Vaiaso o le Gagana Samoa │ Samoan Language Week

Gagana Samoa is the second most spoken language in Auckland and third most spoken in New Zealand. This means that there is a reasonably high chance that you will have some gagana Samoa speakers in your school. Encourage those students to be experts and validate their expertise in front of other students. Support them to speak gagana Samoa to each other and to others in the class. Work collaboratively with them, their families, and others in the community to build your own knowledge of Gagana Samoa and to design activities around the language and culture of Samoa. 

Vaiaso o le Gagana Samoa is an ideal opportunity to engage with ‘aiga in the school community. Acknowledge expertise, encourage a steady flow of gagana Samoa speakers into the classroom, and let the community guide the teaching and learning in a fa‘a Samoa way. 

The intergenerational concept of service is very important to fa‘a Samoa, with its emphasis on the young looking after the older members of their family. With this in mind, you might try the following activities: 

• Invite your learners to prepare the Vaiaso o le Gagana Samoa celebrations in the school, investigating the value of service to others and placing an emphasis on shared language experiences. 
• Hold a school event where the learners serve the elders, or ask the Samoan school community how the school could help them. This is a great way to practise gagana Samoa, as students can serve the wider community while interacting with fluent speakers in an everyday situation. 
• Hold a school speech competition, using senior learners as the judges. 
• Encourage students to share their expertise with another school or other parts of the school community. Older learners could mentor a Samoan cultural group, or teach younger learners some basic language phrases. 
• Ask a grandparent or parent to come and read to children in the classroom or in the library at lunchtime. Check your resource room for gagana Samoa titles, such as the dual language books or those in the Tupu series. 
• Support learners to work with members of the Samoan community, students to create a learning resource that can be used across the school at any time of the school year. 

Gagana Samoa: Tusi o gāluega fa'atino – Samoan language activity book: This resource was designed by Te Papa Tongarewa with support from the Ministry for Pacific Peoples. It offers information and activities to support your participation in Samoan Language Week. These include pronunciation tips, everyday phrases, stories, and songs. You can download a PDF of the full document. 

Ministry for Pacific Peoples website: Download a range of resources to promote Vaiaso o le Gagana Samoa 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.   

Rangikura School – Pasifika parent group leads learning: Learn about Rangikura Matua Pasifika, a group of staff, parents, and aiga who have a vision to raise Pasifika achievement at Rangikura School through collaboration and partnership. 

Samoan Language Facebook page: Join this group for news, resources, and events. You could share the celebration of gagana Samoa here, on a school blog, or maybe even with a school in Samoa. 

See Materials that come with this resource to download Ta'iala mo le Gagana Sāmoa: The Gagana Sāmoa Guidelines (.pdf). This document provides guidance about how you can work with learners, families, and communities to design programmes for learning gagaga Samoa as an additional language at school. They emphasise that language and culture are interwoven – to learn the language is also to develop knowledge of aganu‘u fa‘asāmoa – the culture of Samoa. 

Mua Ō! An Introduction to Gagana Sāmoa: Mua Ō! is intended to support the teaching and learning of gagana Sāmoa as an additional language in New Zealand schools. You don’t need to speak gagana Sāmoa or know how to teach languages to use this resource, but you would do well to draw upon the expertise of learners, families, and community members. 

Gagana Sāmoa storybooks and teacher support materials: These storybooks and teacher support materials link to learning sequences in Mua Ō! The storybooks are in gagana Sāmoa and the teacher support materials are in English. 

You don’t need to be a Samoan speaker to make dual language texts the focus of reading, discussion, and activity throughout Vaiaso o le Gagana Samoa. 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.  

Gagana Samoa dual language picture books: These books are part of a set of print and online resources to support the early language and literacy learning of Pacific children. They include flipbooks, family support material, online audio support in Pacific languages and English, and videos of kaiako and families using the books.  

Gagana Samoa Pasifika dual language books: These books are part of a set designed to support the early language and literacy learning of Pasifika new entrant students in English-medium classrooms. Many of them are available as PDFs, all are available as MP3 audio files, and they come with teacher and parent support material.

We know that talk is the foundation of all learning, and so it is important to create an environment in which:  

• Speakers of gagana Samoa feel comfortable to use their language, and where others feel supported to give it a try  
• everybody feels safe to share, explore, and debate information and ideas about gagana Samoa and its place in Aotearoa New Zealand.   

If learners or families at your school are speakers of gagana Samoa, 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 in speaking them  

If you are a speaker of gagana Samoa, incorporate it into your interactions with learners. If you are not, model your willingness to listen and to attempt new words and phrases.  

Little Learners Samoa and Fa'a Samoa: Help your students to download and use apps like these, which are designed for use by learners of gagana Samoa .   

