Learning te reo Māori at St Anne’s is often lessons taught through the English language a bit like any other subject area. On Tuesday, the students were learning sports and strategy games through te reo Māori. This meant the teachers were speaking the majority in te reo Māori and only using English where necessary. Children were also encouraged to use only te reo Māori where they could. This will be a weekly occurrence this term for our four older classes (Rooms 3, 5, 6, 7). It will be interesting to see whether the children’s Māori language ability increases faster, the same or slower considering the language is not the main focus. Research suggests it can accelerate language acquisition if done correctly. This is partly because the language is needed and particularly relevant (if they don’t understand, the game will be harder). Often lessons can be interesting  but content may not be needed for some time and then forgotten. I hope your child enjoyed the challenge. I am supervising the programme along with some assistance from second language specialists  and once I catch up my work from being away for a term, I will jump in also.
Picture: Miss Mapley running a few activities in te reo Māori.
Dallas Wichman