EAW

The last week here was “Educational Awareness Week” (EAW) in Palau. During EAW the students spend time doing various educational activities. We did a beach clean-up, field trip to the mangroves, learned how to tie knots for fishing, and many other fun things. The last half of the week was spent presenting to the parents all of the things that we have learned so far during the school year. The parents came here and tolerated the two full days of presentations. Spelling bees, essays (in both English and Palauan), cultural dancing, singing, science presentations and even a volleyball game where the parents played against the students.


Overall, the week was good. The kids spent a lot of time and energy preparing for this and did really well. I was very happy to see the turn out of parents- maybe 90% of the students had their parents (or some other family support) show up.

Here are some pictures of what we did:

My host brother, Valdez, trying to concentrate and focus on knot tying, as he wasn’t paying attention when the instructions were given- he eventually did successfully tie the knot.

This is Vance and Beches, sixth graders, who are explaining the life cycle of stars to the crowd.

These are our two first graders, Pohai and Niro. Pohai is in a coconut leaf skirt and Niro is in a usaker (loincloth). They did the Mengesols, which is a traditional Palauan chant.

This is the fourth grade presentation for their career class. They did a fashion show showing what careers they’d like to pursue. From left to right we have Modesta that wants to be a dancer and eventually a dance instructor, then Klikm wants to be a singer, followed by Ucheliou who wants to be a teacher, and finally Tito who wants to become a doctor.

One of the most enthusiastic fourth graders happy with his EAW treats. We do not normally serve ice cream or oranges.

My host brother, Cortez, reading his expository essay that was prepared in both Palauan and English.

I’m showing off my find of a mangrove crab. Usually they stay in their homes during the day and only come out at night to eat. I let this one free, but I told it I’d be back to get it when it got a little bigger.

My sixth grade student, Beches and my seventh grade student Tsun show off their find from the field trip to the mangroves. Even though it’s been decades since Angaur has seen any fighting, there are still reminders of what this island went through during WWII.

On our field trip to the mangroves, Teacher John is showing off a specific type of plant and explaining its medicinal uses and its historical significance to the Palauan people. Most of the kids don’t have the same knowledge of their environment as the older generations do.

My and one of my sixth graders, Bizk. I tutor him every day after school and as a thank you he gave me the head band that I’m wearing in the picture.

While the boys tied knots, the girls learned how to make Bilum- the traditional preparation of the tapioca plant. Bilum was eaten regularly until the discovery of imported white rice, which has since replaced the native carbohydrate for most of the people on this island.

This is the fourth grade class taking a break from the hard work of the clean up.

This is just a picture of some of my students as we clean the beach.

This is Keo and Bizk impressed by their find of a hermit crab who has, “adapted to it’s new environment” by making it’s home in an empty beer can. Good thing we made it to the beach to clean!