Definition
In Gagana Tokelau, alofa is a concept that encompasses love, kindness, respect, deep dignity, and understanding.
Subject / Aronga
Term
Curriculum
Resources
[ Video Resource ]
- Title: Alofa
- Description: Examples of Alofa in practice.
- Video Duration: 6 minutes
- Video URL: https://player.vimeo.com/video/768788843?h=10a8e44917
- Transcript: Alofa to me means family
Alofa to me means family, means loved ones. It's a value that you can give but also receive. It's a value that I feel in education is undervalued.
Alofa, which is ‘Ofa in Tongan, and it's about the heart. And I think as a teacher it was always where I positioned myself in the classroom, when I'm in front of my learners. It's the pedagogy of love. Pedagogy of ’ofa, pedagogy of alofa.
So the word ‘alofa’ is really special because it shares so many similarities across the Pacific, so ‘aroha’ in te reo Māori, Kuki Āirani, ‘aloha’ Hawai’i, ’‘ofa’ lea faka-Tonga. So alofa is a concept that we are all familiar with across the Pacific. I’m Samoan and alofa kind of underpins all that we do within our culture. So our greeting ‘Talofa’ comes from the Samoan saying “Si o ta alofa”, which means “let's say hello”. But actually what it really means is “let's exchange love”.
The word ‘alofa’, there's a lot to it. So, you know, honesty, love, obviously a lot to do with relationship and how we interact positively with people and the and the ability to to give alofa as well as receive is a really important aspect of that word.
Kids feel things before they know things. And when you connect first and foremost at a heart level, you you connect in a very different way.
Alofa really underpins everything. If we don't have love for ourselves, alofa for ourselves, aro’a for each other and for their environments. We cannot have Vā. We cannot have ‘Enua. We cannot have Vaka because essentially life in creation comes from love, loving for each other and ourselves. Often, I mean to say in the Cook Islands, one of the first jobs that kids were given was to pick up little shells and poke holes in them and put together an ‘ei, and it is something that would take a really long time, take patience, you know, you had to sit there do, it’s a bit like a huge chore. But essentially it's about the time and time that it takes to grow something like a shell in the ocean, sweep up onto the beach, put it together, which is another amount of time. And it really is about the physical action of gifting somebody your love.
I think when you're thinking about alofa, ‘ofa, when kids know that they can make mistakes, they take risks. But, you know, they are going to be held in a space where the learning that happens in those moments is going to be also valued. You treat children with dignity.
How we can show alofa in the classroom is really getting to understand who our students are, where they come from, but what their names mean to them. And part of that is understanding the significance of their names, but also taking the time to really know how to pronounce those names because they have significance within their families, within their village, within their, you know, the nations that they come from.
I always kind of hit that framing of it was I enjoyed doing duty, you know, morning tea, lunch duties because I got to be with the kids and see them in their animated spaces and, you know, have those conversations and play basketball with them and so forth. Those are the relationships that are built outside, but you bring them back in when you're in that classroom environment.
For teachers to think about what they're teaching, you know, how can they incorporate, for example, Pacific case studies, Pacific role models, have high expectations showing that alofa in terms of that expectations that they have on the students, that they can do what they aspire to do.
I can feel a school the moment I step into it. It's a tangible thing. Do you value your children? Do you value them? Do I see them everywhere in the school? Do I walk into a classroom and I see the work on the walls? Do I walk into a school and into the office area and do the office staff give you love, love and warmth from the way they greet you or are you ignored, you know, all those things combine to create a culture?
Absolutely, the teacher has to show that care, that ‘ofa, that alofa, to the student and that starts from really caring about who they are, you know, as a person, but also what they bring to the classroom and then being committed to how well they do in terms of their, you know, progress and achievement.