NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Next week I'll be starting my Chamorro summer classes, and so those who are on Guam and interested in attending need to get in contact with me to learn the meetings dates and times. I've had these Chamorro classes for four years now, and they are alot of fun for me, and a good way to test out things that I eventually use when I teach Chamorro in a more formal setting. Below is a narrative I put together to shed light on how the classes evolved. ************************* I did not grow up speaking Chamorro. I am what is referred to as a “non-native” Chamorro language speaker. I only learned to speak Chamorro after taking classes at the University of Guam and also convincing my grandparents to speak to me in Chamorro. My experience in learning Chamorro was difficult. While I was supported by some, too many others were not supportive and were very counter-productive in my learning. The Chamorro language has come to the point where it is not quite dead

I have been off island for two weeks and so I haven't been teaching my weekly Chamorro lessons, but I'm grateful that others have stepped in to take over and keep people reviewing the language even in my absence. It is interesting how you do not realize things, or gain the ability to reflect on things, unless you encounter something that forces a contrast or a reflective moment. I have offered these language classes for years now, literally four years and although I've always enjoyed them, I never really realized the impact they could have. For me it was just teaching people who wanted to learn Chamorro, Chamorro. It was just another battlefield in the struggle against language death. But last month my Chamorro classes at Java Junction got a lot more attention than I ever imagined, with people from all over the United States emailing me asking to join them. Several media outlets covered my classes, which felt strange to me, because they are such simple, small things.

I began teaching the Chamorro language formally at the University of Guam this past semester. It was a very eye-opening experience. After 10 years of classes in the community, whether they be in coffee shops, community centers or via email, it was both empowering and frightening to have a classroom that was mine to design for 220 minutes each week. I found that alot of my informal style worked well, but that I needed to produce more materials and handouts to keep students engaged. More and more I realize students have trouble just listening and following instructions but constantly need a sheet of paper in front of them telling them what is what. When you organize lessons in a coffee shop only those that want to learn will attend, but when you teach a class the overwhelming majority who attend many not want to learn but simply want to pass and so I learned I needed to recognize this lack of motivation and compensate for it. But because I was focusing on teaching in the classroom I

In my relentless attempts to keep myself so busy that I have trouble remembering everything I am supposed to be doing each day, I may be taking on, just for fun, an exciting creative project that I am uncreatively calling "Chamorro Rhapsody." Who knows what will become of this idea, but it will be fun no matter what happens. It started off, like so many things, as a joke on Facebook. During Chamorro classes last year, as part of a project each of my students got song lyrics and had to try and translate them into Chamorro. Some of them were more difficult than others. "Fly me to the Moon" was translated very quickly in just a couple of minutes. "Torn" by Natalie Imbruglia took a little bit longer. "Bohemian Rhapsody" was too daunting for my students and so we worked more slowly on it. It was an important exercise in terms of understanding the nature of translation. Bohemian Rhapsody is much easier to translate than your average rap or hip hop

I have a Chamorro Sentence email list. Every day or so I send out an email to everyone on the list featuring a basic sentence in Chamorro. You are encouraged to email back a reply to the sentence to either myself or the entire email list. If is entirely up to you how you want to use the list. You can ask yourself the question and then say your response out loud. You can write it down. You can send it to myself or to others and share your response. Hagu la'mon taimanu na mausa este na lista.  Here is the sentence that was sent out today. Chamorro Sentence #99: Hafa i mas ya-mu na fañochuyan Chamorro? or in English: "What is your favorite Chamorro restaurant?" If you are interested in joining the list, please send me your email at mlbasquiat@hotmail.com Otro fino'-ta: For those interested, Chamorro classes at Java Junction will be starting again this Friday,  January 25th at 12 pm. Classes are free and open to everyone and of all skill levels. The more stu

My Chamorro lessons for the Fall start tomorrow, Friday, August 17, 12 noon at Java Junction in the Agana Shopping Center. The lessons will be for beginners and are free and open to anyone. If you are committed to learning the language and want to be in a supportive environment to learn the rules of grammar and expand your vocabulary, come and join us!

--> Juan Malimanga is one of my favorite parts of the Pacific Daily News. It serves a couple purposes for me. Number one, it helps me practice my Chamorro everytime I read it. Number two, it sometimes makes me laugh with its silly jokes. That being said, sometimes the jokes confuse the hell out of me because of weirdness in the translation or references to things I'm unfamiliar with. Number three, the comic can be useful for helping to explain certain aspects of the Chamorro culture, especially parts which aren't as commonly references nowadays due to cultural changes. And finally number 4, I use the comic to help teach the Chamorro language. For my Chamorro language classes last year I regularly used Juan Malimanga strips to practice speaking and translating Chamorro. We would work through them panel by panel, until we reach the punchline. This was the moment when most of my students would groan because of the silly pun that joke was based on.     Below i

My weekly Chamorro classes have started again.  They take place each Monday at 2:30 at Java Junction in the Agana Shopping Center. They are free of charge and open to anyone. If you are interested in attending the classes please email me at mlbasquiat@hotmail.com with any questions.