Ka Mau te Wehi! Unit 5: Āwhea te kanikani? – When is the dance? 

Watch: He kōrero whakamārama – The Māori calendar (Months) 

Explains the different ways of saying, in te reo Māori, the months of the year. 

Teach ākonga the question and answer sentences, and have them practise using their birthday: 

• Āhea tō rā whānau? – When is your birthday? 
• Ā te ______ o ______. – On (date) of (month). 

Ask ākonga to form a line across the classroom with 1 Hānuere – 1 January, at one end and 31 Tīhema – 31 December, at the other end. Then, have them line up according to where their birthday falls between those dates. 

To form the line, ākonga must ask each other when their birthday is, listen to the answer, and then move to the correct position in the line. 

Watch: Waiata video – Rā Whānau ki a Koe 

Use this video to learn and practise this song. 

Ask ākonga to write the words to this song in their Wehi books. 

Ask ākonga to create a class list of birthdays and sing this song on each person’s birthday. Ask ākonga to think of three dates that are important to them, and write these dates in Māori in Wehi, leaving enough space to illustrate that date: for example, the date could be their birthday, the date of the school dance or their sports finals. 

Activity 3 

Learning intention 

Ākonga will learn to tell the time in Māori. 

Watch: He kōrero whakamārama – Use of mā 

Explanation of the word mā. 

Watch: Unit 5 Scene 2 – Jo and Hana talk about the dance

Ask ākonga to tell you what time the dance is (7 o’clock). Write this time on the whiteboard in Māori and draw a simple clock alongside it showing 7 o’clock. Ask ākonga to identify the words for 7 – whitu, and o’clock – karaka. 

Call out a time and have ākonga draw simple clock faces in their Wehi books showing that time, or draw simple clock faces on the board showing different times and have ākonga copy the clock faces in their Wehi books and write the time in Māori alongside or get the ākonga to complete Unit 5 Worksheet A and Unit 5 Worksheet B (in the Materials that come with this resource section above). 

Option

The video, from Unit 9 Scene 3 – Haami has nothing to wear to the dance, and shows another situation where times are discussed. If you wish, you can use this now. 

Draw a clock face on the whiteboard showing half past three, and ask ākonga if they can predict how this time would be said in Māori: 

• Hāwhe pāhi i te toru karaka. – Half past three o’clock. 

Encourage ākonga to play the game Āhea te kanikani? (When is the dance?) in pairs. Each person has a game card (see Unit 5 Worksheet C) and should cross out three squares – one each for the time, the day and the month they have selected for the school dance. The purpose of the game is to guess the date and time of each other’s dance. 

Taking turns, the ākonga should ask each other: 

• Ā te (name the day) te kanikani, nē? – The dance is on (name the day), isn’t it? 

If they are correct, their partner answers: 

• Āe, ā te (name of the day). – Yes, on the (name of the day). 

If they are incorrect, their partner says kāo – no, and asks a question to find out their partner’s dance date. 

If they answer a question correctly, they are allowed to ask another question. 

• Ā te Paraire te tekau mā rima te kanikani, nē? – The dance is on Friday the fifteenth, isn’t it? 
• Ā te Paraire te tekau mā rima o Mahuru te kanikani, nē? – The dance is on Friday the fifteenth of September, isn’t it?