Tua brings comfort

I have no doubt that every Tua supporter would be very happy at this time. If you understand Samoan you would agree with me that the song which he made his entry to was perfect. Perfect in that it so right with the great tragedies we've had to face. It sang of Samoa and it's people - to not fear in that God is our protector. It sang of the many values that our parents install in us as we grow...to be respectful and caring. Values that any good parent would want their child to possess. A great choice David Tua! This seemed to only add to the calm look and manner in which David approached the ring. I have no doubt all Samoans who were watching this boxing match wanted David to win for a much bigger reason than beating Cameron. To win to bring - even if just a little joy and healing to Samoa's grief stricken people. I think and feel it did.
I wonder if the screening of this on a big screen in Samoa would have maybe brought some joy to our people at home in Samoa, just something to lift the morale...
I found it difficult to watch the adverts in between the boxing matches that advertised holidays in Fiji, showing beaches etc. My family felt a lack of sensitivity in light of the tsunami this week, but I suppose the world does not wait and business etc must continue.

God bless and keep those who are working tirelessly in Samoa and further to ensure the well being of individuals and of a nation. Ia fa'amafanafana atu le Atua i lenei taimi i si o tatou atunu'u peleina o Samoa.

Talanoa mai, o se tasi fo'i auala e mafai ai ona fesoasoani le tasi ile tasi.

Tsunami Samoa

More Photos from Radio Samoa Website. My district / village - Falealili

Talofa e i si o tatou atunu'u peleina o Samoa. Mafatia le loto...
12.30 this afternoon Australia is also sending assistance to Samoa, search and rescue assistance. Help coming from the ground in Samoa with medical professionals who were on holiday now in the Samoan hospitals assisting...human spirit has been stirred and rises again to show what really lies deep in us.

I've sat watched and listened to the half hourly reports on TV One. Towards the end of the midday report a tourist was interviewed. They shared of being in the Lalomanu Tourist Fales. They were moved to safety first by the resort staff. They pointed out how these locals tended to them first before tending to themselves and their loved ones. It wasn't until all tourist were safe did they return to the shore to get their own to safety and find loved ones who had been killed.

Our people put others first...others first...o le tagata Samoa - o se auauna fa'amaoni- o le fa'amuamua o leisi - i taimi uma. O se a'oa'oga taua lea mo'i tatou, a'oa'oga na fa'alia muamua e le tatou Matai o i le lagi.

Talosia e maua e i si o tatou atunu'u le fesoasoani e tatau ona o'o atu i ai. Ia maua fo'i i tatou nei o lo'o nofo mamao atu - le loto alofa ina ia tatou taumafai i so'o auala e fesoasoani atu.
Ia fa'amafanafana atu le Atua i lenei taimi i si o tatou atunu'u peleina o Samoa.

Talanoa mai, o se tasi fo'i auala e mafai ai ona fesoasoani le tasi ile tasi.

Under the influence

No not under that influence...
We had a chat today in class about 'influences' that may have caused people to make some major decisions in life. This lead me to give an example from my own life experience. Mmmm what to tell and what to leave out...
I chose to share with my class about influences that lead me into teaching. Now I've heard some very sad stories which have prompted people to become teachers - as in 'I had the worst teacher...and I became detemind that I could do a better job'...Well for me it's more than one thing that lead me to teaching.

First off - as a bilingual child of the 80's, attending Grey Lynn Primary School - it seemed in all my classes I would have a child from Samoa who could not speak a word of english. I became the self appointed interpreter for these students. Without getting too emotional - I quite like the fact that I acted as a bridge at time for these students. I was blessed in that all these students were kind to me and I suppose I could say in reflection they certainly 'had my back' if ever needed. The idea of me being a 'teacher' for the Hamo's I was becoming pretty good at. So that was my Primary Teaching Career underway...

I was schooled up to 3rd form in Auckland central before moving out to Mangere. Here I was taught English by a very good teacher. He wasn't too much of the emotional sort but very professional as in - he taught us well. We were what they called the 'top class' so instead of the cool baggy basketball short wearing boys, we had the guys with tight shorts and uncool socks and sneakers who enjoyed nothing more than comparing their calculus and statistics homework. This English teacher of ours did his job well, so well in that he influenced me to become a teacher. I liked what he did with us to help us succeed. Plus the minor fact that it was the only subject I enjoyed and would pass well...

