Classes at POC

Praise the Lord all you nations; extol him all you peoples.  For great is his love toward us and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord.  Psalms 117:1-2








 

Classroom before all the students arrived

Classes started at 8am with a devotion by one of the instructors or students. Next we would begin learning Tok Pisin by singing some songs and reading the Book of Jonah from the Tok Pisin Bible.  Next we would learn a few new words and something about the grammar.  After our large class session we would get into a smaller group of six students with a national teacher and an instructor. 

teacher on the far left

 We would practice listening and speaking.  At first we learned terms relating to family.  Next we learned terms about going to market, going to a garden and related to building a home. We actually took field trips to each of those places with our teacher. 

home being built

garden usually found on a hillside

Ibika greens

cocoa

vanilla

demonstrated making a mat

demonstrated making a basket

The later morning classes consisted of geography and history of PNG.  We viewed a few documentaries about Joe Leahy, a Papua New Guinean who was related to one of the first explorers of PNG. We had classes on discovering how our culture affects us and our world view.  The nurse on staff also gave lectures on medical issues that we might encounter such as malaria. There was even a lecture on driving in PNG.

Classes also consisted of hands on activities like building a fire, baking bread, building an outdoor kitchen and talking on an UdHF radio.  Homework included reading articles and books about PNG, spiritual issues and ministries in PNG.  We had to read nine items and write a paragraph about each. One other assignment was to translate our teacher’s 2 minute Tok Pisin story into English.  During this time we also had to write a testimony in Tok Pisin and share it with the group.  All of these activities help us gain insights into life in PNG.

  

Jay proud of his bread

Making bread

       

building a fire