Faahi Tapu he Vagahau Niue - Niue Language Week
This page contains suggested activities and curated website links to help you and your learners learn about and celebrate indigenous Niue language and culture.
About this resource
This resource includes suggested activities and curated website links to help you and your learners learn about and celebrate the indigenous Niue language and culture. It will help you demonstrate that you value vagahau Niue as a heritage language and are willing to partner with learners, families, and communities to make it part of learning at and beyond school. The suggestions are consistent with culturally responsive pedagogy as described in Tapasā: Cultural competencies framework for teachers of Pacific learners.
Faahi Tapu he Vagahau Niue - Niue Language Week
Fakaalofa atu!
Niue Language Week is part of an annual series of Pacific language weeks that aim to promote and raise awareness of the diversity of our Pacific languages in Aotearoa New Zealand.
To find out the date and theme for this year’s Niue Language Week, visit the Ministry for Pacific Peoples website.
Pacific language weeks: More than a celebration describes more about the purpose of the language weeks and suggests links to help you build your knowledge and competencies as an effective teacher of Pacific learners.
How can you get involved?
You may have learners and families with Niue heritage as well as speakers of Vagahau Niue in your school community who may be willing to share their expertise with you and your learners. Work collaboratively with these experts to build your own knowledge of vagahau Niue and to design activities around the language and culture of Niue.
Ministry for Pacific Peoples website: Download a range of resources to promote Niue Language Week in your school community.
Ministry of Pacific Peoples Facebook page: The Ministry’s Facebook page provides up-to-date information on what is happening each year.
Niue Language Week Facebook page: Join this Facebook group for specific news, resources, and events about Faahi Tapu he Vagahau Niue.
Ministry for Pacific Peoples regional offices: There are a range of events taking place across New Zealand to promote the importance of Niue language, culture, and heritage. Contact the regional offices of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples to find out what's happening near you.
The Teaching and Learning Vagahau Niue resource includes language guidelines and storybooks with teacher’s notes to support language learning. Use the storybooks to provide opportunities for students to extend their language and cultural knowledge. During the language week you might:
- Get students to try to describe the main parts of the story, using vagahau Niue phrases.
- Ask vagahau Niue speakers to come into the school and read to the children at lunchtime, in the classroom, or at an assembly.
Senior secondary guides – Vagahau Niue: This guide helps secondary teachers create quality programmes for teaching and learning vagahau Niue.
Involving family in learning and curriculum: This video explores the ways we can engage and support learners so they can see themselves in education opportunities at school. Tessa Lockwood shares her experience leading the Niuean polyfest group at Manurewa High School as a non-Pacific teacher.
You don’t need to be a speaker of vagahau Niue to make dual language texts the focus of reading, discussion, and activity throughout Niue Language Week. Activities might include supporting students to read some of these texts with younger children at home, school, or in a community setting, like an early learning centre. There could also be time for games and sharing food and music.
Pasifika dual language resources: These texts in Vagahau Niue support the early language and literacy learning of Pacific new entrant learners in English-medium classrooms. Teacher and parent support materials accompany the resources. Many of the dual language books are available as PDFs, and all the books are available as MP3 audio files.
Fakaako e Vagahau Niue – Niue Language app released in 2022, is available on:
We know that talk is the foundation of all learning, and so it is important to create an environment in which:
- Speakers of Vagahau Niue feel comfortable to use their language, and others feel supported to give it a try.
- Everybody feels safe to share, explore, and debate information and ideas about Vagahau Niue and its place in Aotearoa New Zealand.
If learners or families at your school are speakers of vagahau Niue, you could invite them to model and teach their language. However, be careful not to make assumptions about their language knowledge and use. They may not know their heritage languages or may not feel confident or comfortable speaking them.
Ponataki: Niue language education resource: Developed by members of the Niue community in New Zealand, this resource is designed to help teachers and learners explore basic vagahau Niue concepts and vocabulary.
Niuean language online games: Learners can use these free games to explore numbers, phrases, animals, and other vocabulary.
Useful Niuean phrases: Learn useful Niuean phrases from the online encyclopaedia of writing systems and languages.
