Vasega muamua- i le nofoaga o manu

We thought that something that may be helpful for parents would be to write a blog outlining what we have done in each class.  The idea is that:
-you can extend and consolidate the learning from the class during the week (we will include the words of songs and possibly videos in the future, examples of the sentences so you can sit down with your child and using the start of the phrase get them to make up stories using that structure, have lists of new words that we read or talked about to increase vocabulary etc.)
-you can get ideas for running the class/ see how simple running the class is so you feel confident taking the class yourself

It's been a long week, so here's the recap of our first impromptu class...to the best of my recollection.

Our first class all started with a call from Gianni on a lazy Sunday. The kids and I were out at Cornwall Park biking and scooting rather than at lotu, just like the bad Samoans we are. Did we want to do a Samoan class this afternoon?

Sure that is exactly the type of impromptu no prep thing we love do! We decided to do a trial run at the zoo. It's a fun place and Gianni and Lagi both have +1 passes courtesy of their respective grandparents (faafetai mo tama ma tina matua e alolofa ia la'ua). We were due to meet at the zoo at 1.30pm. We got home at 1pm.... I hurriedly translated the only kind of zoo related book I could find - From Head to Toe by Eric Carle. I quickly translated it writing out the Samoan next to the English Mai le Ulu i le Tama'ivae tusia e Eric Carle.  I chose it because

• I thought it would be fun for the kids because it has animals in it and it has actions that they can do
• the copy I have is rather large so was suitable for reading to a group
• I thought it would be useful to encourage the kids to speak Samoan (while we were going to see the animals later) if we started with reading a book about animals in Samoan.

I didn't take photos of us reading this book at the zoo itself, ae popole fua, I forced asked Lagi and Tanifa to hold it up for me today so that you would get an idea of size  of the book (and of the translation).

"O a'u o le pafalo, e mafai na o'u tu i luga o'u tauau. E mafai na e faia?
E mafai na o'u faia!"

"O a'u o le manuki e mafai na o'u talo atu ma o'u lima. E mafai na e faia?
E mafai na o'u faia!"

The structure of this book seemed to work well for teaching sentence structure. It is simple and repetitive and the picture cues (as you can see from the photos) are really clear.

I also thought it was fun as we could then incorporate the action song "Ulu, tau'au, tulivae, tama'ivae" or "Head, shoulders, knees and toes"

This song goes
"Ulu, tau'au, tulivae, tama'ivae
tulivae, tama'ivae
tulivae, tama'ivae
ulu, tau'au, tulivae, tama'ivae
mata, taliga, gutu ma le isu."

As you will know the English version is
"Head, shoulders, knees and toes
knees and toes
knees and toes
head, shoulders knees and toes
eyes, ears, mouth and nose".

This led into the next game "Faimai Simoga" or "Simon says". Most people know this game from childhood- we just do the exact same thing in Samoan.

"Faimai Simoga e te tago ia ou taliga
Faimai Simoga e te tago ia lou isu
Faimai Simoga e te tago ia ou suilapalapa
Tago ia lou isu"

And then inevitable laughing at all those who touched their nose because  as my 5 year old put it "Ga le faimai Simoga e te faia". This also can lead to a good conversation about the difference between
your- lou (singular) and ou (plural)
and
my- lo'u (singular) and o'u (plural)

The winner got a Freddo.  Chocolate incentivises children. This is a universal truth.

We also had butterfly wings (courtesy of Tanifa's 2015 Halloween costume). So we ran around, arms extended, flapping our 'apa'au singing:
"Va'ai i le pepe, va'ai i le pepe,
e lele solo, ma fa'apepepepe
e pei se manulele, e pei se manulele
manaia ana lanu eseese
e lele i i, ma lele i o
ae leai, leai se pa'o."

Tanifa ma lana 'apa'au. I le ata lea lae tuli e Leon ma Tanifa le tama'i lapiti uliuli.

This roughly translates
"Look at the butterfly, look at the butterfly
it flies around, being like a butterfly,
it's like a bird, it's like a bird
 it's many colours are lovely
it flies here, it flies there
but it makes no noise at all"

(After writing this I found this link http://artsonline2.tki.org.nz/resources/units/music_units/into_music_1/singing/o_le_pepe.php and it looks like you can download the song there :) )

When we had finished the lesson on the big blue fala. We decided to walk around the zoo.  We were surprised how much Samoan the kids used.  For example when we went to the penguin enclosure Gianni volunteered "Na o'u faitau le penkuini. E iva penkuini." At which point my fiapoto child Lagi said "Leai, leai, e to'a sefulu penkuini." Furious double counting and checking ensued in Samoan. There were 9. Gianni got a freddo!

Competitive as ever as soon as we got to the Kea enclosure Lagi volunteered "Tina, e lanu meamata le Kea. E to'a lua Kea." The freddo count was then even.

I also had forgotten how many bridges there were at the zoo.  The kids loved going over them and we prompted them to say "Le ma te savali i luga o le alalaupapa"



Ok that seems enough for one lesson. Not just because I am writing this the day before our lesson tomorrow Sunday 13 November at 2.30pm next to the Stardome Planetarium at Cornwall Park.