Maritime Missions: Teaching in Tonga

Created by doina. Last modified on 2005-05-26 10:44:15
Contributors:
Countries: Tonga

Cultural Bridges through Teaching

Azure seas, white beaches, brilliant coral gardens and huge smiles of perfect white teeth. These things make thoughts of the Kingdom of Tonga bring a smile to my own face. There is much more though.

Along with many of the cruising fleet we arrived in Tonga in September and anchored in one of 36 mapped anchorages in the Vava'u Island group, the center of the country. With two months to spare before the hurricane season commenced we decided to stay put and get to know Tonga. While basking in the beauty of this tropical paradise my friend on another boat and I decided to, "do something challenging". After 8 months of passages crossing the south Pacific ocean playing "tourist" on various islands we created a unique opportunity to re-engage our brains in the main town of Neiafu, Vava'u.

One sweltering afternoon I visited the local primary school and introduced myself to the headmaster. He was delighted with our offer to teach English conversation for a week. Four of the teachers welcomed us into their classrooms of grade 4 and 6 students. Exams were over, so the timing was perfect.

Having little teaching experience we were not sure what to expect. The teachers kindly offered suggestions for the level of English the students had achieved in each class. We jumped in and created a fun lesson plan for the week realizing it needed to be very flexible. The easiest most successful lessons were magazine pictures which we used to stimulate discussion and draw vocabulary. We also drew a map of an imaginary town and practiced all the phrases necessary for giving directions and describing locations. Many of the young people in the islands haven't traveled outside of their country or been on a yacht, so they are intrigued by our experiences.

The children were delightful. They were attentive, enthusiastic and eager to learn. It was quite a novelty to have two Americans lead the class. We were able to relax and have fun interacting with them. Their bright smiles warmed our hearts and were more reward than we hoped for.

At the week's end we were showered with gifts of heartfelt thank you from each class; fruit, handmade seashell and woven jewellery and accessories. For the duration of our time in town we received friendly greetings from youngsters and their parents everywhere we went. This simple act helped to bridge the gap across cultures and experience and greatly enriched our memories. We are proud to have real friends in "the friendly islands".

Kimberly Coldren

S/Y Eleftheria

Maritime Missions encourages offshore cruisers to get more involved with remote communities while sailing the oceans of the world. We are a non-profit volunteer organization made up of cruisers and armchair sailors wanting to make a difference in the world. While our focus is currently towards the island nations of the Pacific Ocean, we are looking ahead to a worldwide program. Projects need not be affiliated with any church, but must be compatible with Christian ethics which is the predominate religion of the area. Go to http://www.maritimemissions.org/ for more information.