This last Monday was the “Promotional Day” for my school. This is the day that the 8th graders graduate and all the other students get promoted to the next grade. This year Angaur Elementary School only had one 8th grader. It was a very emotional day for her.
In Palau, there are 16 public elementary schools and only one public high school. The high school is in Koror, the only real city in Palau. It is customary for the child to live with relatives in the capitol city to finish their education.
My graduate had to say goodbye to the only school she has known for whole life. Say goodbye to her life-long friends and say goodbye to the family that raised her in Angaur. When I asked her to explain how she felt in a writing assignment about graduating and moving on in life, she only wrote one word; bittersweet.
Me and the graduate.
The whole school congratulating the graduate.
The special cake, just for her (the bakery misspelled "Angaur")
The graduate with the old and new principal of Angaur Elementary
Not much to report, the school year is flying by. Our last day of school is May 21 and we've got a lot to cover in a short amount of time.
Here is a picture from yesterday's Earth Day festivities. Each one of the students were instructed to bring a tree from their home to plant on the school's porperty. Mango trees, coconut trees, lemon trees, betel nut trees, and many floral bushes were also planted.
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!
I’ve got not much new to report and I’m in a slight hurry (at least as hurried as one can be on a remote island in the Pacific) so I’m going to make this brief.
1. I met the President of Palau today. He made the trip from the mainland of Palau to the outer island of Angaur to give a motivational speech to the kids and get to know the school staff. He listened to the students, staff, and a few parents when they let him know what they thought the school needs. I had to explain to my students that it was a big deal that they were meeting the president. They just assumed that the Obama made visits to all the elementary schools in the USA too.
2. We are out of water at my house. Apparently El Nino is back and while it means warm winters in Minnesota- it means droughts in Angaur. Don’t get me wrong, sunny day after sunny day is nice (it’s GREAT, actually). But, I’ll take a few days of rain if it means that I can get a drink of water every now and then. You might be wondering where I’m getting water now. We still have running water that is not suitable for drinking- that keeps me clean and my garden watered. My drinking water is mooched off of others in the community who have a more adequate supply. Sadly, this El Nino is expected to drastically reduce rainfall through June- so I might need to be more creative in my search to quench my thirst.
3. On one of the aforementioned “Sunny Days”, I took a hike with a few of my students on the weekend. My eight grade student said, “It’s F***ing hot”. I gave her a scowl of disapproval and said, “At least say ‘Hucking Fot’ or something else when you’re around adults”. Well, that caught on and now all of the upper-graders in my school are having a blast using curse words without actually using curse words. “Yuck fou”, “aumb dss”, and (my personal favorite) “Sull Bhit”. It’s things like this that really make me feel like I’m making a difference.
I’ve gotten the question, “Rob, what do you eat?” so let me go over each meal and tell you what is normally on the menu.
Breakfast: Bread- white bread with peanut butter and jelly. Everyday. Lunch: Rice with fried fish, crab patties, or fried chicken Dinner: Rice with a wider selection of main dishes- Fish (raw, fried, grilled, or in soup), Chicken (fried, baked, or on a special occasion grilled), Crab (crab patties, ogaib, or whole coconut crabs), and canned/processed delicacies (SPAM, Hormel Luncheon Loaf, hot dogs, and corned beef).
For the most part my host family cooks for me and when I get to cook it is a little bit of a novelty for me. So, I got a chance to cook last night and my main dish (chili) won the approval of my host mother. I made her take a picture of me cooking so that I could let the people at home know that I’m actually cooking for myself a little bit.
Also, as an update for my garden- the only thing that has turned into anything edible are the green beans. I was able to get enough to go with a meal of some sort. My host mother took them and told me she’d “fix that one”. It was thrown into a pot with a can of corned beef. Not quite what I had in mind, but good nonetheless.
Well- the tests have finished and a new quater is upon us here at Angaur Elementry School. We did alright on the quartly assessments. We are short a teacher so everyone is doing a little more than normal to help bridge the gap. I'm now teaching 6th and 8th grade English; 8th grade math; 6th, 7th, and 8th Health; and 6th, 7th, and 8th grade Career Guidance. I've got a much busier schedule, but like it a lot.
Besides that, there's not much new to report. I now leave it up to you- after being scolded by my parents for not updating my blog, I've decided to do a Q&A format. So ask away. Let me know your questions, if you have any- and I'll write a post to adress it. You can email me at rsteffens@gmail.com or leave your question as a comment.
Also- I'm looking for some pen-pals for my sixth grade class. There are seven student who would love to team up with some kids their ages in America. So if anyone can help with that, I'd be aprreciative. We're in the US postal system, so mail comes very quickly and it doesn't cost any more to send a letter to Palau than it does to send a letter anywhere in America.
Enjoy some pictures:
Just a normal, everyday sunset in Angaur, Palau
My host brother, Cortez, taking a dive off the dock.
My host family's house
A little lizard that I found in my house.
The retired principal of Angaur Elementry- also my host uncle.
Another sunset.
The school kids at Christmas with Santa there to visit.
It’s a cold (relatively) and rainy day in Angaur today. There has been a constant rain for the last six or seven hours. I’m not adverse to the rain, as it brings cool breeze and will inevitably help my garden grow. However, this time it is a bit excessive. There are small ponds where small ponds have not previously existed. Overall it is just the beginning of a gloomy Thursday.
Right now in school we are preparing the students for their quarterly exams. Each quarter, the Ministry of Education tests the students in Science, Math, English, Social, Palauan, and Health. About a week before the tests, we are given a “review sheet” from the MOE to provide us a guideline as what to prepare the students for specifically. Unfortunately for the students, this means an intense review/cram session. Also, since the school is so small, each student’s grade is even more significant.
I have one eight grade student. And we’ve been working this quarter doing some writing, fiction reading, character analysis, grammar rules, etc. I got the review sheet which has a list of ten items that will be covered on the test. Having just the one student, and being her only teacher, I’m starting to feel the pressure for her to succeed. If she fails the test, that means that Angaur Elementary School will have a 0% passing rate for 8th grade English, which needless to say, looks bad on paper.
Needless to say, I’m looking forward to the new quarter to begin.
Me and the graduate.
The whole school congratulating the graduate.
The graduate with the old and new principal of Angaur Elementary
