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Activities

Learning activities

You do not have to use all the activities suggested below. Choose from and adapt them to suit your students’ needs.

Introducing the text

As a class, study the cover and title page of Ko e ta‘u taha ‘o Tomi'. Look for the students to recognise words, such as Taha, and prompt them to consider the illustrations and how they might relate to the title. Ask, “Which character do you think is Tomi?”

Discuss the students’ experiences of playing and dancing with young children.

Have the students think about how birthdays or other special occasions are celebrated in their cultures and discuss what they might expect to happen at a first birthday celebration.

Me‘a‘ofa

Introduce the students to the Tongan word me‘a‘ofa and have them work in pairs or small groups to make a list of how to show appreciation for someone. Prompt them with questions like, “Have you ever made or done something special for someone?" "How did you feel?” As a class, discuss which is easier: buying a gift or doing something as a gift. Encourage the students to recognise that it might take time to earn enough money to buy a gift, but it can take a lot of emotional effort to do something special for someone. Record the students’ ideas for them to return to as they consider pages 4 and 5 of the storybook.

Reading the text

Read the first two pages of Ko e ta‘u taha ‘o Tomi' with the students and encourage them to study the illustrations to help them establish who the main charcters are and what they are doing. Confirm that they understand that the young woman is Tomi’s mother and Liki’s sister. Then have the students work in pairs to read and analyse every page. They could:

  • describe what the illustrations show
  • summarise what happens on each page
  • make connections between an illustration and the supporting written text
  • identify verbs and tenses, for example, future tense markers
  • identify prepositions and prepositional phrases of time
  • identify features of the language and illustrations that demonstrate particular cultural elements of Tongan communities, for example, choice of dance, the seating order at the main table, the formal dress worn by the birthday boy, and Liki’s dance costume.

As you work through each page, identify any unfamiliar words or expressions (in the text or the discussion). Record these on the board.

Support the students to notice patterns of language that they will use in other contexts, for example, ‘Oku fiefia ‘a e tokotaha kotoa/everyone is having fun; ‘Oku ilifia ia/he is nervous.

Dictation

Dictation can help students focus on sound–spelling relationships and build good pronunciation habits, especially in relation to the definitive accent. Read the following sentences aloud slowly, repeating each sentence and giving the students enough time to write them down.

  • Ko e Tokonaki' kaha‘u' ko e ‘aho tolu ia ‘o Siulai'.
  • ‘Oku ‘alu a Liki ki tu‘a ‘o ako ‘ene tau‘olunga'.
  • ‘Oku nau omi mo e me‘a‘ofa kia Tomi.

Have the students find the sentences in the book and compare them with what they have written. Have them write a note to themselves about what they need to improve in their written accuracy in lea faka-Tonga.  

Hiva talamonū

When you have discussed and read through the story with the students, play Hiva talamonū (the birthday song in unit 8). Encourage the students to pronounce the words with the right stress, highlighting the use of the definitive accent. If necessary, provide the students with a photocopy of the OHT transcript and play the DVD as many times as appropriate until they can sing the song with ease.

After reading

Celebrations

As a class, discuss what preparations and people were involved in this celebration. Encourage the students to identify the particular aspects of anga faka-Tonga and the Tongan values that the story expresses.

If there are questions that your class has not been able to answer, set research tasks, and encourage the students to search the Internet or the library or talk with family members, other students, or experts from a local Tongan community.

Have the students work in groups or alone to research and prepare a presentation about one of the following topics:

  • the kinds of gifts presented at first birthday celebrations in anga faka-Tonga compared with presents commonly given at first birthdays in their own culture
  • the formalities at first birthday celebrations in anga faka-Tonga compared with formalities at first birthday celebrations in their own culture, for example, seating arrangements; formal proceedings, including speeches; forms of entertainment
  • the significance of particular birthdays in anga faka-Tonga compared with birthdays that are significant in their own culture.

Come to my party!

Have the students prepare a simple invitation to a birthday party in lea faka-Tonga that includes the date, time, and location of the party.

Reflecting on learning

Prompt the students to reflect on what they have learnt from working with this text, by asking questions such as:

  • What strategies helped you to understand the story?
  • What will help you to remember the new language?
  • How can you use the new language in other contexts?
  • Can you identify significant aspects of new learning about anga faka-Tonga?

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