Language Class

This post was originally written on Tuesday, September 18, 2012:

Every day for the past two weeks I have spent at least 3 hours with this lovely lady.

Her name is Tulu (pronounced Too-loo) and she is my LCTF (Language and Culture Training Facilitator). The Peace Corps really likes their acronyms - if I had my way I would just call her my Tongan teacher.

Because that's what she is.

She teaches me Tongan. She is patient with me when I do not pick up on things. She makes class fun and has us get up and play games in order to help our brains soak up as much Tongan as possible. We have a long way to go before our language exam (next month) but we are slowly plugging along.

Along with Tulu, I spend Language Class with Alissa and Mark.

I feel like I am really lucky because every other group is made up of at least 4 people. Except ours. We have pretty similar learning styles too and are very good about making sure everyone is on the same page. We laugh a lot at each other a lot. We make silly mistakes and politely correct each other. 

The last two days we have learned about family (both immediate and extended).

Here's an example of what I've learned and the translation:

Ko eku tamai ko Richard. My father's name is Richard.

Ko eku fa'e ko Kate. My mother's name is Kate.

Ko eku kuifefine ko Helen mo Helen. My grandmothers' names are Helen and Helen.

Ko hoku tokoua ko Molly. My sister's name is Molly.

Ko hoku tuonga'ane ko Erik. My brother's name is Erik.

Ko hai ho famili? Who is your family?

Now you try!

Side note: Today I learned that it is really important what words are grouped with what you're saying - for example:

Eku huhu - fork (the kitchen utensil)
Hoku huhu - breast (boob)
Man, I wouldn't want to mess that one up.
Can you imagine? Sitting at the dinner table and you say, "May I borrow your huhu"? Derp.