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