Tuesday, October 27, 2009

NYO pictures

Here are a few pictures and videos of the NYO competition. They're not great - the lighting in the gym is terrible, plus the videos are so grainy - I'm not sure why. They look fine on our camera and on our computer but once I uploaded them they looked pretty bad. Anyone out there know how I can get better quality video online?

In any case you can still get an idea of what the competition was like. Enjoy.

Try

'Try' is a word that gets used in a unique way by the students. I don't know what they think it means. Maybe you can figure it out from these examples:

"Try look" - what is said when they want you to look at something
"Try smile" - what is said when they want you to smile
"Try sit" - what is said when they want you to sit down
"Try read it" - what is said when they want you to read something
"Try don't drink your tea" - what is said when they wanted S to not drink her morning tea just to see what would happen
"Try come" - what is said when they want you to come to them

That last one is the best. It gets used when you're busy helping one student and the other student gets impatient so he asks you to "try come". I want to say, "It's not for lack of effort that I haven't come to you yet."

I know what they're trying to say, but I don't know what you could substitute for 'try' in these sentences.

Note: This is not just used in a student-teacher situation. Student-student usage is common too.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

NYO, things we like, and cold


Last weekend our school hosted an NYO competition, and two other villages sent students to compete. NYO is Native Youth Olympics, a series of very challenging physical events. We didn’t see all of the events, but we were able to see a few and get some pictures. We’re not 100% sure about the origins of all the NYO events but it seems that at least some of them developed from hunting traditions. For example, the “Two Foot” involves a student standing with her feet together. She jumps and, keeping her feet together, kicks as high as she can, then lands on both feet. Apparently this and the “One Foot” (same type of thing, the obvious difference being you use one foot instead of two) were both ways that returning hunters could signal to the village whether or not the hunt had been successful. Some of the older boys can kick well above 6 feet, which is truly amazing to see. Other events simply test strength and endurance. The “Wrist Carry” seems to test your limits of tolerating pain: two students hold a dowel a little thicker than a broom handle, at about waist height. The competitor sits underneath it and wraps one arm around it so that he hangs by his wrist, then lifts himself off the ground. The two carriers walk slowly while the competitor hangs for as long as he can stand it. I think the winner came in at just under 30 seconds. It looks incredibly painful. On the other hand, the “One-Arm Reach” and the “One-Leg Reach” are more about strength and flexibility. In these events, you kind of get into a crow pose, like a squat where you then shift your weight to your arms and lift your body off the ground. Then you either reach up with one arm or one leg as high as you can. In all these reaching and kicking events there’s a ball dangling overhead to measure how high you’re going. When you miss the ball three times in a row, you’re out.

Similar to the dancing, NYO was very laid-back. In fact when we first entered the gym it was hard to even tell that there was a competition going on. The only clapping occurs when someone gets out – which is kind of nice, actually. Our team placed first in both the junior high and high school categories, and it was really nice to get to see the kids out of the usual context of the classroom. For me, seeing them achieve in other ways always helps me have more patience and more affection for them than when I insist on only knowing them as “my” students. This was especially true this time, as this competition involved several of my junior-high age students. I think I’ve said before that I was a little caught off guard when I volunteered to teach the 5th-grade level math class and ended up with 13 and 14 year old kids. It’s an age group I don’t really love and don’t feel super comfortable with, so it was particularly nice to be able to see some of these kids, who often frustrate me in class, perform with seriousness and skill in a different area.

Okay, onto something a little lighter. Mail continues to be a high point of our week, and there are definitely things that are particularly wonderful to get. If you’re thinking of sending up some mail, here are some ideas:


• puzzles or games
• photos
• cans of soup/chili/other instant stuff (we obviously never go out to eat and it’s nice every once in a while to not have to cook a meal. We wouldn’t want to be living off of instant stuff but you know, now and then…)
• books (especially books you don’t necessarily want back)
• sweets (anyone who knows us knows we have both have a terrible sweet tooth. Don’t indulge us too much, but maybe a little bar of dark chocolate?)
• letters (as opposed to emails – nothing wrong with emails and phone calls, it’s just also nice to get a real letter now and then)
• interesting or unusual spices or sauces (virtually all our meals are grain + vegetable + bean or tofu or seitan. It’s nice to be able to vary the flavors.)

I think that’s it! I’m pretty sure we’ve said this already but just in case you were thinking about it, do not send alcohol of any kind – we’re in a dry village, it’s illegal in any case to mail it in Alaska, and we’d be immediately fired, no questions asked, if we got caught with it. I felt nervous eating a chocolate with an orange liquor filling the other day.

One final thing. It is starting to get cold in a serious way. The days are down in the 30s and the wind is fierce at times. This past Saturday B and I took the school’s Honda to the post office and on the way back the wind was in our faces. I just had to put my face against B’s back and close my eyes. I don’t really know how B’s face didn’t just freeze and fall off. It made me kind of nervous about the winter. I don’t think we have any idea what kind of cold we’re in for.

