Talofa lava matua!
Saturday class was full of fun, learning days of the week and months in Samoan. The children breezed through days of the week and enjoyed reciting them over and over ;). The months in Samoan was a bit of a challenge, as some months are lengthy and were tongue twisters to the children. Each student was given a handout of - Aso o le vaiaso & Masina ( Days of the week and Months). Please practice with your child throughout the week, let me know if you need me to email this list to you.
Below, I have the students in two groups playing a word building game. They had lots of fun working together and helping each other out! I have the best class ever! ;)
Talofa lava matua!
I aplogize for not posting our last two lessons in here. I was part of our teacher's team that had travelled to New Zealand to observe and gather information on how their schools conducted and taught the Samoan Language. It was a very educational and awesome experience for me as a teacher, and I am excited to put into practice all that I have learned from this trip! Malo lava le nofo tapua'i ia te outou matua!
Our lesson on 09/13/2014 focused on learning colors. I had sent out a worksheet - ' Pepe felanulanua'i ' ( colorful butterfly ) for them to complete at home. This worksheet is to help them learn and memorize the following colors: moana, mumu, samasama, uliuli, moli, pa'epa'e, 'efu'efu, viole, piniki, 'ena'ena.
Our lesson on 09/20/2014 was learning about body parts. Each child was given a list and a worksheet to complete. They learned to sing " Ulu, tau'au, tulivae, tama'ivae " ( head, shoulders, knees and toes.. song) to incorporate new vocab. We will continue to expand our list of words of body parts as the semester continues.
Yesterday was a re-cap of our last two lessons, which is stated above. I also shared with the children my trip to New Zealand and talked to them about the Samoan children there. They were all ears! I showed them some pictures and video clips of Samoan children speaking and singing in Samoan, welcoming our group. I also brought back some goodies from my trip and shared with the class, explaining one of our traditions of bringing back 'Oso' for the 'fa'amuli' when one comes back from a trip ;) The children took a good liking to the concept Lol!
We started to learn the following song: ' Le pepe '. Please note that the words in video clip is not the correct spelling of words. I believe they spelled it out for pronounciation's sake but I did have the children write out the correct words to the song. Please sing along with your child and have fun!
Talofa lava matua,
Saturday class was full of fun and numbers! The children had a good time learning numbers from 1 to 100 in Samoan. I had printed out more paper money in 1's, 5's and 10's and this was used in our class activity. They did an awesome job counting in tens and ones, they got pretty competitive on who was able to count their money the fastest lol! I did send them home with their play money to continue using what they learned in class throughout the week. Please help your child learn their numbers, make it fun and be creative ;)
The snap shots below is of Grandma doing her weaving. We are fortunate to have her come to our school sharing this art. I love these pictures as it depicts the older generation teaching the younger ones! Fa'afetai lava, ma ia manuia lenei vaiaso fou i fe'au ma galuega!
Talofa lava matua,
Our lesson yesterday was about 'Aiga' - Family. The children had a fun time presenting their family photo's and telling the class a brief story of family members. Thank you to all the parents that allowed their child to participate by bringing in their family photo! They were very proud sharing about you and your family. Malo lava!
The main lesson yesterday was learning the Samoan words for our relatives and using it in our basic sentence - " O lo'u __(vocab) o _(name)__. "
Vocab: Other related words to lesson:
Tama - father/dad Aiga - family
Tina - mother/mom tama - boy
uso - brother/sister ( same gender) teine - girl
tuagane - brother (of a female) alofa - love
tuafafine - sister (of a male)
* please note: I was unable to put in the diactrics for some of the words above for correct pronounciation. Please email me if you have any questions.
Homework: The children were assigned to learn new vocab and to use it in our basic sentence. Parents, please help your child(ren) recite their sentences.
I also introduced to the class yesterday my new reward/incentive system. We will be using fake money doing this. Basically I've set up a little store in class called " Katie's Faleoloa" (Katie's Store) The children will be earning their "tala's"(dollars) by attendance, completing homework, participation and etc. At the end of the day, they will be able to purchase items from our store with what they've earned. This is our class currency, and here's a picture of a student buying an item ;)
Talofa lava matua!
In class today, the children focused on introductions. Each child learned how to greet each other and state their names in Samoan. We went over the Samoan alphabet and numbers of 1-10. Our vocab today was:
Talofa - Hello
Tofa - Good bye
Tulou - excuse me
Faia'oga - Teacher
Fa'afetai - Thank You and Fa'amolemole - Please.
Our sentence for the day was:
O lo'u igoa o ___________.
(My name is __________.)
We learned a new song today, and the kids loved it! - It is called 'Le Aute ' see below. Please sing along with your child(ren).
My assignment for the children this week is that when they get dropped off at school, to say "tofa" and when they get picked up from school, to say " talofa ". So, parents, please prompt your children to speak in Samoan this week by using Talofa and Tofa when dropping off and picking up children from school or other events ;)
We will be learning about family ties next lesson, so please have child come with a family picture next Saturday.
Thank you to all parents that were able to make it to our open house this past Saturday. It was awesome meeting you all! Fa'amalo ma faafetai atu :)
The purpose of this blog is to build a better connection between home and class room. I really want the parents to see what we are learning in class, and that you as the parent will re-inforce these lessons in your homes. I also uderstand that your child may not be able to attend every class throughout this semester, but with this tool your child will be able to catch up.
I am looking forward to a great school year, I know we are going to have lots of fun!! yay!!
