From pupil in Chch to teacher in Tonga

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33774, 21 February 1975, Page 5

From pupil in Chch to teacher in Tonga

When Deborah Cranko left school a year ago she lost no time in realising an ambition held since she was in Form 111, which was to work for Volunteer Service Abroad in Tonga.

She was soon teaching English at a co-educational high school on; the Tongan island of Vava’u, where she stayed for 12 months. Miss Cranko, aged 18. who was a pupil of Christchurch Girls’ High School, was not new to living in somewhat unusual countries. She was born in East Africa and lived in South-East Asia at various stages of her childhood. She was fluent in Thai when living in Thailand as a young girl.

Although she was supposed to conduct classes in English at the Tongan High School, she found she picked up the language of the islands very quickly. There were only five other Europeans on the 36 squaremile island and Miss Cranko made many Tongan friends. “Their standard of English is not very good and what they do learn equips them for jobs in which they would need specialised, technical vocabulary.” she said.

“The English they know at school-leaving stage is not sufficient but because the curriculum is based on an English education system they must use English, as they do not have suitable vocabulary in Tongan. “They are beginning to concentrate more on animal husbandry and agriculture in schools but the change has not reached all the schools on the islands outside the main one, Tonga Tapu.

’ the pupils to take afternoons off to practise. On one occasion we had the King of Tonga coming to the opening of a new building at: the school and the pupils took the whole week off to practise the songs they would sing for him.” Miss Cranko took part in a traditional Tongan dance for the King and was told later that he had smiled upon her because she was a European who had taken the trouble to learn the dance. She was able to live with a Tongan family for a while during her stay and learnt how to cook traditional ■Tongan foods. Miss Cranko now plans to do her intermediate year in architecture at Canterbury University.

“There is only one Government school and all the others are run by the Wesleyan Church, which has a very strong influence in Tonga.” Miss Cranko said the

United Nations, in conjunction with" the' South Pacific Commission, was working on a programme to revise school subjects such as maths, social sciences, science and English. - .

Schooling in Tonga was very informal, said Miss Cranko. “They love to sing