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Fakatai La! Teacher support material

by Lynn Lolokini Pavihi

This story supports:

  • Unit 1 Fakafeleveia/Introductions
  • Unit 4 Tau Fakafetuiaga he Magafaoa / Family Relationships
  • Unit 5 Tau Mena Kai / Food

Schools, ECE centres and education providers can order the set of six Haia! An Introduction to Vagahau Niue storybooks from  Down the back of the chair. Enter item number MOE11625 into the search box.

Text features

Language features

The language features of this story include:

  • expressions of time – Ko e Aho Faiumu / On Saturday; ko e magaaho kai laā / at lunchtime
  • ma before a person’s name when addressing them directly – ma Rangi
  • expressions of place – he poko kaitunu / in the kitchen
  • the connective mo/and – he moa mo e ika / chicken and fish
  • words transliterated from English words – pateta, vesetapolo, Iesu Keriso, Amene, foila
  • the word kai as part of a noun phrase (tau mena kai / food; kai Niue / Niue food; kai laā / lunch) and as a verb (Kua kai a Sifa he takihi lolo / Sifa is eating the delicious takihi)
  • nouns that are generally uncountable nouns in English (and therefore singular) but are countable in Niue and used with the plural marker tau – tau mena kai / food; tau talo/the taro[s]; tau kai / food
  • formulaic expressions – Fakamolemole / I’m sorry; Ko e mitaki hā ia! / Yum!; Kā mā? / Really?; mitaki lahi ka pihia / that sounds great; Kai hake / Eat up
  • the word nākai to express the negative – Nākai fiafia au ke kai e falu vesetapolo / I don’t like eating other vegetables
  • the word nakai as a question marker in yes–no questions – Fia finage nakai a koe ke he kaina haaku he Aho Faiumu ke kai laā Niue? / Do you want to come and have a Niue lunch at my house on Saturday?
  • a word with two meanings – lolo/delicious; lolo/creamy
  • the word fua, which is a generic term for fruit, is used before a more specific term – fua lākau / fruit that grows on the branches of trees; fua loku / pawpaw
  • words for members of the family – tugaane / younger brother (of a female); tugaane motua / oldest brother (of a female [1]); matua taane / father; matua fifine / mother; matua tupuna fifine / grandmother (the grandmother is also referred to as Nena, which is a more familiar term used in many Niue families)
  • imperatives – Fakatai la! / Try it!; Fakamolemole la / Excuse me
  • the prefix faka-, which turns a noun into a verb – fakamonuina/to bless (from monuina / a blessing)
  • different forms of a verb that distinguish between performing an action once or performing it several times – fola / to spread; fofola / to spread out in a single motion (when giving the instruction to lay the heated banana leaf on the foil); Folafola / to spread out repeatedly (to indicate repeated action when arranging the slices of taro and pawpaw on the leaf)
  • pronouns that indicate singular and plural, and inclusion and exclusion of the speaker – koe/you (singular); mutolu/you (three or more persons); mautolu/us or our (three or more persons); laua/they (two persons); lautolu/they (three or more persons)
  • the particle kua to indicate a completed action in the present tense – Kua pehē a Sifa / Sifa says
  • idiomatic use of the word nava: Kua kai a ia mo e nava he lolo he takihi / She eats and praises the deliciousness of the takihi (nava means to show admiration or express how tasty something is)
  • the word tama/child used metaphorically – tama vala takihi / a small portion of takihi (tama means small in this phrase).

Cultural features

The cultural features in this story include the following.

  • The use of the word umu. Umu refers to a particular style of cooking in aga fakamotu Niue. The story includes both written and visual descriptions of preparing the food and putting it into the umu. See Unit 5 of Haia! An Introduction to Vagahau Niue for more information on the umu.
  • The Niue word for Saturday is Aho Faiumu in recognition of fai umu – the traditional cultural practice in aga fakamotu of preparing food and cooking it in the umu to prepare for the Sunday family gathering.
  • Different ways of expressing thanks are used. The term fakaaue is used in everyday informal conversation, and Oue tulou in formal respectful speech, for example, when saying the Christian grace.
  • Christian values are integrated into Niue cultural practices. A prayer of acknowledgment and thanks is said before the meal. The word Iki, which has the meaning of chief or distinguished person in aga fakamotu, is used to give status to Jesus Christ. The grandmother gives the blessing because of her status as an elder in the family.
  • The use of the verb feleveia expresses the concept of exchanging greetings when meeting people, with the host extending a welcome.
  • The word masima is an alternative spelling for the word mātima. In vagahau Niue, a "t" followed by an "i" or "e" is pronounced as an "s". Traditionally, "s" was not a letter of the vagahau Niue alphabet. These days, "s" appears more frequently in written texts.
  • The politeness expression fakamolemole has different meanings according to its context, for example, fakamolemole / I’m sorry; fakamolemole la / Excuse me. Fakamolemole includes the concept of “letting the bad things pass away”.
  • Takihi is a Niue dish. The word takihi has become part of New Zealand English in the same way that umu has. These are vagahau Niue terms that have been “borrowed” into English, just as English terms have become part of vagahau Niue through transliteration.
  • Tau momotua / adults is a respectful term for older people, referring to them as “elders”. Older people have special status in aga fakamotu.

Links to the New Zealand Curriculum

Key competencies

Reading and working with Fakatai La! could help students develop key competencies set out in the New Zealand Curriculum: Key Competencies.

Values

The story illustrates values that relate to the New Zealand Curriculum and to the core Niue values of loto fakamokoi/a generous nature and loto fakalilifu/respect.

Cross-curricular links

Learners who are working at levels 1–2 in Niue may be working at higher curriculum levels in other learning areas. You will need to consider this in order to make effective cross-curricular links. Here are three examples of cross-curricular achievement objectives that could be linked to this story:

Social sciences, level 3

Students will gain knowledge, skills, and experience to:

  • Understand how cultural practices vary but reflect similar purposes
  • Understand how people view and use places differently.

Learning languages: Achievement objectives

Students will:

  • receive and produce information
  • produce and respond to questions and requests
  • show social awareness when interacting with others

(Communication strand, relating to selected linguistic and sociocultural contexts)

  • recognise that the target language is organised in particular ways
  • make connections with their own language(s)

(Language knowledge strand)

  • recognise that the target culture is organised in particular ways
  • make connections with known culture(s).

(Cultural knowledge strand)

Tau Hatakiaga ma e Vagahau Niue: The Niue Language Guidelines, levels 1 and 2

Students will:

  • give and respond to personal information (1.1)
  • give and respond to greetings, farewells, and introductions (1.2)
  • express and respond to desires, needs, and preferences (1.7)
  • use language, positioning, and movement to show respect (1.8)
  • make connections with known culture(s) (Cultural Knowledge).

Learning outcomes

Below are some possible learning outcomes for reading this story. Select from and adapt these to meet the needs of your students and share the outcomes with them.

After reading and working with this story, I will be able to:

  • read the story and identify the likes and dislikes of the main characters, the relationships between the characters, and the main ideas
  • identify and express likes and dislikes
  • identify and express family relationships
  • read, view, and discuss, in English, the information and values in the written and visual texts
  • research and present, in English, information on aspects of aga fakamotu in the story
  • compare aspects of aga fakamotu in the story with aspects of my culture.

[1] The term tugaane is used only by females to refer to their brothers. Males refer to their sisters as mahakitaga.

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