Instructor: Manumaua (Fata) Simanu-Klutz
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Item Instructor interview for Place-Based WAC/WID writing instruction in Indo-Pacific Languages, clip 16 of 16(2015) Place-based WAC/WID Hui; Simanu-Klutz, Fata; Henry, Jim; Bost, DawneBrief excerpt from interview: Regardless of language or background, the effort there is to make them understand Wendt's writings. When I deliver the sense of place, then I make it interdisciplinary... so that they all have access, whether it's world history or Samoan history... So then it's not about Samoan students but all the students.Item Instructor interview for Place-Based WAC/WID writing instruction in Indo-Pacific Languages, clip 15 of 16(2015) Place-based WAC/WID Hui; Simanu-Klutz, Fata; Henry, Jim; Bost, DawneBrief excerpt from interview: During the Reagan period, they did a study of nations at risk. The study showed that students were just not writing; that they had very poor writing skills. Plane loads of teachers were going down to New Zealand, to see how New Zealand was doing the writing and reading.Item Instructor interview for Place-Based WAC/WID writing instruction in Indo-Pacific Languages, clip 14 of 16(2015) Place-based WAC/WID Hui; Simanu-Klutz, Fata; Henry, Jim; Bost, DawneBrief excerpt from interview: The immersion schools were coming into focus, charter schools were coming into focus... a practice that Native Hawaiians supported; there, [students are] getting their sense of place. I didn't hear Hawaiian on this campus when I came in the '80s. By the turn of the century, it was just exciting to hear Hawaiian on this campus.Item Instructor interview for Place-Based WAC/WID writing instruction in Indo-Pacific Languages, clip 13 of 16(2015) Place-based WAC/WID Hui; Simanu-Klutz, Fata; Henry, Jim; Bost, DawneBrief excerpt from interview: [Expressivist writing] is about your daily life. It's about your life experiences, different roles, so it's not necessarily about yourself, the person, but it's about what you do growing up, or interacting in the village, and those are comfortable enough for that language to emerge, or for [students] to express that in their writing. And I really believe, you start with where you are, and what you know, in order for you to be able to develop your language skills. And I think this is where our students have encountered many problems: that they are being taught content 'of another place,' if you will.Item Instructor interview for Place-Based WAC/WID writing instruction in Indo-Pacific Languages, clip 12 of 16(2015) Place-based WAC/WID Hui; Simanu-Klutz, Fata; Henry, Jim; Bost, DawneBrief excerpt from interview: I've been a student at Mānoa for the last twenty years: my BA and MA were in education, and I added an MA in Pacific Island Studies, in preparation for a PhD in History... So I've gotten on the Faculty Senate, and I'm on a committee on Academic Policy and Planning, I want to add a Pacific voice not only for the Samoan students but also for the Pacific, Hawaiʻi, local Asians. In fact, the whole Hawaiʻi population needs that sense of place... for learning purposes, they need that sense of place, they need that context, where they're coming from... I was trying to make [world history] relevant [for a Chinese-background student] by asking 'what do you think was going on in China while this was happening in Europe?'... Pacific literature would not be here without looking at World History, because Pacific literature is a response to Euro-American literature and their representations of the Pacific islands... So when you talk about place, whose place do we bring in? And I think for whatever course you are teaching... an interdisciplinary approach is more sensible.Item Instructor interview for Place-Based WAC/WID writing instruction in Indo-Pacific Languages, clip 11 of 16(2015) Place-based WAC/WID Hui; Simanu-Klutz, Fata; Henry, Jim; Bost, DawneBrief excerpt from interview: Most students are non-literature majors, almost all Samoan, almost all of them are from American Samoa, many speaking English as a second language. I'd like to have better diversity and perhaps next time will do a better job of advertizing the course ...These are students who have not had in-depth experience in literature ... Many of them have never heard of Albert Wendt or read any of his books ... So once they start reading, they begin to see the place—the place that they also belong to ... Most of them are migrants, if you will, many travel back and forth between Hawaii and Samoa. So they have a very good sense of Hawaii. Most are juniors and seniors, finding courses to complete their degrees ... So many come with pre-conceived notions that "just because I'm Samoan," things were going to be easier. But since the books are in English, we have to make sure that we are conversing in English ... writing for them is a struggle, the post 'Nation at Risk.'Item Instructor interview for Place-Based WAC/WID writing instruction in Indo-Pacific Languages, clip 10 of 16(2015) Place-based WAC/WID Hui; Simanu-Klutz, Fata; Henry, Jim; Bost, DawneBrief excerpt from interview: [If the course were taught in Samoan] I think I might do a more performance approach, playing on the fact that Samoan students love to perform... For the last thirty years, the law was that English was the language of instruction, with Samoan as the language to clarify, so these students have been fed a diet of English only. Other problems have led students to believe that Samoan is not an academic language, which is not true at all, because we have writers who are writing in Samoan. So the Samoan program at UH has a role to play in shifting that mentality.Item Instructor interview for Place-Based WAC/WID writing instruction in Indo-Pacific Languages, clip 9 of 16(2015) Place-based WAC/WID Hui; Simanu-Klutz, Fata; Henry, Jim; Bost, DawneBrief excerpt from interview: In his writing, [Albert Wendt] uses Samoan without definitions or explanations, and his thing is, they've been reading English without translations, so we'll do the same: we'll throw in the Samoan language and it is up to the non-native speaker to go find out.Item Instructor interview for Place-Based WAC/WID writing instruction in Indo-Pacific Languages, clip 8 of 16(2015) Place-based WAC/WID Hui; Simanu-Klutz, Fata; Henry, Jim; Bost, DawneBrief excerpt from interview: It's the human thing, to have that sense of place. That shapes behavior, from the Samoan perspective. That piece of land, in the physical sense, is very important. You can go anywhere, but know that there is that place that you call home. In literary explorations, place is what grounds the characters, or lack thereof affects them in more negative ways. That grounding for me, makes place very very critical in literary discussions.Item Instructor interview for Place-Based WAC/WID writing instruction in Indo-Pacific Languages, clip 7 of 16(2015) Place-based WAC/WID Hui; Simanu-Klutz, Fata; Henry, Jim; Bost, DawneBrief excerpt from interview: As a writing teacher, I'm very biased toward writing as a measure of performance in learning. Our people often resort to our orality as an excuse for not writing, but I say to them that writing is probably the safest way you can express yourself, because you can rant initially, and then go back and tidy it up. Once it's out of your mouth, you can't get it back.