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Activities

Before reading

Prior knowledge

Revisit Unit 4 and talk about who may be included in a Cook Islands ngutu‘are tangata. Revisit Unit 13 and revise the language for expressing feelings.

Ask the students questions about migrating or moving house, for example: “Who has a friend or a family member who was born in a different country than New Zealand? How did they come to live here?” Display a world map and ask students to indicate where some of these people came from.

Have the students share, in small groups, their experiences and ideas of how it would feel to go and live in a new land or place. Then ask them: “What differences do you think someone moving from the Cook Islands would find if they moved to New Zealand? Today? Fifty years ago?”

Pronunciation of new language

Check the words in the glossary (on the inside back cover of the book). If possible, ask a native speaker of Cook Islands Māori to model the correct pronunciation of any unfamiliar words for you and the students. This person could read the story to you and the class as the first reading, or you could record them reading it and play it to the class. Learners at levels 1 and 2 will need support with the speech on page 8.

Introducing the book

Cover the front of the book with a sheet of paper that is the same size as the cover. Cut the paper into six pieces, so that it becomes like a jigsaw puzzle. Use an adhesive putty to stick the jigsaw puzzle pieces to the front cover of the book so that it is completely covered. Remove one piece at a time, each time asking the students what they think the illustration shows and what they predict the book will be about. Record their predictions on the whiteboard so that they can refer to them and add to them during the reading.

Learning intentions

Share the learning intentions, or co-construct them with your students. Some examples of possible learning intentions for reading this story are given below.

After reading the text, I will be able to:

  • say what items I might take on a journey, using the structure, Ka ‘inangaro
     au …
  • identify aspects of Cook Islands life in the 1960s
  • express degrees of sadness and other emotions, for example, Maromaroā au/Maromaroā tikāi au.
  • identify some important features of a Cook Islands farewell
  • write and perform plays in which they use appropriate language to express feelings.

Talk about how the students will know they have met the learning intentions, and decide on success criteria together.

Reading the text

Read the story aloud to the students, as the students follow the reading in their books. At the end, ask them what they think the story is about and what happens. Compare this with their predictions before reading.

Read the story again, this time pausing on each page to discuss what is said and what is happening, giving evidence from the words and/or the pictures. Write key phrases on the whiteboard. On page 6, take the time to discuss what is said about the Bible (Buka Tapu) and to explain that every Cook Islands home would be expected to have one. On pages 8–10, discuss why the room is full of people and talk about why all the ‘ei are given to Pāpā, the person who is leaving.

Invite students to read the story aloud in small groups, with one reading the narrator’s part and others reading for different family members. Their goal is to read with expression, conveying the speaker’s feelings.

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After reading

Ask the students to share what they liked about the story, or about a group member’s reading.

Identify and record the features of a Cook Islands farewell that are illustrated in the book, for example, the attendance of extended family and friends, the placing of ‘ei on the person who is leaving, the speech, and the expressions of sadness and good wishes.

  • Talk about the differences and similarities between this Cook Islands family in the 1960s and other families that the students know. Talk about the family relationships within the ngutu‘are tangata of Pāpā, Māmā, and the boys. Look for the differences that arise from the period (the 1960s). For example, at modern farewells in the Cook Islands, shell necklaces are given instead of flower ‘ei because travellers are no longer permitted to bring live plants into New Zealand.

Game: Going to New Zealand

Have the students take turns adding to a list of what they might take to New Zealand with them. The first speaker says “Āpōpō ka ‘oki au ki Nū Tirēni. Ka ‘inangaro au ‘i taku ___. The next repeats this and adds another item, and so on.

Creating a play

In groups of four, students could write short plays with questions and answers and words that express feelings (as learned in Unit 13). For example, they might choose to write about a family moving to another own or friends sharing how they feel.

Groups of students could innovate on the story to create a longer play, or video scenario about another person or people leaving home for another country, in the 1960s or today.

If the students plan to put on their play or produce their video, they could add cultural authenticity to their performance by:

  • wearing some traditional Cook Islands clothes, referring to what they learned in lesson C of Unit 18
  • making ‘ei, as they learned to in Unit 12, to be given to those who are leaving
  • singing and improvising dance movements to the traditional farewell song ‘Īmene Takakē (from p. 24 of ‘E Au ‘Īmene Kūki ‘Airani nō Tātou i Aotearoa nei Cook Islands Songs, Ministry of Education, 2002). This song will be familiar from Units 9 and 20.

Reflecting on the learning

Have the students refer to their learning intentions and reflect individually about (or discuss in pairs) whether they have fulfilled the intentions. Ask the students questions such as:

  • What helped you understand the story?
  • What have you learned about living in the Cook Islands in the 1960s?
  • What new things have you learned about Cook Islands farewells?
  • What do you think are the next steps in your learning?

The students could record this information.

Click here for the English version of the story

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