Tongan language week!

WALT: Review explanation writing: Identify the structural features of an explanation text.

Tongan Language week had arrived! September the 4th - 8th Pt England school celebrated the beautiful language of Tonga. “Fakakoloa Aotearoa aki ae nofo ai kainga” was the theme for the week, meaning enriching New Zealand with our family values.

In team 5 we have a lot of Tongans in our space. During the time of team 5’s assembly, either one of our fluent Tongan speakers had to stand up and pronounce the theme. Sadly not one stood up except for Bobby Jon, He wasn’t one of the fluent speakers but at least he gave it a try. We could all tell Mrs Tele’a was disappointed, as they weren’t showing pride in their culture. Another thing we learnt during week 7 was don’t be afraid to express your culture as the things we are taught at home are to be shown at school as well.

Luckily throughout the week the Tongan students improved and more volunteers came through, we showed what our family values were. A few of our lovely Tongan students provided a Tongan group to be shown at Friday’s assembly, with separate items for the boys and girls. Lunch time practices become common for them, we could all hear their beautiful haka and seeking their leadership in showing pride in their culture. We literally couldn’t wait to witness their work.

We all were impressed and couldn’t believe that our tongan children choreographed the whole set of the performance, It was an amazing act. From the year 1-8 everyone had a role to play and from my perspective they all did a fantastic job. Speeches were said loudly and the songs were magnificent, I learnt a lot about their culture and their values of things in just 5 days!

Overall we didn’t get to start the week off professionally but we did get there. We showed progression and taught others not only about our family values but our language as well, It was a great week!