Welcome to my new blog which has a shop integrated with it. I still have a few resources to load up but I’m pretty happy with being able to sell in $NZ. I still have the TpT store where i sell resources. This site is a great alternative, especially when the $NZ is low (TpT is in $US).

It was lovely to meet so many of you around the motu at the te reo Māori workshops.  We were all astounded at the huge turnout. It proved  there is a HUGE interest in increasing te reo Māori in and around our akomanga. Very inspiring!

Many kaiako really stepped out of their comfort zones to be in the “learners seat” and take up the wero of speaking more te reo.

From the feedback one of the biggest areas of change is in making our rooms more “bicultural” and having a better representation of “both” Tiriti partners in our room environment. This comes in the form of more useful signage, and a te reo print saturated environment.

Firstly lets begin with Labels.  You are better off having just a few at a time and making sure you use them (rorohiko-computer, kūaha-door, tēpu-table) and being mindful about using them repeatedly. Choose the labels of items you use or say most frequently.

What phrases do you have around your walls that can be exchanged for the te reo phrases? Whakataukī-how motivating to have some of them for encouragement and aspirations. If you have learned how to ask what the weather is like you could have a picture of weather in another country or place. A sign could be written “He aha te āhua o te rangi ki….?” What’s the weather like at…?

Functional chunks

Using the  classroom labels in the photo above we played around with phrases and making them into skits 🙂 Extremely inventive e hoa mā! 🙂 Kaiako have found these useful and easy to use. Add to them weekly or monthly (or daily).

Your room environment, your walls and all areas are prime real estate. It is important to have bilingual signage and representations of Māori kōwhaiwhai, symbols and art work in our spaces. After all we are classrooms in Aotearoa! Our akomanga should embody  two Tiriti partners!

Resources

Lastly resources are not used to their full potential unless you have a question and a reply. These can be added to the resource to make a conversation.

To help you with this I have a download of 6 common questions to match some of the artwork or topic work on your walls. The one below could go with action artwork or stories you have on the walls. Just find the verb that fits.

Below is a link where you can receive 6 free speech bubble questions.
If you like the speech bubbles and would like to use them in your classroom there are more colours available here.

Let me know if these questions are useful for your learners 🙂

Ngā manaakitanga,

Michele