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Our Project
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How We Did It.

Senior Tongan Students have put together a Tongan Dictionary. Stenior students have been doing this work with Mrs Tupou-Thomas our Tongan teacher for the last few years. Every Monday and Tuesday the Tongan students have Tongan lessons and the rest of the students have Italian. In our Tongan classes we learn about Tongan traditions, religions, language and culture. We decided to put the dictionary on our website .

First of all we wrote down all the Tongan words that we knew and then we’d write them down again with the English meanings. Once we finished the writing we typed it on the computer in our classroom.

When we were typing some of us needed to know the translation of some words. So we asked our Tongan Teacher or looked up the Tongan Dictionary.

Then we put it onto the internet in the IT Centre. Mr. Taylor made some templates (empty pages) and we helped him until we liked what they looked like. Then we copied and pasted the words which we had typed up before in the class. There were so many words we had to get some other friends in Year 6 to help.

After we did that we had to say the words in Tongan into the speaker and it would record our voices. We had to check the sound and edit off any extra. Sisilia Tupou-Thomas our teacher, had to help us with some of the sounds so they were right.

Then we had to link the sounds to the little speaker on pages for each word. We had to save regularly otherwise we might lose our work. We had a special helper Stephen a high school student and Mr Taylor. It took about a whole week to record the sounds.

Before we finished we wrote about ourselves and how we prepared the project.

Lastly we had to check that it all worked and make sure all the pages linked together.

We hope you enjoy our Tongan Dictionary Project.

Hi my name is Lani,

I am 10 years old and I'm in Year 5. I am in the Tongan team and I'm a girl. I go to Brookvale Public School and there are 12 kids in my family including me. My favourite subjects are Maths, Drama, Arts and Spelling.

When I was two years old I went to Tonga with my mum and three of my sisters and my brother. We stayed there for a very long time. When we got there we got picked up by my uncle and was taken to my aunty's house. The next day we went to the beach and the water was so clear that you can see right through it. The water was really nice that I want to go there again.

After we spent a lovely time there we had to go back to Sydney. When we came back to Australia it was good to have our nice home back and to see my dad and my to other sisters.

My favourite Tongan food is sapasui (chop suey) and my favourite drink is otai (watermeleon drink).

I also have a computer which my whole family shares.
 

Hi, my name is John and I was born in Australia and am 11 years. Mum and Dad come from Tonga and they were born there. I have 2 brothers and 2 sisters and  live in a Sydney suburb called Brookvale.

I go to Brookvale Public School and I'm in Year 5. My teacher is Mr Taylor. My sports are playing rugby and cricket.

I've been to Tonga. The last time I went was in 1998 and stayed on an Island called Vava'u with my great Grandmother. She is still alive and when I went there I rode on a horse. We had some puaka (pork) and talo (cooked taro). That day we went to the beach and had a swim in the crystal clear water.

My favourite food is manioke (casava), puaka (pork), sipi (lamb) and talo (taro).

I hope you enjoy our Home Page and the Tongan Dictionary.
 

Hi everybody, I am Jenny and one of the members of our Tongan Team.  I am 11 years old and I am in Year 6. I am also a prefect and I am in the Student Research Team. I was born in Australia but my backround is Tongan. I’ve got 1 brother and 1 sister and they’ve both been to Tonga. My parents were both born in Tonga.

My favourite subjects at school are maths, spelling, reading, science, art and craft, sports and music.

I've visited Tonga a few times, once when I was young and once when mum was sick. The first time I went to Tonga we brought an ice-cream, it was cheap and so big that I couldn't even finish it.

When I was there I saw pigs, houses made out of coconut leaves and coconut wood and much more. When I was in Tonga I lived in a village called Tokomololo which is where my mum's family lived. Pea which was where my dad's family lived. The vehicles that we travelled in were trucks.

My favourite foods are lu (cooked taro leaves), puaka (pork) and otai (fruit punch drink). The things I like about Australia are the beaches, the shops, the ice-cream and the lollies.
 

Hi my name is James, I am 12 years old and in Year six. I am in the Tongan Team. I was born in New Zealand, my dad is Tongan and my mum is from Niue. Most people don't know about Niue. Niue is an Island near Hawaii. It is an Island governed by New Zealand.

I am a school prefect and I am in the school band, I play the trumpet. My favourite subject in school is sport, reading, English and music. My teacher is Mr Taylor.

I have been to Tonga when I was seven. It was great. I stayed in a Village called Fatai. We got to ride on the back of utes and Trucks. When we wanted to have a bath or a shower we had to have it outside. I learnt how to hunt down a pig and cook it and how to crack open a coconut. My favourite Tongan food is chop suey.