September 29 – 30, 2013
The day had finally come. The big test day that all of my volunteer group have, in some way or another, been working toward- the Secondary Enterence Examinations for the class 6 students to determine what high school they will be attending next year. There are 4 exams spread out over 2 days. I personally don’t take too much stock in these exams because I don’t see the end result, if the kids do not make it into the best high school- the government school Tonga High, they go to one of the religious schools, but in the end I do not see a big difference in career choices from those at the different schools…
The test starts in the morning after we (I mean me and the teacher who came to proctor the exam and the replacement principal) had morning tea. The first day was English and science, I decided to take the English test myself to see how many mistakes were on the test (this is very common, most of the time the tests are so poorly written you can’t even answer the questions) and to see how difficult I thought it would be for my students. It turns out the the test was not too bad at all, I had high hopes for my students. Of course my ¾ teacher, who is crazy!, was telling me the whole time “don’t worry they did this with Ela.” I kept responding that I had done it with them as well to which she assured me “but don’t worry ,they did it with Ela so they should be okay.” After I asked my kids how they thought they did, the same teacher mocked “ oh Sifa there’s no do now section on the test, no do now so you won’t get it! HAHAHA” (she thinks the fact that I do a do now everyday is a ridiculous notion and tells me the kids hate my class because of it).
After their first exam we all had a big feast with the parents, Mike, who was still staying with me at the time also got to join in. I gave my fakamalo (thank you speech) and gorged myself on all the amazing food. Of course after the big meal all the students have to go and take another 3 hour long exam...
The second day was pretty similar to the first. They took their Tongan and maths tests. The second day’s feast was even better and I tried to redo my speech from the day before because I had forgot to thank certain people that I culturally should have mentioned. I know I am pretty decently integrated because after I had spoken for a bit some of the fathers called out for me to be done (this was in a joking matter so I didn’t take offense). All the men came the second day and had a kava circle in one of the classrooms. I went with Mike to drink some kava and The Proctor of the exam was so impressed by how much kava i could drink, (roughly translated)"I have never seen a white person drink kava like that" of course this tempted the men in my village so they responded with "He can really drink watch" they handed me huge shells after that and so as to not disappoint I drank them. It was also a funny experience for me because with Mike there it was probably the most English they have ever heard me speak and They kept looking at me with weird faces- normally you are not supposed to speak English at kava circles.
Now that the test is done school will be a lot more relaxed for everyone.
Class 6 with some parents they all have new clothes on for the test
my class 6 boys and me
me with the class 6
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The feast!
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