Te Kawa o te Marae

Social Studies Online

TEACHER Denise Gurran

TEACHING AND LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Select and adapt these learning activities to best meet the needs of your students, and to fit the time available:

Introduce the unit title "Te Kawa o te Marae", and discuss its meaning.

1. Starter activity
   Watch Taha Maori Video. Discuss new language and key ideas in the video.

   Talk about culture and heritage as a class, and in discussion come up with examples from children's own experience. Think about language, customs, traditions, food, the arts - dance, music, art, buildings, place names, stories about the past, taonga. Children draw pictures of these features to be displayed on the classroom wall around each word.

   The marae complex
   Te Marae o Te Papa

COLLECT AND RECORD INFORMATION

2. Model making
   As a class, make a set of characters - men, women and children - in traditional Maori costume. Use card and back with velcro dots or blutac. These will be used for a moveable wall display for re-enacting the Powhiri (welcoming ceremony).

   Make a background scene of a marae including the meeting house, gates and seating for a Powhiri. These items could also be moveable.

3. Vocabulary
   Build up a word list on a chart on the wall. Write all the Maori words encountered in the course of the unit in one column, and the English meanings in another.

   A Hundred Words Every New Zealander Should Know

   Useful reference: The glossary in the book:
   Tauroa, H. & P. Te Marae - A Guide to Customs and Protocol Heinemann Reed.

4. Meeting House Models
   View a marae online. See Parts of a Whare and Virtual Whare.

   Create models of a meeting house (or the marae complex).

   Draw a sketch plan of the meeting house and label the main features.

   Use a variety of materials (for example lego, cardboard, popsicle sticks, twigs) to create a model meeting house. Focus on colours, style and decorations.

   Each model will illustrate traditional:

   • Design and structure
   • Patterns
   • Carving
   • Colours

5. Marae Visit
   1. Contacting a Marae
   2. Contact local Maori leaders
   3. Arrange a gift of money (koha) from the school.

COLLECT AND RECORD INFORMATION

6. Before the visit: Student preparation

   Marae Kawa
   Read rules on a Marae. Talk about ways they are similar and different to rules at school. Record information as drawings and notes.

   Revise prior knowledge of protocol and language using co-operative activities such as 'Think/pair/share' and 'Donuts' then use the ideas generated to make mind maps.

   1. Introduce the Maori names of the two groups involved in a Marae visit Manuhiri (visitors) and Tangata whenua (hosts).

      A Hundred Words Every New Zealander Should Know

   2. Watch Taha Maori Video (see Resources) for the second time (it was the starter activity).

   3. Record key information in the video by noting key words down the centre of a page and adding any extra information to the sides of the key words, as it is presented.

   4. Use these notes to create a flow chart of each step involved in a Powhiri.

   5. Frame Questions
      
      • Prepare questions to ask about marae protocol during the marae visit, using 'where, when, who, why, what and how' sentence starters.
      • Prepare questions to find out how the meeting house reflects Maori culture and heritage (you could encourage questions about the design, stories, ancestors, traditions).

   6. Read about Powhiri protocol.

   7. Learn at least one Waiata. Contact local Maori leaders.

   8. Practise a Powhiri
      
      • Divide the class into visitors and hosts. (Manuhiri and Tangata whenua)
      • Choose a speaker for each group and a caller. (Kai karanga)
      • Prepare seating.
      • Arrange both groups with boys at the front, girls behind.
      • Follow the procedure shown on the video.
      • Video tape the practice.

   9. Re-enact Powhiri
      Create a wall display using the cut-out moveable marae figures with velcro or blue tac on their backs. Use this to demonstrate/re-enact parts of the powhiri.

   10. View video made of the Powhiri practice
       Formative Assessment
       • Self evaluate using procedural lists created earlier in the flow charts (see activity d).
       • Plan improvements for a further practice.

   Focus for your marae visit:

   1. What happens on a marae
   2. How the meeting house reflects Maori culture and heritage

7. During the visit
   Participate in the Powhiri.
   Ask questions and record replies.
   Participate in food preparation, eating, cleaning up if so organised.
   Collect and record information using the video and digital cameras.

SORT INFORMATION

8. After the visit
   Sort the information for a PowerPoint presentation - "What Happens on a Marae?".
   

9. Prepare a brief oral presentation to describe how the meeting house reflects Maori culture and heritage. Give two examples and use models as part of the presentation. Practice the oral presentation in small groups.

COMMUNICATE FINDINGS

10. Discuss ways to show appreciation and carry these out:
    • Letters or cards.
    • Photos of models.
    • Email.
    • Invitation to visit and view models and PowerPoint Presentations.

    Show the Power Point presentation, and make oral presentations to:

    • Your class
    • Other classes
    • The Maori community involved

RESOURCES

Electronic

• Maori.org.nz
• Webpages made for the school intranet.
• Software: MS Office PowerPoint
• Digital camera.
• Video camera.
• Computers with internet access.

Print

• Tauroa, H. & P. Te Marae - A Guide to Customs and Protocol Heinemann Reed.

Other

• Local Marae and leaders
• Video: Taha Maori series Marae Protocol - the experience, the explanation. Distributed by Visual Productions Unit