Tohi Vagahau Niue | Niue language dictionary: Auckland University of Technology provides access to this online resource, where you can search for words in both English and Vagahau Niue.
It is important to note the multiple ways in which people express themselves. The suggestions here include opportunities for you and your learners to explore traditional and contemporary artworks and artefacts and discuss what they say about the culture and heritage of Niue people.
“You know you are Niuean when…”: In this blog, Olah Jacobsen shares what it means to be Niuean. Learners could compare the traditions that Olah describes with their own family traditions. What is similar and what is different?
Makataone Pilokolu - Master weaver: This video describes a popular hand craft practiced in Niue and brought to Aotearoa New Zealand. Learners can:
- Investigate how the Niue art of weaving is passed down through the generations.
- Discuss how Makataone’s practice of weaving in Aotearoa New Zealand helps her retain her cultural identity and connections away from her homeland.
- Consider how art exhibitions can promote and share the languages, cultures, stories, and traditions of Pacific peoples.
- Practice basic weaving skills by weaving placemats out of coloured paper.
2018 New Zealand Census: New Zealand’s Census results provide a wealth of information, including patterns of language use in Aotearoa New Zealand. They show that in 2018, around 21% of the 30,867 Niue people living in New Zealand could speak more than one language. You and your learners might explore the data further. For example, you might like to consider patterns of migration and what that reveals about the need to ensure this rich language use is sustained.
A great way to get your students involved in Faahi Tapu he Vagahau Niue is to incorporate texts on Niue topics and themes within your teaching and learning programme. Along with these texts, you and the students might also draw upon the knowledge and perspectives of community members as part of a bigger inquiry into significant themes and topics from across the curriculum, such as migration, navigation, climate change, or colonisation.
Learn about Niue's settlement in Aotearoa New Zealand through the following resources:
Your learners could interview Pacific peoples in your community whose families have also migrated here to find out:
- When and why their families moved to Aotearoa New Zealand.
- How the stories are similar and different from each other.
All about the rock: Read this blog post from Te Papa to learn ten facts about Niue. Challenge learners to find out further facts about Niue.
Book list from Ngā Kete Wānanga o Ōtautahi: Source texts from this book list to learn about the language and cultural heritage of Niue.
Aotearoa NZ’s Histories: Connections across the Pacific: This resource shows how four texts from the School Journal series can be used to support learning in the context of whakapapa me te whanaungatanga through the topic of voyaging.
Digital Pasifik: This website aims to empower people in and of the Pacific Islands by enabling them to see, discover, and explore items of digitised cultural heritage that are held in collections around the world. Your learners can use this resource to explore the diverse cultural heritage of specific nations and examine similarities and differences across multiple nations.
The Long Pause: This article from Connected explores the mystery of the long pause between the two major periods of Pacific migration. Use this text with learners to explore some of the connections between Māori and Pacific peoples, particularly in terms of whakapapa and navigation.
Tuia Mātauranga: Tuia Mātauranga is a programme developed by the Ministry of Education to support teaching and learning about our dual heritage and shared future. It highlights local people, places, and events that have helped shape our nation’s histories. It has four main topics: voyaging, first encounters, Aotearoa New Zealand histories, legacy of learning.
Potential language loss is an issue facing many New Zealand-based Pacific communities. Work with your learners to understand the issues around language loss and revitalisation, and encourage them to consider what action they can take to make a positive difference.
Language warriors fighting for Vagahau Niue: Watch this video with learners and discuss the challenges that Niue New Zealanders face to preserve Vagahau Niue. Use the following questions to prompt discussion about the purpose of Pacific language weeks and ways to sustain the heritage language of Niue:
- Why is it important for all New Zealanders to celebrate and learn Vagahau Niue?
- What benefits will this bring to New Zealanders of Niue descent?
- What ideas do you have to help Niue's language and culture thrive?
- How can we share what we have learned about Niue's language and culture with the wider community?
Tagata Pasifika: Niue men lay challenge to elevate language: Read this article with older learners and discuss the actions of New Zealand born Niue men to elevate their heritage language and culture.