why i love summer school

this week we did a translation project where the students told traditional stories in Chuukese and translated them into English. one of the students started to translate her story, "once upon a time..." and i stopped her. is that really how the story translates into English? did Chuukese people also say, "once upon a time?" she had to think for a while and then explained to me that the direct translation of the line that Chuukese people say before they start stories is, "sail in, sail out." this was a small victory in preserving linguistic culture and learning about a beautiful oral tradition here in the islands. the symbolism of "sail in, sail out" to start stories has so much depth to people in the lagoon. i was so excited to tap into this with my students, who always surprise me. thanks ariel :)