 |
| Playing snap with the boys (a new game for them) |
 |
| Speeches at the primary school |
 |
| My family after the Tongan feast |
 |
| Tongan children's literature: "Pato Puku" by Meleane Faufe'ulungaki |
Sharynne McLeod is Distinguished Professor of Speech and Language Acquisition at Charles Sturt University, Australia. This blog records the work of her team to support multilingual children's speech acquisition throughout the world. The associated Multilingual Children's Speech website contains resources for over 100 languages: http://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech
July 10, 2012
Learning from children and their teachers in Tonga
During the first week of July I took annual leave and traveled with my family to Tonga in the South Pacific. We went as a part of a delegation to bring laptops and a library of children's books to a small village school on Tongatapu (the main island). We had corresponded with the village for about 18 months, and this was our first visit. We were overwhelmed by the welcome from the children, teachers, parents and villagers. We were even on Tonga TV for four days in a row! On Sunday, after spending a few days in the school, we went to the village church service where the choirmaster had composed an anthem in our honour. The Prime Minister of Tonga, Nobel Tu'ivakano, also came to the service, and sat at the head table with us at the feast after the service. The speeches during the feast acknowledged the strength of our ongoing relationship and we look forward to returning in the future.