Oh, and - I'll try to get some pictures and videos up of NYO stuff soon. We do finally have Internet at our house but it's incredibly slow, so uploading stuff is a major task. But we'll get around to it this weekend maybe.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Fun with Culture

I have a 5 year old on my caseload who has to learn things like colors, grouping similar objects and understanding opposites. We use file folder games, among other things, so that he thinks we're playing when he's actually learning. The other day we were sorting breakfast foods and lunch/dinner foods. The foods were typical American fare: hamburgers, eggs, bacon, toast, etc. However, this student lives with his 75 year old grandfather who can't cook. Apparently they eat frozen food warmed up in the microwave for most of their meals. Needless to say, sorting breakfast foods from lunch/dinner foods was not trivial for this student.
Another day this week the same student chose to do a game in which he had to sort winter items from summer items. However, there's no time of year in which he would wear a swimsuit because it's never warm enough to swim. Additionally, he sorted the heavy boots into the summer category because, I think, it's very muddy here all summer so you need to wear waterproof shoes. Finally, the baseball glove and bat were put in the winter category because you might use them in the school gym during the winter but there's absolutely no place to play "our national pastime" in The Village. I think I have to hide the culturally insensitive games.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Success

Recently I proctored the High School Grade Qualifying Exam. Just two students took the test- one of whom is on my caseload. It was brutally boring for me and not much fun for the students. I just sat at my desk trying to be productive (and checking in on the baseball playoffs) while they worked for about 3 hours per day. The test is un-timed so they just kept working until they finished. Students have to pass all three sections of the test (reading, writing and math) in order to get a high school diploma which means they have to keep taking it every year from 10th grade on until they pass. However, if you pass the reading section but fail the other two, you never have to take the reading section again. It's pretty high stakes.
The student on my caseload who took the test is pretty intellectually impaired. Also, his English is not nearly as strong as his Yup'ik. There's almost no chance he will pass the test this year. He turns 20 in December so he really only has one more chance to take and pass the test after this. More than likely he will finish high school with a certificate of attendance rather than a diploma. His plan is to join the Alaska Job Corp in Anchorage and then possibly the military. These are not bad options for a person in his situation. Just the fact that he's thinking about the future is a great sign actually. But chances are he's not going to go on to college and his job prospects are pretty narrow.
What is perhaps most interesting is that he can probably live a healthy and productive life with no further education or training as long as he stays in the village. He can fish and hunt just fine so subsistence is not really an issue for him and subsistence was (and still is to some extent) the name of the game here. So, while a student like this (with extremely low academic achievement) would be more or less doomed in NYC or Portland- this student will more than likely be OK out here. It would be great if he joins the Job Corp in order to open up some doors for himself but if he doesn't he could live in a way that would be very similar to his ancestors. This is, in fact, preferable to a lot of the students who want to hunt and fish rather than work some job.
On the one hand, it would be unfortunate if this student had no other options than staying here. On the other, it can be a good life. While my job is to help open doors for students, it's not my place to tell them which one to go through.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Yup'ik Dance and Song

We haven't been able to upload our little video of Yup'ik dance. So you can check some out here. If you google "yupik dance" you'll find more videos. Most of them are on YouTube of course and since our only Internet connection is through the school, I can't check out or recommend any of them because YouTube is blocked by the school's filter.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Yup'ik to English

Here are some of the phonetic differences between Yup'ik and English.

Letter in Yup’ik

English sound

C

CH

T

D

P

B

V

F

II

LONG E

 

 

R

 

 

H

(sorta – it’s like a really guttural R)

Q

K

 

G

 

G

(but way, way in the back of your throat)

UA

O (as in dog)

LL

TH

(sort of – it’s really more like you put your tongue to the roof of your mouth and hiss.)


Also, there is no B, D, F, H, J, O, X, or Z in Yup’ik.

This is only my very primitive understanding of Yup’ik phonemes. Corrections are welcome, if anyone reading this has a better knowledge of the language.


Anyway, perhaps this is why my kids have a hard time reading and writing in English? When you consider how many contradictions there are between the two systems, I think it's kind of amazing that they figure it out at all. I doubt if I could.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Fall

I miss autumn. What I always love about fall is how it makes you feel sort of sad and nostalgic for no reason. Or maybe it’s that the reason is too big – death, change, endings – to really be contained, and so it feels, in small moments, like no reason. Anyway, what’s sort of funny is that this year I find that I’m nostalgic for my yearly dose of autumnal nostalgia. It’s true that the tundra is turning some lovely shades of yellowy-brown, and the light in the afternoons (when the sun manages to peek out briefly) is a stunningly beautiful golden pink. But trees, oh wow, I miss trees. Growing up in New England, fall is very dramatic. It starts and ends all of a sudden. One day the tree up the block is green, the next, it seems, it’s a fiery orange-yellow, and before you’ve had time to fully appreciate that, it’s bare. In Portland, things are slower, more gradual, less dramatic, but no less beautiful. It’s not only the trees, though. I miss apple picking and fireplaces and fresh, crisp air and pumpkins and hayrides.

Here’s a small poem I wrote last fall. I don’t know what this fall will inspire.



Fall

I like to sit
on things made of wood.
Stumps, benches, rails.

I like the way
nostalgia pulls you down
turns your eyes darker.

Pain divides itself
from not pain
more clearly
than at other times of year.

I do not seem to mind
aging
in the fall
when the trees
empathize.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

11 people slept in the school last night

1 - speech pathologist
1 - social worker
1 - mentor for new teachers
8 - workers from out of town (some to work on the foundation of the school, some to begin improving the airstrip)

They sleep in classrooms on mattresses the school owns. The workers, and all other non-education-related folks, pay $50/night. There's a few showers in the school, a small refrigerator and coffee in the morning. Nice digs, right?