Cool interactions with the students

I had a really interesting little interaction with one of my students from last year today after school. He asked me if I had known him for more than 1 year, thrusting a paper document towards me. He wanted me to sign his Australian Citizenship identity declaration because he only has a New Zealand passport and needs an Australian one to go back there for a trip at the end of the year. Anyway, I asked him if he was going to meet Scribe and he thought and thought about it for quite a while sorting of screwing his face up , then looked at his friend and turned back to me and said "Nah...we don't really like him, bit too cool for us," and then looked at me really worriedly. I said to him, "That's okay, just because I like him, doesn't mean you have to", really offhandedly and the look of relief on his face was so telling. It was like he couldn't believe that a teacher was giving him that freedom to like something different to them or something like that. He's a Samoan student and I think sometimes they are really responsive to authoritarian control styles of teaching, but would really be better suited to relaxed, democratic, allowing for self-expression styles of teaching (and learning).

Our school has also chosen to start teaching Samoan to Year 9's next year. This means they can choose between Samoan or German. The only problem is that instead of getting Samoan people to teach them, they are just recycling the boring German teachers, who really aren't handling the classes they already have, and getting them to teach it. They plan to start learning Samoan now (July 05) and teach it next year (Feb 06). Have they not thought that most of these kids are quite fluent in Samoan? They will get caught out with how little they actually know very quickly. And furthermore, isn't it culturally insensitive for very Anglo-saxon types to tell our Samoan community (parents and students) that they are going to teach THEM Samoan? Again our school is doing something that is really promising half assed. But I don't feel in a position to suggest an alternative. I really want Samoan to be a language taught at our school, but I want the Samoan community to be engaged and have their leaders and elders teach it- not our washed up German teachers.

One of my Samoan students from last year said she was going to stick with German anyway, which suggest that the kids might now embrace it like we expect and rather try to shun their Samoan background, so that they fit in better with the other kids.
I'm just not sure how this will work. Maybe I can raise the point with PT or BA.

Bye for now,
M x