Now that I am a teacher I begin to wonder about this teacher of mine, back in Mangere - was he one of the few teachers that was truly professional in his dealings with students? Does he stand out for me because he treated us like students who were capable of moving into successful tertiary studies and further into careers? So does this mean others were likely unprofessional in their attempts to teach and lead students to success? The Power of Influence...

Having gone through Teachers Training College and University, now a teacher...it sounds sad but it's the experiences of my life as a child in school that I draw upon mostly to guide me in my career as a teacher today. This plus the experiences of teachers that I have and continue to work with. That's the power of influence...we as teachers are in powerful positions of influence aren't we?! How are we influencing the children in our care? What's influenced you to become a teacher? Tell us your story.

Time is up! Food in a day!

We have just completed a task that was set to be completed in approxiamately 50 minutes.  Some students are looking exhausted, some happy, some lost and some very frustrated.

We had to put together a presentation that would show what food we ate in a day with a conclusion or reflection on whether the food we ate was good for us according to the food pyramid.

Here's how the students felt about this task - having only 50 minutes to complete it.

-Confusing

-fun

-frustrating

-difficult

-hard

-under pressure

-alright

-'got my brain working'

-interesting

-complicated 

-challenging

-awesome

-easy

What did this task challenge to do?

-Get it completed!

-Focus on the rubric

-Pressure to get recording ourselves right

-Focus on the most important part of task - which WASN'T to make it pretty!

-making real attempts to finish

-challenged my mind

There's more to come!

Time is up! Food in a day!

Speak to me!

Zooming around, helping this and that child with things - now that I have a moment to reflect - they could have and should have fixed the problem they had independently! But time is ticking and I can't wait!

No it's not me being grumpy - on reflection I kept the 'Mrs T will fix it quickly' going, rather than get the 'student to work it out'. In our rush to get the job done, we are at fault causing our children to often not work things through to the end as we 'don't have the time' to wait around for it to happen?

Due to the 'rush' behaviour, I think it's helped the culture of pointing, grunting and incomplete sentences to rise. Now being more concious of the almost nil response or clear requests that need to be made when needing assistance, I am reminding myself and those I help to 'speak to me'. I've failed to pick this up often. I am making more of an effort to remind myself and my students that we must speak in a clear and concise manner to assist each other.

How have you been communicating in class? Have you found yourself in the same situation? Overcome it? Never had this problem?

Our favourite things to eat are treats

Yesterday we ran a quick survey in our class. Our goal was to find out what our favourite meal was - that included dessert.

Around 90% of our class chose fast food as their favourite meal. Burger King coming out on top.
KFC was a close second. A couple of students shared that Subway meals were their favourite.

We then had a close look at a food pyramid that you can find on the Harold website. We discovered that nearly all our food choices fell into the 'Treat' section, where the food is described as 'Sugary, sugary, fatty, fatty!'.

After some discussion we came to the agreement that we did not eat this type of food daily and so hopefully we were not in danger of eating too much sugar and fat.

Today we are going to look at what we actually eat everyday, using the food pyramid again we hope to discover that we have a more balanced diet than that that which was discovered with our favourite food survey.

Sonny Fai

Talanoa mai...o se tama e tausi aiga, o se tama e usita'i, o se tama e alofa...

At the moment Sonny is on the minds of many in our communities, in Aotearoa and further. And so he will be for a long time to come.

Samoan and further, this tragedy has caused many to come together to support and help the Fai family in any way possible. The Warriors have been at the forefront of this which is such a blessing to the family and to the New Zealand nation. Times like this whilst very sad, show the great people we have in our country. Whether it be management in the Warriors or a school mate to Sonny, a fan whose never actually met Sonny - people have been moved so much to do anything to help, and so they've turned up all over the place. The beach, at the family home, Warriors HQ, websites, tributes on youtube - everywhere.

Having been in the midst of family losses often, I know for a fact that presence of people alone comforts the soul. So the flow of people to the beach and family I believe have been a source of strength in this harrowing time.

I would like to invite you to share your thoughts, feelings in whatever language comes easy to you. Talanoa mai, o se tasi fo'i auala e mafai ai ona fesoasoani le tasi ile tasi.

Ia soifua, ona o Iesu.