The learning-how-to-learn partnership
A learner’s competence increases as responsibility for learning is transferred progressively from the teacher to the learner. To facilitate the development of skills and competencies in te reo Māori and tikanga Māori, teachers need to:
- involve community and whānau in the teaching and learning of te reo Māori;
- create an effective, co-operative learning environment;
- in consultation with students, set clear, achievable goals and be prepared to adapt plans and goals in line with the students’ learning;
- explain the purposes of different types of activity;
- be prepared to revisit material in different ways to ensure that students have a firm grasp of it;
- continuously monitor students’ progress and respond positively to their individual and group needs;
- recognise that not everything can be taught and also that students may learn aspects of te reo Māori that have not been explicitly introduced;
- recognise that both accuracy and fluency are important, create opportunities for uninterrupted fluency practice, and find non-threatening ways to help students correct errors when appropriate;
- use a wide range of different materials to accommodate the needs and interests of students;
- accept that language acquisition is a continuous and uneven process and that it is natural for students to seem to lose ground at times as they assimilate new knowledge in preparation for another period of growth and development;
- consistently build up students’ self-esteem in the context of learning te reo Māori and tikanga Māori;
- focus positively on achievements, acknowledging that students will inevitably progress at different rates and that recognising their successes is likely to lead to further successes and to greater efforts in the future;
- use te reo Māori for classroom management wherever possible;
- encourage students to use te reo Māori to initiate communication, to ask and respond to questions, to seek clarification, and to offer information and suggestions;
- progressively nurture independent, self-motivated learning and encourage students to become autonomous learners by teaching them strategies for successful language learning;
- provide many opportunities for students to communicate with one another;
- encourage students to interact positively with one another and to actively demonstrate that they value one another’s contributions;
- plan activities where students work together in pairs and groups as well as individual and whole-class activities.
To succeed, students need to:
- be clear about what they want to achieve;
- be positive, active, and willing learners of te reo Māori;
- feel confident in experimenting and taking risks with te reo Māori as part of the language learning process;
- become aware of, and progressively build on, the language learning skills they already have;
- discover and develop learning skills and strategies that are useful beyond the classroom;
- develop a range of skills to help them negotiate meaning;
- learn to use appropriate reference materials;
- continuously monitor their own progress towards their learning goals.