Useful phrases in Samoan: This is a collection of useful phrases in Samoan from the online encyclopaedia of writing systems and languages. There are also links to other helpful sources. 

Gagana Samoa Language Cards: Use these cards as a starting point for learning the Samoan language. The cards include a pronunciation guide, the alphabet, everyday phrases, a short prayer, and a hymn. 

Samoan│Gagana Samoa: Victoria University of Wellington put together this set of online resources to help you learn and practise Samoan and learn about Samoan culture.  

Talanoa Mai app: This brief article introduces Talanoa Mai, a language app that includes seven Pacific Island languages – Samoan, Tongan, Niuean, Cook Islands Māori, Tuvaluan, Fijian, and Tokelauan. Talanoa Mai is an interactive learning resource that features the ability to toggle between languages, pronunciation support, and audio for prayers and songs. 

While spoken and written language are critical to human identity and interaction, 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 Samoan people. 

Being Samoan: Watch this video as a whole staff to hear different perspectives about being Samoan. Use the reflections on the video page to consider the best ways to meet the needs of Samoan learners and ‘aiga at your school.   

2018 New Zealand census: New Zealand’s Census results provide a wealth of information, including about patterns of language use in Aotearoa New Zealand. They show that in 2018, 45.8% of the 182,171 Samoan people who reside in New Zealand spoke two languages, down from 48.5% in 2013. Older people are more likely to speak more than one language.  You and your colleagues might explore the data further. For example, you might like to consider the issue of language loss and the importance of encouraging older people to share their expertise with younger people. 

Mana whenua, mana moana, and mixedness in a Māori/Fijian/Samoan/Pākehā whānau: Rae Si‘ilata uses the example of her own whānau to communicate the complexities of identity. 

Pacific arts in New Zealand: This story on Te Ara explores the work of Pacific artists who have had a significant impact in New Zealand. Students can learn about and respond to art by people who practice a range of art forms, including writers, visual artists, musicians, dancers, and theatre practitioners. As part of language week, they might engage with local artists and perhaps have a go at creating their own work of arts that says something about their relationship to the Pacific.  

Pasifika Festival: Even if you can’t attend Auckland’s annual festival in person, the website offers a feast of opportunities for learning about the ways Pacific peoples share their histories, knowledge, creativity, and leadership  

Tales from Te Papa is a set of curriculum teaching resources based upon artefacts from the museum’s collection. What messages do these artefacts convey? 

• Pisupo lua afe (Corned Beef 2000): This resource features Michel Tuffery’s culture of a cow made from corned beef tins. 
• Samoan Cricket Bats: This resource features Kilikiti  - Samoa’s national sport. Perhaps you could go on to hold a kilikiti tournament? 
• Tatau – Samoan Tatooing: This example focuses on the importance of tatau on Samoan culture. 

Te Ara: Samoans: Learn about the story of Samoans in New Zealand and how their language, culture, and identity have become so important to both nations. 

Vaiaso o le Gagana Samoa - Samoa Language Week: Christchurch City Council’s library staff have assembled a set of resources for celebrating Vaiaso o le Gagana Sāmoa and learning about the Samoan language and culture. 

Vaiaso o le Gagana Samoa – Samoan Language Week: Celebrate Samoan culture by exploring a set of maps, letters, old government records, journals, and research put together by the University of Auckland Library team. 

Texts written by Pacific people and in Pacific languages are a great way to connect with Pacific people. You can model your own interest and enthusiasm for this learning by working with Pacific knowledge-holders, including students, to make these part of everyone’s learning.  

Auckland Council Libraries Pacific book lists: Auckland’s library service has created lists of books by Pacific writers and on Pacific themes and topics. Other libraries do the same.  

Instructional Series: Search the instructional series for texts by Samoan writers. 

National Library lending service: The National Library can help you access suitable texts. 

Rekindling memories and righting wrongs: Read about and be inspired by stories of Samoan writers who are reclaiming their language by writing and publishing their own books. See if you are able to locate any of the books in The Tupu and Folauga series.  

The New Zealand Pacific Picture Book Collection: This collection was created by a group of librarians who wanted to raise teachers’ awareness of picture books that carry Pacific knowledge and world views. It includes suggested activities for making the books part of curriculum learning. The collection is now quite old but includes some treasured favourites. 

Ia malamalama i le NCEA and Understanding NCEA: These texts are intended to explain the requirements of NCEA to speakers of gagana Sāmoa. They are especially useful when ‘aiga have opportunities to talk the contents through with you and their children. If you are not a speaker of gagana Sāmoa yourself, it can also be helpful to have a community member present to help facilitate the discussion.  

