Te Taetae ni  Kiribati - Kiribati Language Week

You may have students, family members, and other people with i-Kiribati heritage in your school community who are willing to share their knowledge and expertise with you and your learners. Work collaboratively with these experts to design activities that will help you learn about and celebrate the language and culture of Kiribati. 

Facebook: NZ Kiribati Language Week: Join this group for news, resources, and events.  

Keeping the language alive: Listen to teachers from a variety of settings and cultural backgrounds share why Pacific language weeks are so important to them and how they capitalise on local expertise to celebrate the language weeks. Use the reflections on the video page to think about how you embrace and keep Pacific languages alive and thriving in your classroom. 

Ministry for Pacific Peoples regional offices: A range of events take place across New Zealand to promote the importance of Kiribati language, culture, and heritage. Contact the regional offices of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples to find out what's happening near you. 

Ministry for Pacific Peoples Facebook page: The Ministry’s Facebook page provides up-to-date information on what is happening each year 

Ministry for Pacific Peoples website: Download a range of resources to promote Kiribati Language Week in your school community.   

Teaching with culture at the centre: Understand the experiences of learners through their language, identity, and culture with teachers who are supporting learners in schools.  Use the reflections to think about how we can foster these cultural relationships.  

A Journey into the Pacific: Research aimed at improving the ability of students from Tuvalu and Kiribati to access New Zealand education: KingsGate School already had a high-quality programme for its Pacific students and English language learners. Principal Teresa Thomson wanted to go even further by inquiring into the specific aspects of language, identity, and culture that impact on the learning of i-Kiribati and Tuvaluan students. Teresa’s report could be an excellent springboard for conversations with i-Kiribati and Tuvaluan members of your school community. How can you build upon the cultural and linguistic strengths of your i-Kiribati and Tuvaluan students? What challenges might they face, and how can you work together to address them? 

Taeang Erika talks about teaching the Kiribati language at Finlayson Park School – the only school in New Zealand teaching the Kiribati language. 

• Auckland school establishes Kiribati language unit: Radio New Zealand (RNZ) interview in 2020 with teacher Taeang Erkia. 

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

• Speakers of Kiribati feel comfortable using their language, and others feel supported to give it a try. 
• Everybody feels safe to share, explore, and debate information and ideas about Kiribati and its place in Aotearoa New Zealand.  

If students or families at your school are speakers of Kiribati, 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.

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

Some simple words and phrases you could try: 

• Mauri: Hello and welcome 
• Ti a boo: Goodbye  
• Ko raba: Thank you 
• Ko uara? How are you? 
• Ko raba, I marurung: Thank you, I am fine 

Beginner Kiribati: You and your ākonga could use this app to get an introduction to the Kiribati language.   

Episode 10: Te taetae ni Kiribati: Kabouan tain rongorongo iaon COVID-19 (12 October 2020): There are limited opportunities to hear te taetae ni Kiribati spoken in Aotearoa New Zealand, but one opportunity came with the purposeful use of the language to communicate during the COVID-19 pandemic. This video features young people from a range of ages speaking about the COVID-19 protocols. You could use this video to help your students gain an ‘ear’ for te taetae ni Kiribati. 

Search YouTube for other examples of people speaking taetae ni Kiribati for different purposes. Perhaps your class would like to make their own videos utilising the language of Kiribati? 

Te taetae ni Kiribati Language Cards: Use these cards as a starting point for learning I-Kiribati. The cards include a pronunciation guide, the alphabet, everyday phrases, a short prayer, and a hymn. 

Useful phrases in Kiribati: This site offers a collection of useful phrases from the online encyclopaedia of writing systems and languages. The site also provides information about Kiribati and numbers in Kiribati. 

Kiribati was formally called ‘the Gilbert Islands’ and its language was ‘Gilbertese’. The language is now named ‘taetae ni Kiribati’ or simply ‘Kiribati’. Most of the 119,000 people resident in Kiribati speak and can read both taetae ni Kiribati and English. 

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 the I-Kiribati people. 

Being Kiribati: The participants in this video talk about what it is to be I-Kiribati. They talk about culture and identity, and their embodiment in dancing and costumes.  Use the reflections on the video page to consider the best ways to meet the needs of I-Kiribati learners and whānau 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, around 42.9% of the 3,225 I-Kiribati people resident in New Zealand could speak more than one language. You and your colleagues 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 

Kiribati: The National Library has curated a body of material to help you learn about the language, culture, and traditions of Kiribati and about the nation’s fight for survival in the face of climate change and rising sea levels. 

