SLEP & Culture Day

Monday and Tuesday, we administered SLEP tests to about 400 students.  SLEP stands for Secondary Level English Proficiency and are annually administered in our English immersion school.   Each grade level came to the “Hall” or the gym where desks were set up along with a sound system.  Now we need to score them all!

We had introductory classes for two new courses:  1.  Multiculturalism and Responsive Teaching through Sheltered Instruction and 2.  Church School Finance.  Both will wrap up by mid-November.  Graduation is November 30^th and then two months of break follow in December and January.

Culture Day was Thursday for the primary school and Friday for the high school.  Apparently, Culture Day is a universal celebration done in the Samoan schools.  Vaiola students dressed in the costume of their country; sang that country’s national anthem; performed a traditioanl dance; and provided food samples.  Primary school did Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa.  High School focused on Zimbabwe, Turkey, Bahamas, and Mongolia.  We saw beautiful, creative costumes and especially loved the boy playing the lead Mongolian!  Below are some pictures from the event.

The high school committee started assembling the outdoor props Thursday evening and they raised the coolest booths and backdrops constructed from resources in our "back yard jungle", so to speak.  Good thing they had coverings because we did have some rain.

Fiji

Mongolia

Bahamas

Ron ventured out in his lava lava being it was Culture Day.

Turkey Booth

Zimbabwe booth

Zimbabwe home decor from shells and coconuts.

Zimbabwe

Some of our Solomon Island guys.

A couple of our delightful International students.

A few scenic pictures of Savaii this week:

Good rains flow across the Fords.

Nonu fruit.  It is pear shaped but looks like an apple.

We don't know what the inside is like.  This tree was loaded.

Ron's little garden has started producing.  Green beans really grow that long and longer.  He grew Peruvian corn.  Elder Rees' garden gets a lot of attention and everyone is always asking him for seeds.