Year Three

I can’t believe that I have been a teacher in American Samoa for two years going onto my third year. It has been an experience that is hard to put into words. I feel like sometimes I am living two lives. I have my life in the states with my family and friends that I have known for years. Then I have my life in American Samoa with all my friends and family out there. I have grown to know so many amazing people over this experience. Each year seems to bring some really high highs and some really low lows. I can feel my self-growing as a person each time I face something unknown. When I look back on the time I have spent on Aunu’u, I think of many accomplishments I have made and some not so good moments.

As I move into my year three and I am days away from going on a very long day of flying. I am very excited for the upcoming school year. I have spent more time then one would like to admit preparing for this school year. I am trying to rebuild my curriculum to something that I am familiar with and am comfortable teaching. The way that most teachers teach out there is not how I studied to teach in college and I want to bring what I learned in college to the classroom. I also finally had the funds to actually make this possible. Being a volunteer teacher made it extremely hard for me to do that because funds for resources were very limited. So I am hoping for a great year of learning in my classroom.

This year I once again will be changing grade levels. This year I will be teaching fourth grade and I have nine students. I teach all subjects except Samoan. A Samoan teacher teaches Samoan, since I know very little about their culture and language. This year I am also going to start taking my masters classes. Fingers crossed that I can find decent Internet to complete my classes. I am a little worried about that but we will see what happens. I am taking my masters in teaching English as a second language along with educational leadership.

I am excited for this upcoming year to see what it holds. This is my last year as a teacher in American Samoa as a contract teacher. I am really going to try and take in the beauty of the island and the people I know. I also ask that you pray for my students for the upcoming school year as it will be a change for them never having an English speaking teacher who knows very little Samoan. I hope that it can be a great experience for my students and myself.

With Love,

Abby