time for another post

10th grade is pretty cool. In the Marshall Islands the English classes are supposed to cover four main points: reading, writing, oral communication, and grammar. At my school the students take two classes labeled as English and neither one has a specified focus. Both of the teachers who were teaching 10th grade English were Marshallese. When I was asked to teach English, I took over for one of the teachers. Because there are the four points that need to be covered in English two English classes, the other teacher wisely suggested that we split up the four points so that our classes would not overlap as much. However, when she suggested that, she told me to take the harder two points and decided that they were oral communication and grammar.

Many people who know me well may describe me as a 'talker' (I think the Marshallese work is 'bukarrar'). So the oral communication part should not be too difficult for me to teach. And those who know me—especially the ones I grew up with and went to elementary school with—know that I was never officially taught grammar and that my grammar sucks. So one would think, 'well at least his class will know how to talk.' Well the problem is that many Marshallese children are very, very shy and very terrified to talk in front of others. They are embarrassed easily and will clam up if they do not want to do public speaking.

Well anyway, out of about 90 students I have only had about 4 refuse to speak and only one cry. I think that is a pretty good percentage. I was told by many people that I may be asking a lot of the students to do public speaking in front their class on their first day with me, but if that is one of my main focuses I want them to get used to talking as much as possible in a controlled manner.

As for grammar, I am stuck in the mindset of 'guess and go, if it sounds right is probably is right.' Too bad that doesn't work in an ESL situation. Most of my students think that the movie 'Batman' is called 'fat man' or 'bad man.'

Tomorrow is 'Manet Day' it is the national holiday to celebrate the customs of the Marshall Islands. I am really excited to see the different handicrafts being made, the coconut husking contest, and the many other cultural events. I will try to take some pictures and put them up, I think this is going to be a good weekend.

Oh and please continue to send letters to me. I have responsed to everyone that I have received. I love getting mail. :)

Darren Nakata
WorldTeach
c/o Tamara Greenstone
PO Box 627
Majuro, Marshall Islands
Republic of the Marshall Islands

The bombshell

Ok...two weeks of school have passed and I am teaching 11th and 12th grade computers. I was a little shocked when I was asked to take on a special ed class, but everything seems to be ok with them. While I was walking out of school today the principal stopped me and asked to talk to him in his office. I was asked to trade in all of my classes to teach 10th grade English. I am not sure how I feel about this yet, but I said I would whatever is best for the students. So on Monday or Tuesday I will be getting a whole new set of students and get to start school all over again.....


So the things I requested for the computer lab will no longer be needed by me, but I am sure that they could still used by the students and the new teacher. As for things that I will need in my classroom, I will have to wait and see when I start. So I am sure I will let you know.


:/

Another update

Ok while, I intended to put up another post last week on the 14th the internet café was being dumb, so it was not updated and another week has almost gone by.

First off, I would like to happy birthday to my sister Cory, while this many be a little impersonal, you will be receiving a gift in the mail soon (well soon after I actually mail it). Second, I would like to say congratulations to my cousin Zach on getting married this weekend. I am sorry that I will not be attending this awesome event but I will be there in spirit. And thirdly I would like to give a night little shout-out to TK/Taysh for sending me an awesome postcard from Avalon, New Jersey, and to Lauren for sending me a letter as well. I enjoy the letters. Oh and how can I forget the care package of chocolate, goldfish and Twinkies? Thanks My for sending that, it was very much appreciated.

As for the happenings around Majuro, things are going well. I have been catching some things around here. Two weeks ago I caught a big rat. Last week I caught a big fish in a Billfish Club tournament. Joe and I went out on a boat called 'Celtic Pride' with the owner John Murphy. Our day started with getting up at 4:15AM and we fished from 6AM till about 4:30PM. At first we thought that we only had a so-so day of fishing catching 2 fish, neither one of them a Marlin. On Sunday we found out that our boat got second place! The first place boat had caught 2 Marlin.

So let's see if I can keep this up this weekend and see what I can catch. (the rat and fish pics should be posted soon.)

