Teaching with poetry and comics
There’s a need to translate all of our stories in to a form that the kids want to eat!
Solomon Enos
The symposium at the Majuro campus of the University of the South Pacific brought together many components of the Marshallese Arts Project.
Students from Majuro Cooperative School and Ejit Elementary School read their poetry and presented their artwork in front of the symposium audience.
Solomon Enos lead workshops for the students in storytelling with comics.
The world wants to hear your story.
After all this time, new weapons are launched again, new missiles are tested. Climate change. Two critical opponents. All of those things happened right here, in the Marshall Islands. The stories that you guys are gonna tell, the world needs to hear.
Solomon Enos
Michelle Keown and Shari Sabeti joined Solomon in introducing RMI elementary school teachers to methods for teaching comics and graphic novels, and engaging students creatively and intellectually with comic-making workshops. This involved the teachers testing out the workshop by drawing their own comics.
Some of the comics and graphic novels discussed were Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis (2000), Shaun Tan’s The Arrival (2006), and Munro Te Whata’s ‘History Project’ (2016).
A guide to teaching with comics was part of the teaching resource pack MAP distributed throughout the RMI, and is available to download for free.
Photos © Chewy Lin.
Teaching resource packs
Teaching Resource Packs on ‘Nuclear Testing in the Marshall Islands’ developed by project CoI, Shari Sabeti, to accompany the graphic adaptation of History Project by Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner.
For educators in the Marshall Islands:
- An integrated unit of work focused on Social Studies and English Language Arts aligned to Grade 8 standards in the Republic of the Marshall Islands Curriculum.
- A pack of teaching resources and worksheets to accompany the unit.
Download integrated unit of work
Download teaching resource pack
For educators in Hawai’i:
- An integrated unit of work focused on the Social Studies – Pacific Island Studies and English Language Arts HIDOE Standards for Grade 7.
- A pack of teaching resources and worksheets to accompany the unit.
Download integrated unit of work
Download teaching resource pack
These are free to download and use alongside the adaptation of History Project. Any feedback is welcome for further development of the units. Please email Shari.Sabeti@ed.ac.uk
Further educational resources
Marshallese language
Download Practical Marshallese, a handbook for learning the Marshallese language by Peter Rudiak-Gould. It was written for the volunteers of the WorldTeach Marshall Islands programme, and can be freely distributed in any form (but not sold or used for financial gain). Lessons include ‘Hunting for crabs, looking for shells (The ka- prefix)’ and ‘To the ocean, to the lagoon (More about directionals)’
Marshallese literature and oral culture
Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, Iep Jaltok: Poems from a Marshallese Daughter (University of Arizona Press, 2017). Available from the University of Arizona Press.
Daniel A. Kelin, Marshall Islands Legends and Stories (2003). Preview available on Google Books.
Jack A. Tobin, Stories from the Marshall Islands (University of Hawaii Press, 2002). Available from the University of Hawaii Press; preview available on Google Books.
Books on the history and culture of the Marshall Islands
Jane Dibblin, Day of Two Suns: U.S. Nuclear Testing and the Pacific Islanders (New Amsterdam Books, 1988). Available new, used, and as an-ebook on Amazon.
Pacific Women Speak Out for Independence and Denuclearisation, edited by Zohl de Ishtar (The Raven Press, 1998). Available used on Amazon.
Giff Johnson, Don’t Ever Whisper: Darlene Keju, Public Health Pioneer, Champion for Nuclear Survivors (Createspace, 2013). Available new, used, and as an e-book on Amazon.
Jack Niedenthal, For the Good of Mankind: A History of the People of Bikini and Their Islands (Bravo, 2001).
Research on the Marshall Islands
Laurence Marshall Carucci, Nuclear Nativity: Rituals of Renewal and Empowerment in the Marshall Islands (Northern Illinois University Press, 1997).
Videos
Watch Anointed (2018) by Daniel Lin and Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner on our Photography and film page