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Te Reo Māori in the New Zealand Curriculum: Draft

Monitoring achievement

Teachers can monitor students’ progress by:

• checking students’ procedural knowledge (that is, their ability to use language and participate in tikanga appropriately) by observing them, and perhaps using checklists, as they carry out spoken and written tasks in authentic contexts, related to the various themes, topics, and text types introduced (levels 1–8). For example:

  • At a pōwhiri, do individual students know how and when to hongi, and are they able to perform the hongi comfortably?
  • How well do individual students know their roles and responsibilities as manuhiri and as tangata whenua?
  • Do individual students know how to greet an elder or friend appropriately in specific contexts, such as in the hongi line, in the classroom, and in the playground?
  • Can individual students give clear directions to a familiar place?
  • Can individual students give clear instructions on how to complete a familiar task that is appropriate to the level and topic?
  • Can individual students read a story in Māori aloud to others, with appropriate pronunciation and intonation and with clarity of meaning?
  • Can individual students plan and write a well-formed narrative, exposition, or argument text?
  • Can individual students select appropriate whakataukī and waiata to embellish formal public speeches?

• checking specific responses to the various tasks set, for example, vocabulary exercises, dictation passages, crossword puzzles, labels for pictures, solutions to number games, words inserted in greetings cards, question and answer tests, gap filling, and substitution activities (levels 1–8);

• asking students to tick off checklists (or make and use their own checklists) based on whether specified content is present or absent in a spoken or written text, and checking their responses (levels 1–8);
• observing student responses to classroom instructions and questions and noting the words and sentences students produce while playing language-based board games (levels 1–2);
• observing student responses to instructions and directions and their successful completion of tasks based on these (levels 3–4);
• checking students’ answers to multichoice questions about spoken or written text (levels 1–4);
• checking drawings based on spoken or written descriptions of people, places, and things (levels 3–4);
• checking spoken or written descriptions based on various texts such as brochures, drawings, maps, and plans (levels 3–4);
• recording and checking dialogues produced by pairs of students in response to visual cues (levels 3–8);
• checking the information that students find on the Internet about, for example, the meanings of Māori words (level 3) or the location of towns and shopping centres (level 4);
• checking how well students integrate information from Māori-medium Internet sites into their spoken and written production (levels 4–8);
• asking students to modify a written passage, or the written transcript of a dialogue, in a variety of specified ways – for example, for a different audience, for a different purpose, to adjust the time reference, to change the focus – and checking their responses (levels 4–8);
• checking students’ ability to adjust their own spoken and written production to changes in audience, purpose, or the level of formality of the context (levels 5–8);
• checking students’ spoken and written narratives about real or imagined past activities and events (levels 3–8);
• checking students’ spoken and written reports about habits and routines (levels 3–8);
• checking students’ spoken and written recounts of actual events (levels 2–8);
• checking that students can give and follow instructions (levels 5–7);
• checking students’ spoken and written accounts comparing and contrasting people, places, and things – for example, comparing two different cultural activities (levels 7–8);
• checking students’ spoken and written accounts of future plans, such as their conversations, emails, or text messages as they plan for a forthcoming cultural event (levels 7–8);
• checking that students can describe problems and present solutions in spoken and written form (levels 6–8);
• observing as students give short speeches or make telephone calls based on information gathered from sources such as radio or television programmes or travel diaries (levels 6–8);
• checking students’ writing of simple film reviews and critical commentaries based on their own judgments (levels 6–8);
• checking curriculum vitae and letters of application for employment (levels 7–8);
• checking students’ ability to adjust expressions of approval, disapproval, agreement, and disagreement to suit different contexts (levels 6–8);
• checking students’ participation in debates in which they are expected to provide logical arguments and appropriate reasons (levels 6–8);
• checking students’ writing of newspaper reports, editorials, or letters to the editor based on information from other sources, such as radio and television programmes or an Internet search (levels 7–8);
• checking students’ simulated or actual broadcast commentaries based on information supplied, or retrieved, from various sources (levels 6–8).

Students can monitor their own progress by:

• keeping a portfolio of their work in te reo Māori, both spoken and written, and comparing later entries with earlier ones – a range of spoken and written tasks should be included so that they can monitor various aspects of their language learning (levels 1–8);
• discussing the contents of their portfolio with the teacher or with peers (levels 1–8);

• using checklists that reflect the achievement objectives, themes, and topics at levels 1–8; for example, the checklists might include items like these:

  • I can greet people. (level 1)
  • I can tell people my name. (level 1)
  • I can write vowels with macrons. (level 1)
  • I can correctly say the Māori names for people and places I know well. (level 1)
  • I can write the date at the beginning of my work. (level 1)
  • I can describe a member of my whānau. (level 2)
  • I can tell people who my brothers and sisters are. (level 2)
  • I can say what I like and dislike. (level 2)
  • I can give and follow directions. (level 3)
  • I can prepare and give a short talk about my family. (level 3)
  • I can tell someone what I did yesterday or at the weekend. (level 3)
  • I can accept and decline invitations. (level 4)
  • I can write a letter to my grandmother telling her my plans. (level 4)
  • I can say grace. (level 4)
  • I can talk about how I felt last week. (level 5)
  • I can discuss a familiar topic with my friend. (level 5)
  • I can talk about what I plan to do. (level 6)
  • I can write about a problem and propose solutions for it. (level 6)
  • I can give my opinion on a topic of current interest. (level 7)
  • I can deliver a short, computer-assisted presentation on a topic I have studied. (level 7)
  • I can put forward an argument, giving reasons for what I believe. (level 8)
  • I can watch and understand a television documentary in te reo Māori. (level 8)

• setting goals and then later checking progress towards these goals (levels 1–8);

• doing vocabulary games and exercises, including crossword puzzles, and checking them against answer keys (levels 1–8);
• keeping vocabulary notebooks and checking their ability to remember and use the words included in them (levels 1–8);
• matching words with pictures illustrating the various themes and topics covered, using an answer key, for example, (level 1) classroom objects like he pene, he tēpu; (level 2) pictures of people, places, and things;
• creating definitions of words in te reo Māori and comparing them with actual dictionary definitions;¹
• writing sentences including new words to show their understanding of how the words can be used (levels 6–8);
• doing computer-based language extension exercises (levels 1–8);
• checking that they are following instructions carefully and accurately as they carry out a range of increasingly complex tasks and activities related to the current themes and topics (levels 1–8);
• finding their way around on the basis of directions given by a partner (levels 3–7);
• doing exercises in which they select appropriate language for specific contexts and checking their selections against an answer key that gives several alternative good answers (levels 3–8);
• working in pairs or groups to search for information, using it to prepare presentations, and seeking feedback from peers and the teacher (levels 7–8).

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