Today our little village celebrated the end of the school year by throwing a celebration for all the students. This is my second end of the school year celebration (wow, that feels weird to say). Today the program included a welcoming speech and prayer by the head pastor of the local Wesleyan Church. The principal ('Atu) got up and spoke and then the littlest students I teach English sang the first verse of Jingle Bells (it took them 2 weeks to learn it - maybe next year we'll add one more verse on?). Then each class came up and sang and each teacher put the students in order from Top Student to Bottom Student. To be honest, it's still as hard as it was last year to see the students put in order of their academic progress so that EVERYONE can see. I know it's a tradition, but it's just so different than what I grew up with and I don't know if I'll ever really understand. I'm trying though! I saw a few tears, but mostly students didn't seem to (visibly) mind if they were the lowest students in their class. Awards and gifts were given to those who were in the Top 3 of each class. Most Improved and Highest Marks in Each Individual Subject were also given. This gave a little variety in terms of who won awards.
Here are some moments caught on film from today:
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| The Class 6 students made frames from coconut shells. They added way too much glitter for my taste but I think they turned out pretty sweet. |
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| Soni had a special hair-do for the big day. |
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| Class 5 & 6 boys excited for another tutuku'ako (school break). |
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| Kafoatu waiting to go up and sing/ |
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| Listening to the opening speech. |
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| Waiting for the program to start. |
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