What We Learned in Summer School

This post doesn't have any photos,
but the previous one does...
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We've been wanting to give you an update to let you in on what it is we learned during our first six weeks here. The summer course was hard work, but we learned so much. I don't know how interested you are in the details but in case you are, here goes...

The six week course mainly gave an introduction to linguistics and cross-cultural work with a focus on language learning. In 'Language Learning' we learned strategies and methods of learning any language but particularly helpful if the only resource you have is a language helper and nothing else, even if you and the language helper do not know the same language. It was actually a lot of fun. For our practice language we worked on 'Whitesands', one of the languages of Vanuatu. It was very interesting. At the end of six weeks (12 sessions) we were able to carry on a conversation talking about things we had learned and eliciting new material too. Can you believe it?! I would never have thought it was possible. This was also a great chance for us to get to know our language helper. We will be working with him in Vanuatu as he is the chairman of the Vanuatu Bible Translators (VBT).
Another of the courses was 'Language Awareness/Intro to Linguistics' (aka Grammar). Using languages from around the world we learned how to break down and analyze language data to figure out how the language is structured - clauses, phrases, words, morphemes, tense, mood, aspect, pronouns, noun classes, and so on... I don't know how they did it, but they made this class very interesting. By the end of the six weeks, we were taking what we learned from this class and eliciting material in 'Whitesands' to analyze. We found some very interesting stuff including either four or five noun classes, and a very complicated pronoun system.
Another of the classes was Phonetics. We learned the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). It was like learning another language. We learned to read, write, and produce it. This was tied into our language learning in that we transcribed what we were learning in 'Whitesands' in IPA, and we were also assessed by transcribing some longer discourses. What we learned in Phonetics and Intro to linguistics was further applied in a research paper on our target language group. We each had to make a presentation about the language we would be working in. Because we don't know exactly which language we will go to yet, each of us on the team either picked one of the possible future languages, or a neighboring one.
So much of what we learned in the past six weeks are things we had never even thought about before.
So there are the highlights. Of course there was more to it than what is here. We also had a course in Anthropology. As part of the course we had two field trips to make cultural observations. We visited a Coptic Orthodox Church for the Epiphany service, and we also visited a Mosque to observe prayer and interview people. The focus of this course was to help us know about aspects of culture that we should keep in mind in cross-cultural ministry.
We definitely feel like we have a much better awareness of the complexities of language than what we came here with. We also feel like this course is practically equipping us for the work to be done. It isn't just head knowledge, but practical skills.

Our one week break before the first semester starts is just about over. First semester will include Introduction to Literacy, Phonology, Grammar/Structure of Languages, Ethnology, Sociolinguistics, and Orthography. We are told it isn't as treacherous as the six week course because it is spread out over more time. They tell we will actually have weekends and evenings free, but we will see.

Thank you for your prayers and support that make it possible for us to be here.


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Summer School Memories

Well, summer school has come to an end and we have a bunch of pictures and videos to share with you. So come along while I give you the tour...

First of all, welcome to our abode...


We live in 'B' lodge with two other families...

You know the Jones family - (L-R) Piper, Amber, Zoe, and Brad
they are our teammates from Michigan

and

meet Brad & Elyse...

they are from Sydney and are lots of fun.
This is a picture of them with Josh on his birthday (plus Zoe).

Our little pad doesn't have a kitchen so we share the kitchen and lounge area with Brad & Elyse.

This is where we do our laundry...

The picture is a little fuzzy but you get the idea. Grace is hanging laundry out on the line. we've never done laundry on the line before but I actually like it. I find it quite relaxing, and truthfully, it gets done a lot faster when you don't have to wait for the dryer.
I hope when it comes time to settle in Vanuatu Jim will set up an area like this one for us. There is plenty of line space, but the best part is that it is covered. I cant tell you how many times in Vanuatu we had to race out to rescue the laundry from getting soaked in the rain. It was not uncommon to hang the same load three times before it was dry! We don't have to worry about that any more =).

Okay, moving on...

From where we live, we walk maybe 500 meters to the offices/classes/dinning room.

Here is Jim and Houghton on their way to dinner, or 'Tea' which is what Aussie's call the evening meal...

Speaking of Aussie names for meals, here is a little bit of culture for you...

Breakfast
Morning Tea
Lunch
Afternoon Tea
Tea (evening meal)
Supper (cookies before bed)
hmm....

Here is Laura and our friend Sophia at morning tea. Sophia was able to join us for the summer course but is now back in Vanuatu continuing work on a commentary for the Bislama Bible.

During summer school, all of our meals were prepared by these fine men John and Chris (plus Anita, but she wasn't around for the picture)...

