Te Reo

Te reo maori is very important to include within schools. By starting off the day with a few questions and answers in Maori, my learners are being exposed to te reo daily. I believe this is important as encouraging the use of New Zealand's native language ensures we are able to keep it going in our country and it doesn't die out over time.

We always start off with a greeting - "Ata mārie LS1" 

Ask how they are feeling each day - "Ask your partner kei te pehea koe?"

This allows them to practice and think about what they are going to say. After this I ask random students "kei te pehea koe". They started off all saying "kei to pai", "i am good/fine". However they slowly started using other words such as hiakai (hungry), ngenge (tired), hōha (bored) and makariri (cold). Which was great to see as they are becoming more confident when using te reo in class.

After this they practice asking each other "he aha te ra?" (what is the date?"). They then use the calendar on the wall behind us, to help them say the date in maori. Then as a class they will be asked "he aha te ra?" and they will answer in sync with one another.

The last question is "he aha te huarere?" (what is the weather?). This is answered as a whole class and concludes our te reo for the morning. We are planning to add more maori sayings to the wall behind our desk so we can incorporate a wider range of te reo in the class.