The bright side, it's really bright!

The first week of school in Samoa is very different than I remember it being in the states. The students do a lot of cleaning and playing and there is no teaching or class. The teachers have some meetings, organize their supplies, and do some other preparatory work, but it’s very different. I spent the majority of the week doing assessments on my students and figuring out if they needed to be placed in the “advanced” group or “at risk” group (school’s words, not mine).  I had them read, go over the alphabet, and identify numbers.  I was impressed by many and also saddened by several Year 8 (7^th grade) boys that don’t even know the alphabet yet. But that’s why I’m here, right?! It’s a definite work in progress.  I also did some organizing in the library with the small collection of books we have and did some decorating in my class, which also happens to be the library. 

The second week of school has been great! Very exhausting, but by far one of the best weeks I have had since being in Samoa.  I love my students. They are amazing. They love books. They love to read. They aren’t reading at very high levels, many of the students struggle reading in Samoan, let alone English. But they love to try, which makes me ecstatic.  So during their interval period, they come into read.  That’s the equivalent of a kid coming to read during recess, which isn’t a super common thing as far as I am aware.   They read books in Samoan and in English, but mostly they just love to look at the books and think about what could be happening.  Then after school, I started doing a homework help center, so the kids come in and we do their homework as a class and then they spend the next hour reading. During this time all of the older kids have to read books in English. So they literally line up with their books to read to me.  Some kids are so bad I have to help them (or tell them) every word. Some kids are pretty good, so I just listen and don’t correct unless they ask. So basically I spend about 2-3 hours of my day just listening to kids read. What a great job, right?  They get really sad at 5:30 when I say it’s time to go, and ask every day “we read tomorrow?” I kind of hate leaving because I want them to keep reading. It makes me feel very excited and very motivated about being here. Honestly, I know it’s such a little thing-reading-but it really does make me feel like their little lives can be a little bit better by reading a book. I love it! I love my students!