Together We Thrive St. Louis American
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SIUE course helps students learn Samoan language, culture By Layla Halilbasic When Megan Kraus walked into Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s new Samoan language class, instructor Viliamu Fanene couldn’t quite figure out why she was there. Most students, he assumed, had Samoan relatives, spouses or some other personal connection to the language. Kraus had none. As it turned out, she simply wanted to learn about a culture she’d never encountered before. Students like Kraus changed the way Fanene teaches. They also reinforced why he believes courses like SIUE’s new Samoan 101 matter. The university launched the eight-week beginner course last month at its Belleville campus. Based on Fanene’s online language-learning platform Talofa Talk, Samoan 101 teaches sentence structure before vocabulary. It allows beginner students to easily build conversations. Its inaugural class drew 49 students from the United States, Australia, New Zealand and American Samoa as one of the only university-affiliated Samoan courses east of Utah. Fanene worries the Samoan language is fading among Samoan families living in the mainland United States, even though hundreds of thousands of people worldwide speak
the language. “Although Samoan is not an endangered language, as far as I’m concerned, the people here within the diaspora, it is kind of endangered because they’re not really learning the language, especially when you get past the West Coast,” he explained. He said many first-generation Samoan parents encouraged their children to prioritize English and assimilate into American culture, often at the expense of passing on their native language. Yet Fanene remains hopeful. He sees more people, both within and outside the Samoan community, wanting to reconnect with or learn about the culture. “They don’t want to assimilate like that. They want to stand out and they want to be proud of who they are,” Fanene explained. The class offers an accessible place to start, Kraus said. The English as a second language teacher said she enrolled because it offered something she couldn’t find elsewhere. She enjoys studying languages but said most readily available learning resources focus on European languages. “When I saw the Samoan class, it was definitely something new,” Kraus said. “I know next to nothing about Pacific Islander culture and lan-
guage, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to learn about a new language and a new culture.” Students like Kraus changed the way Fanene teaches. Assuming most students had Samoan roots or family ties, Fanene built his early lessons on a shared cultural baseline. Meeting learners like Kraus — with zero connection to the islands — forced him to rethink his approach and even left him wondering, at first, why someone with no Samoan background would sign up at all. “There’s people in the class that … love to connect and share the culture. Even if they can’t speak the language, they love to share who Samoa is, what Samoa does,” Fanene said. Now, he begins the course with a blank slate to accommodate new learners. Fanene hopes students leave with an appreciation for Samoa and all it has to offer. The spirit of welcoming, the instructor said, is as important as any lesson taught during the course. “You just come to the class, and you’ll get all that kind of love,” he noted. “We give you the alofa, the love people just love to [give] when you show interest in Samoa.” This story was originally published by St. Louis Public radio.