These guys were wonderful.
They also hooked up school lunches for Grace and Josh - and spoiled them!
I don't know how we would have survived without them. We barely were able to fit in time to sleep, I don't know what we would have done if we would have had to cook.
Now that summer school is over, we are on our own. Supposedly (depending on who we talk to) the rest of the year isn't supposed to be quite as intense - still intense, just not as bad.

Meet a couple of the lovely ladies at the EQUIP office...

Robin & Lyn

(there are more but unfortunately I didn't catch them for pictures)

And this is Mary from the Wycliffe office (pronounced 'Meery' like a real Aussie.)

All the ladies have done an awesome job at helping us settle in and making us feel welcome.

This is where we spent most of our time, in class...

Here we are in 'Phonetics' class...

and Anthro...


Language Learning - As part of the course Peter taught a bunch of us some of his local language 'Whitesands' from the island of Tanna. Some of the other groups learned 'Indonesian', 'Urdu', or 'Karen'

We made a couple of field trips. One was to an Islamic Mosque to observe their formal prayers. Us girls were required to wear the customary dress for women...


As the course wrapped up there were a lot of tests.
Here we are waiting for our turn at production assessments...


If you have been keeping your eye on the blog, you know we have had some serious fires around here. It got really smoky, and scary at times.

It was also VERY hot...

Grace and Josh's school had a family picnic to raise funds for some of those that were affected by the fires. I took the chance to get a few pictures.

This is what the kids see as they ride their bikes to school every morning...

looks sort of like Eastern Montana...

until you see a kangaroo...


Josh's uniform -

the hat is part of it, but the stick is not =)

we got to meet the kids' teachers

and eat some traditional Aussie food - grilled sausages and onions on a slice of bread with BBQ sauce or tomato sauce (aka ketchup)

More pictures from around campus...

Brad P. & Brad J.

Jim with Peter
He was here just for the summer course, and is now back home in Vanuatu and will be working on a Whitesands Bible translation project.

It wasn't all work...

One the last night before 'graduation' we got a chance to let our hair down, so to speak, and just have some fun. Here area couple of videos we thought you would like...

This is an Australian Bush Dance - sort of like square dancing with out the funny clothes

Here is a video one of our phonetics tutors made for us. After an intense six weeks of learning, we thought this was just hilarious. It could be that we could finally just take a break and laugh, or more that we actually understood what the video was all about - I don't know what it was, but it made us laugh so hard we cried...

Well, that is it. Hope you enjoyed the 'tour' =)

Love,
Tania for the crew


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Sing a Song in Whitesands

We spent the last six weeks learning some of the 'Whitesands' language spoken on the island of Tanna, Vanuatu. As part of the summer school wrap up, there was a bbq/social where we all had a chance to share a little bit of something or other. So Peter, our language helper, taught us a song in Whitesands, and we sang it. Or... our fellow Whitesands learners did anyway. Jim and I were away at the kids' school for a school family night. We thought you still might like to see the video of rest of them singing it though.

At the end of summer school, Peter headed back to his village, Whitesands, to begin a Bible translation project.


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Wahoo - Summer Course Graduation!

It is official, summer school has come to an end! We had a special graduation/closing ceremony today, and a BBQ/social last night. Now we get to relax for a few days before it all starts again. Tonight, we are ordering pizza, playing cards, and watching 'LOST'! I have some pictures and videos I want to share with you. I will try to get them posted sometime in the next few days. Until then...


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Fire Update

The fires are pretty much under control. It is still smoky but most of what has been going on is controlled burns to create buffer zones. The general attitude that we have been seeing on the news now is moving forward, rebuilding, and making sure that people are getting the help they need. Thanks for praying with us even if you spent only five seconds bringing the needs of the people here before our heavenly Father. I dare compare what this community is going through to their own version of September 11th. Thanks also for praying for our safety.

School update...
One more test and then the summer course is pretty much over other than closing events. Then we have a one week break before first semester starts. Monthly update coming soon!


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Care Packages...

Before we left the States we told many of you that we would let you know things that would be good to send in care packages. Well, we have been gone for six months now and we have a good idea of what we can and can't get, what we miss, and what is just super spendy here.

So, for those of you who wanted to know what you could send, there is now a link to the right >>> that says 'Care Packages', click on it and you will find a list of ideas. Thanks for asking.

Love,
Jim, Tania, Grace, and Josh

(I've realized I haven't posted many pictures (of us), I will work on that!)


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A Quick Fire Update...

It is very smokey today. Every now and then we hear a helicopter roar overhead. However, the fires are not very close. A web page has been set up for fire updates around the Wycliffe / Equip grounds which we are keeping an eye on.
Thank you to all who have emailed. We will keep you guys posted.

Oh, and...
Happy Valentines Day!!!
Love, the Kenners

Here is a picture I took later in the afternoon as we were driving home.

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