Kiribati Language Week: The Auckland War Memorial Museum shares Kiribati items from its collections and a video of knowledge holders visiting its Kiribati collection. 

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 created 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 art 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: Puffer Fish Helmet: Watch this video to learn about traditional warrior armour in Kiribati. Artefacts include a puffer fish helmet, a stingray belt, and long johns made from coconut fibre. Discuss the way that the people of Kiribati used natural resources in innovative ways to construct their armour. Compare the helmet and garments worn in Kiribati with armour worn in other cultures. What is similar, and what is different?   

• Kiribati Language Week – Auckland Museum:  This YouTube video features an exhibition of Kiribati artefacts.  
• Tungaru: The Kiribati project: This video from Tagata Pasifika describes the works of a contemporary artist from Kiribati.   

What Languages Are Spoken in Kiribati? Learn about the official languages of Kiribati. 

Wikin te Taetae ni Kiribati - Kiribati Language Week: Christchurch City Council’s library staff share some information and resources you could use in the classroom. 

A great way to get your students involved in Te Taetae ni Kiribati is to incorporate texts on Kiribati 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.

Understand the impact of climate change on Kiribati

Kiribati is low lying and is extremely vulnerable to the effects of climate change. An inquiry into climate change and its impact in Kiribati might also explore questions around relationships between nations and the impact of so-called developed nations on others.  

Texts for an inquiry into climate change could include: 

• Kiribati Language Week: i-Kiribati fighting to protect their 'birthright' | Stuff.co.nz
• Climate Change: Our Biggest Challenge
• Kiribati - A Climate Change Reality
• Topic Explorer - Climate Change and the Pacific | Services to Schools (natlib.govt.nz) 

Questions for inquiry could include: 

• What are the challenges that the people of Kiribati face?  
• How does the issue of climate change connect to the concepts of language, culture, and identity?  
• What responsibility does New Zealand have for what is happening in Kiribati?  
• What action can we take in Aotearoa to assist in the fight against climate change?   

Migration

Learn about Kiribati settlement in Aotearoa New Zealand, through the following resources: 

• KIRIBATI: CLIMATE CHANGE AND MIGRATION, Report Number 20, November 2016 (unu.edu)
• Kiribati Migration Story
• Te Ara: The Encyclopaedia of New Zealand | Island groups and recent migration

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 to each other. 

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 ākonga, to make it 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.  

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

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

Pasifika Poetry: Includes poems by people of Pacific descent. You might make poetry part of your week, engaging with poems by Pacific 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. 

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. 

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 examining similarities and differences across multiple nations.   

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

Te Tai: Treaty Settlement Stories: Te Mana o te Reo Māori education resources:  Learn about the ancient origins of te reo Māori, its history since 1200, and the fight to secure its future. 

The Long Pause: This Connected item explores the mystery of the long pause between the two major periods of Pacific migration. It provides an opportunity to think about some of the connections between Māori and Pacific peoples, particularly in terms of whakapapa and navigation.   

Tuia Mātauranga: The Tuia Mātauranga programme has been 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. 

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 Kiribati? 
• What benefits will this bring to New Zealanders of Kiribati descent?  
• How can we share what we have learned about Kiribati language and culture with the wider community?    

One of the beliefs driving the Pacific language weeks, Te Wiki o te reo Māori, 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 students, their families, and community members might include sources such as those below within a discussion about the connections between language, culture, health, and wellbeing: 

Bilingual children’s books launch in time for Kiribati Language Week 2021 This article introduces three books featuring personal tales of i-Kiribati heroes written by teacher Kinaua Ewels. 

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. 

Kiribati language lessons going digital to preserve culture in Aotearoa: In this Tagata Pacific video, John Pulu met some proud I-Kiribati tech creators who are tapping into 3D animation and digital applications to help preserve their native tongue. 

Kiribati Language Week: i-Kiribati fighting to protect their 'birthright' | Stuff.co.nz: Charles Enoka says that the language, heritage, and culture of Kiribati are under threat,  and the very land.  

Pasefika Proud Language - A Powerful Tool for Kiribati Families: Lydia Teatao, retaining your mother tongue is important when it comes to discussions as sensitive and complex as family violence.  

Te taetae ni Kiribati (Kiribati language) and wellbeing in Aotearoa New Zealand (15 July 2020): Sean Mallon, