Ka Mau te Wehi! Unit 1 Ata mārie – Good morning

The purpose of this unit of work is to learn the letter sounds in te reo Māori and how to greet and farewell people.

Haami and Sione greeting Haami’s parents.

About this resource

This unit focuses on:

Suggested curriculum link: 1.1
Learning intentions: Learn pronunciation, Māori alphabet, basic greetings
New words: Kia ora, tēnā koe, ata mārie, ka kite anō, e hoa, haere rā tamariki mā, e noho rā, whaea, matua, tō, taku, kai, parakuihi

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Ka Mau te Wehi! Unit 1 Ata mārie – Good morning

See Materials that come with this resource to download:

Unit 1 Ata mārie – Good morning (.pdf)

Learning intentions

In this unit ākonga will:

learn the Māori alphabet and the letter sounds
ask and answer the question “Where are you from?” in te reo Māori, and learn why you ask it
use the phrases kia ora (hello), ata mārie (good morning), ka kite anō (see you again), and say them in the correct context.

Success criteria

Before commencing the unit, discuss the learning intentions with ākonga and together agree upon appropriate success criteria.

Resources

See Materials that come with this resource to download:

Unit 1 transcripts (.pdf)
Te Arapū Māori (.pdf)
Te Arapū Māori translation (.pdf)
Te Arapū Māori lyrics and English translation (.pdf)
Unit 1 worksheet A (.pdf)

Activity 1

Learning intention: Ākonga will learn correct pronunciation of the Māori alphabet.

Watch: He kōrero whakamārama – What is a macron?

The tohutō (macron) is explained.

Watch: Waiata video – Te Arapū Māori

Introduce the Māori alphabet using the waiata Te Arapū Māori.

Have ākonga say the letters and sounds after you. Have ākonga listen to the tune first, and then ask them to sing along.

When ākonga are confident with the tune and lyrics, introduce them to the actions and steps that go with the song.

Have ākonga copy Te Arapū Māori into their Wehi  books. This is the book that ākonga will use to copy, record, write notes, and complete any written and illustrated work related to Ka Mau te Wehi! Language learning is enhanced when ākonga are provided with opportunities to practise writing in the target language. Ākonga, their peers, or the kaiako could check the students’ work in the Wehi books.

Explain to ākonga that in Māori the vowel sound is short or long. If a vowel has a tohutō (macron), like in the word "Māori", the vowel sound is long. If not, the vowel sound is short. An alternative to the tohutō is the double vowel: Maaori. Ask ākonga to find out if the words in their local area are printed with the tohutō or the double vowel. Tell ākonga that a quick way to remember the word tohutō is: tohu means symbol and tō means to drag or to lengthen.

In pairs, ask ākonga to check each other’s song to ensure that the song title has macrons Te Arapū Māori.

Activity 2

Learning intention: Ākonga will learn how to greet someone in the morning.

Watch: Unit 1 Scene 1 – Sione is invited to breakfast at Haami’s house

Have ākonga practise saying "Ata mārie" ("Good morning") to each other. Ask them what they think Māmā is saying, "Haere mai ki te kai", ("Come and eat"), when it is used by Māmā and Pāpā in the video.

Roleplay

Roleplay 1 (whole class)

Set up a table with a few mock-up breakfast items, such as eating utensils and a jam jar with "tiamu" written on it. Select children to go out of the classroom and come in as if they are arriving for breakfast. Practise using the phrases from the Unit 1, Scene 1 video.

Roleplay 2 (small group)

If there are ākonga who know the words in the Unit 1 Scene 1 video, ask them to make up a roleplay using vocabulary they are familiar with; for example, one student could pretend to be asleep, and a second student could say "E oho!" ("Wake up!") and "Haere mai ki te parakuihi." ("Come to breakfast"). They could then combine their roleplay with their classmates at the breakfast table.

Activity 3

Learning intention: Ākonga will learn how to ask where someone is from and why this is important in te reo Māori.

Watch: Unit 1 Scene 2 – Nui meets and greets Sione

Explain to ākonga that "Kia ora" is a friendly, casual way of saying "Hi", and that another way of greeting someone is "Tēnā koe" ("Hello"). Ask ākonga why they think Nui asks Sione where he is from.

Watch: He kōrero whakamārama clip 1: Why ask, "Where are you from?"

To help explain why this question is often asked when meeting someone for the first time, ask ākonga to choose a country that they either come from or can pretend to come from for the purpose of this activity. Have them move around the classroom, asking each other where they come from. This could be a suburb or town in New Zealand or another country.

Nō hea koe, [person’s name]? Where are you from, [person’s name]?

The answer to the question:

Nō [name of place] au. I’m from [name of place].

See Materials that come with this resource to download Ate mārie unit 1 worksheet a (.pdf). Prepare the cards from the worksheet that show the name of a person and an island in the Pacific region that he or she comes from. Cut out the cards and give one to each student.

For the purposes of this activity, ākonga will need to assume the name and the country shown on the card. Let ākonga practise saying the name of the person and the country on their card.

Have some blank cards prepared so that ākonga can also use their own name and country of origin.

Pair each student with someone from a different country.

Have ākonga move around the classroom together, stopping other pairs of students, greeting them in Māori and asking where they are from, who their friend is, and where their friend is from.

Person 1	Ko wai tō hoa? – Who is your friend?
Person 2	Ko ... taku hoa. – ... is my friend.
Person 1	Nō hea koe, Sione? – Where are you from, Sione?
Person 2	Nō ... – From ....
Person 1, Person 2 or both	Kia ora. – Thank you.