Last Sunday, a guy named Baron (a Marshallese man in his 40's who now lives in Gresham, Oregon) took us out on his father-in-law's boat and we spent the day fishing again. However, Sunday ended up being more of a boating day because there were even fewer fish in the water. At least we got to go to Enamanet to go swimming which is always a fun activity.

Well anyway, school is going well. I met my "Special Ed" class this week and I am no longer worried with taking that class on. While it is a little difficult to communicate with the deaf kid and many of the students have a hard time understanding moderate to difficult English words, that class follows directions very well. They are very patient with me, and everyone in that class makes an effort to participate. I can hardly say that with my four other classes, but those classes are starting to turn around.

Please continue to send me letters and emails they are very much appreciated. I am making an effort to write back as soon as possible. Also, to everyone who I promise a postcard, I am learning about places where I can buy some, so as soon as I purchase postcards and stamps they will be mailed out. Don't worry, I have not forgotten about all of you.

So until next time…

:)


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Phone: 503.467.1177

They call me demon part 2 (this post is from 9-14-07)

The first week of school is over and I have survived. It has been tiring, but other than that not too difficult. I am enjoying myself. However, it has come to my attention that some of my students may be afraid of me because my hair reminds them of a demon. During our WorldTeach orientation we were told that many people on the outer islands believe in demons, but I was under the impression that people in Majuro were less inclined to believe in such superstitions. Well I guess I was wrong. Oh well…the students can remember this year as the year that they had a demon for a teacher.

Please enjoy the pics I have taken over the last few weeks :)

To whomever wrote the comment below, please let me know since I am not sure who sent it.

"D said..."Sounds like a good challenging experience. Let me know if you have questions about behavior difficulties or special education."



You can view all the pics here:

Marshall Islands part 4

First post in a while

Ok, time has flown by and so much has happened. The Navy came to provide aid all around Majuro (which delayed the start of school another week), Dan had his 25th birthday weekend, and I have been spear fishing (and actually catching fish).

However, the thing that sticks out in my mind the most is that I began teaching this week. Our first day was Monday, September 10, 2007 and in Marshallese school system fashion, we had a half day which started with an assembly at 9AM and dismissing the students at 10AM. To top is all off, at about 8:30AM the power went out in the school.  

(A side note, NVTI is located on the same campus as Majuro Middle School and Marshall Islands High School, and our school was the only one to lose power, oh well.)

So I have approximately 100 students in two 11th and two 12th grade classes. The two full days of class I have had so far have been exhausting. But that might also be due to the lack of sleep I have been getting—going to bed around midnight/1AM and getting up at 6AM. (I know mom and dad, if I went to sleep earlier I would not be so tired…oh well I guess I will have to figure that out at some point.) Anyway, my school schedule began with 3 classes from 8AM-10:45AM, lunch from 10:45AM-11:35AM, free period from 11:25AM-12:35PM, another class from 12:35PM-1:25PM, study hall from 1:30PM-2:20PM, and a prep period from 2:25PM- 3:15PM. I thought this was a pretty good schedule especially since I was able to get about an hour and half for lunch which gave me time to do more class room prep and relax. Today I was asked to take on another class during my free period; I was asked to teach the 11th grade Special Ed class. Of the students in that class I am told that one is deaf, two of them do not speak English and the rest of them are 'really slow learners.' I have not been able to determine if 'really slow learner' means that the students are actually mentally handicapped or if they are just not very bright. It is good to see that they have decided to group all of these kids together. I am not a trained teacher and am definitely not trained to teach special education. This is going to be an interesting year.

Anyway, I will put up pictures soon and continue to let you know about my teaching endeavors.

Also, since I am teaching computers I am always in the need to for computer related materials (especially mice, keyboards and mouse pads-a class set of 30 each would be awesome) or posters, or any other regular school supplies. Today I spent the whole class period reviewing the parts of the computer with the students (Hardware, internal device, external device, monitor, keyboard, mouse, CPU, hard drive, input and output). Most of the 11th and 12th graders have had 3 or 4 years of computer class. This may be turning into a long year. :)

Until next time.....