Pasifika poetry includes poems by people of Pacific descent. You might make poetry part of your week, engaging with poems by Samoan poets and writing your own. Or you could look at other art forms that use language, such as plays or action songs. These could become part of a performance for the people who have supported you to plan the week. 

Pasifika Books to Note: Coconet.TV shares some texts by Pacific writers and illustrators.   

A great way to get your learners involved in Vaiaso o le Gagana Sāmoa is to incorporate texts on Samoan 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 enquiry into significant themes and topics from across the curriculum, such as migration, navigation, climate change, or colonisation.

The Instructional Series offers a range of such texts, accompanied by teacher support material. For example: 

• School Journals include articles such as Tuto'atasi The Struggle for Samoa's Independence,  by Damon Salesa, and stories such as Uncle Tino,  by Jane Davitt Va‘afusuaga 
• School Journals include Story Library includes Keeping our Stories Alive,  an article and comic by Lana Lopesi and Grace Teuila Evelyn Iwashita-Taylor. 

Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories: Our stories: Pacific peoples: This resource provides some examples in the Instructional Series of Pacific histories and a link to the KNOW element in the Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories curriculum. 

Topic Explorer - Samoa | Services to Schools (natlib.govt.nz) A set of information about Samoa’s culture, history, and language/ Topics include White Sunday, fāgogo (fables), songs, Siva Samoa (dance), games (kilikiti), history, and handicrafts and the reasons Sāmoa is a popular tourist destination. 

Investigate migration stories 

Texts for an enquiry into migration could include: 

• Samoan Migration Story: Etipasi Daniells-Silva shares his migration story in this video. 
• Te Ara: Samoans: History and migration: Read about Samoan migration around the Pacific and to Aotearoa New Zealand. 
• Sa’ili Mālō - Seeking a Better Life: A series of six stories in the Samoan language told by early settlers who came to Aotearoa to seek opportunities and a better life for their families. 

Having explored these and other texts, your learners could interview Pacific peoples in your community whose families have also migrated here to find out: 

• When and why did their families move to Aotearoa New Zealand?  
• How are the stories similar and different to each other?  

Your learners could investigate their own families migration stories.  

• When and why did your family (ancestors) move to New Zealand?  
• Where did they come from?  

You could then discuss the uniqueness of everyone’s histories as New Zealanders. 

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 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. They provide a rich resource for delving deep into the diverse cultural heritage of specific nations and for examining similarities and differences across multiple nations.   

The Long Pause: is article from Connected, explores the mystery of the long pause between the two major periods of Pacific migration. Use this text with students 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.  

NZ History: Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori - Māori Language Week: Learn why the indigenous land of Aotearoa requires a language week of its own. 

NZ Pacific Picture Book Collection: Watercress Tuna and the Children of Champion Street: Patricia Grace features four Pacific cultures in this story about a tuna that has a magic throat and gives gifts to children – Tokelauan, Māori, Cook Islands Māori, and Samoan. Suggested activities help draw out the similarities and differences between these four cultures. 

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. 

Use questions such as the following to prompt discussion about the purpose of the language weeks and what makes it so important to sustain the heritage languages of the Pacific. 

• Why is it important for all New Zealanders to celebrate and learn gagana Samoa? 
• What benefits will this bring to New Zealanders of Samoan descent?  
• How can we share what we have learned about Samoan language and culture with the wider community?    

One of the beliefs driving the Pacific language weeks and other initiatives to value and sustain our heritage languages is that health and wellbeing improve as learners reclaim their language, culture, and identity. You and your learners, their families, and community members might include sources such as those below within a discussion about the connections between language, culture, health, and wellbeing: 

• Child and Youth Wellbeing: Languages: One of the indicators for the Child and Youth Wellbeing looks at the opportunities children have to speak and understand the language of their ethnic or cultural group. 
• Language, identity and ‘real’ Samoans: Patrick Thomsen writes that issues of language and identity haunts all Samoans who were raised in New Zealand. 
• Pasefika Proud: Maintaining Healthy Family Relationships with Gagana Samoa: the Koko Samoa Youth Show team share with us their thoughts on the importance of speaking your mother tongue in maintaining healthy relationships with your family members. 
• Pasefika Proud: Protecting Culture to Protect Families:  Protecting Culture to Protect Families: Dahlia Malaeulu is a Wellington-born Samoan author and educators whose books are reflections of her own identity and gagana journey, and who believes that language and culture have a protective essence that can help. 
• The survival of the Samoan language in New Zealand – Are we becoming complacent? (May 13, 2013): This Tagata Pasifika special looks at Samoan language learning, and whether attitudes towards learning gagana Samoa need to change. It explores the question, "Are Samoans being complacent when it comes to their language?" If community members are willing, a similar debate could be held between parents and secondary level students in response to this question or others raised in the video.