instead, I worked with my host mom to translate the song into Chuukese, so the kids can sing it in both languages. It turned out sounding really nice. If anyone’s interested, I can pass on the translation. I’ll also try to take a video during the ceremony so you can see what it sounds like.

Also on the subject of jobs that I’m probably not so qualified for…It looks like I may be teaching science next year, in addition to English. Since I only have two English classes next year, my work load’s been pretty light. I asked my principal if there was any other area I could help with, and he said they could really use help with upper-level science. I’ve sat in on a few 8th-grade science courses, and he’s right. They desperately need help. The class is basically just the teacher repeating information out of American textbooks; most of the language is completely over the students’ heads–not to mention the teachers’. I think all six of the school’s teachers have asked me, at one point or another, to explain or translate something out of the books. I don’t know what the kids are actually learning. There’s no lab work done, no experiments, nothing in the way of observation or application. Most of the textbook material is completely irrelevant to island life (learning about the difference between gamma rays, UV rays, and microwaves isn’t super helpful on an island that only has a handful of generators to supply any kind of power; there isn’t even a single microwave on Romanum). And of course, there’s such a wealth of opportunities just outside the classroom door, in the forest, and the ocean…as much as people here depend on the land and the water for their food, there’s a very small understanding of how the earth’s processes work, or the food chain, or anything related to the environment. And that’s the kind of science people here really need. So I’m kind of looking forward to the opportunity to expand the horizons of the science curriculum–even if my knowledge of the local environment is as limited as the students’. At least I’ve taken enough real lab science classes that I know how to run an experiment. I think it could be fun.

But before that, we still have the summer. I have a couple projects on the table that I’m excited about. The first is called the World Map Project. The project was first done by a PCV in the Caribbean back in the 80′s, and has been done at hundreds of locations around the globe since then. The goal is to paint a large map of the world on a wall of the school, bringing students together to complete the project, hopefully building a sense of community and teamwork. The map’s also meant to be a tool for teaching geography in a place where few other resources are available (like Romanum). I’ve been continually amazed, and saddened, at just how little the students here actually know about the world beyond Chuuk, even basic things like the fact that America is a continent, not an island. When life is so limited to a few square miles of land surrounded by vast amounts of water, it’s so hard to imagine how different the rest of the world is. I’m really hoping this map project will help with that. We’re planning to start in the beginning of July (there’s a huge volleyball tournament happening at the end of June, which has basically consumed everyone’s lives until then), and I have no idea of how long it’ll take to finish. I’m kind of hoping it’ll stretch out for most of the summer, if only to keep me from getting bored and having nothing to do.

My other project, for which I’ve yet to work out all the details, is to conduct a sort of high school prep class for the graduating 8th graders, and also the incoming 8th graders (who will be taking all the state tests and high school entrance exams next year). It’ll review the basics of different subjects, mainly English and math; I also hope to include some review of basic study skills, test-taking tips, etc. I’m planning to do that later in the summer, probably August.

I also have some bigger plans in the works for the school library, but I’m still kind of in the “dreaming” phase with that, so I’ll wait to talk about that until things get more stabilized…

And that’s about it for my summer, so far. I was also really hoping to get Scuba certified (Chuuk’s one of the best spots in the world for shipwreck diving), but it’s uber-expensive, and I also don’t really have any spare vacation days right now, thanks to the fact that…

I will be flying home for Christmas!! Well, I’m planning to at least; I haven’t had the trip officially approved by Peace Corps yet. But there’s no reason it shouldn’t be approved, and my tickets have been purchased. I’ll be home (home now being Kalamazoo, Michigan) from December 16 through January 6. And I’m so excited. This past Christmas was tougher for me than I expected, and though I’m sure the second year is easier, I still decided that if I was able to, I’d rather go home. I’m already looking forward to the snow…

Advertisement

~ by Kirby on Sunday, 13 June 2010.