Week 6 Term 2: Samoan Language Week 2024 (June 03 - June 07)

 VAIASO O LE GAGANA SAMOA: Samoa Language Week 

Totara House Au Siva 2024 

The Ministry of Pacific Peoples released this year's theme for Samoa Language Week, 'Tautua i le alofa, manuia le lumanai (serve in love for a blessed future)'. MPP explains the theme in more depth where they write:  

"The 2024 theme for Samoa Language Week is 'Tautua i le alofa, manuia le lumana’i – Serve in love for a blessed future'. This theme derives from the overarching Language Week Series theme for 2024, 'Sustainability'. What does the phrase ‘Tautua i le alofa’ mean? 

The concept of tautua focuses on the phrase – “Serve in love”. Love is the driving force of service. No matter what service looks like or who is doing it, service is accomplished through the power of love. This year’s theme aims to clearly express the significance of service that is founded on love. Tautua can only be achieved through consistent development. Similarly, the maintenance of language is also achieved through service - through our values of love, respect, and especially in the vā fealoa’i (respectful relationships) that protect Samoan people. 

Service begins in the family and continues in schools, villages, churches, in our communities and countries. Service is a practice that is not exclusive to certain people or ages, but rather, a process that begins at childhood and continues into adulthood. Our ongoing mission is the collective preservation of identity for our children into the future." 

Tamaki College Samoan Language Week Assembly 2024

I love this year's theme. In this post, I will reflect on what this year's theme means to me as a faiaoga (teacher). 

TAUTUA I LE ALOFA, MANUIA LE LUMANA'I: Serve in love for a blessed future

FAIAOGA: Teacher

Polyfest Rehearsals March 2024

Leadership in the context of fa'asamoa is more than just a label, title or responsibility. It is all about action and it is all centered around service. Tautua is service and as a teacher, I believe I have been called to serve my school, students and wider community. Tautua is a concept that is centralized in all aspects of fa'asamoa starting within the family, village, extened family, church and wider community - the idea and concept of tautua (service) is one that is an expectation that we as a community align ourselves to. All of this stems from alofa (love) - we serve because we love who and what we are serving whether it be our families, the wider village, our church community and wider community. I carry this with me as a teacher in all that I do in my classroom, as the Head of Learning of English and also as the Dean of Totara House. 

TAMAITI AOGA: Student

Totara House Au Siva 2024

As we do not teach Gagana Samoa at our school, we have found other ways to tap into the culture. Performing arts specifically through Polyfest is a vehicle that we use to introduce, explore and celebrate Gagana Samoa. The students love taking part in all of the Samoan group performances and we try to open this experience up to the whole school. The language is both verbal, visual and physical - regardless of where our students sit with knowing the language or not - having a space where they can see, hear it, perform to it, learn it and embrace it - is something we celebrate and value. This year we held our annual House Siva Samoa Dance competition for Samoan Language Week. Many of our Polyfest students returned to take part in the event and we also had a number of students from the wider school body who did not participate in the festival but wanted to take part in this school House event. It was encouraging to see our tamaitiiti aoga from across all year levels and across all cultures (Tonga, Cook Island, Fijian, Argentinian, Filipino) all take part in the event. This was their tautua (service) in celebrating Gagana Samoa. 

Totara House Au Siva 2024

Tautua i le alofa, manuia le lumana'i is a theme that resonates deeply with me. Not just a faiaoga but also as a matai, husband, father, son, brother, cousin and uncle. I believe that the pathway to leadership is through service - o le ala i pule o le tautua. I believe that service is something that we are all called to do whether we are in leadership positions or not Service is our act of helping, supporting and loving on others. Manuia le vaiaso o le Gagana Samoa!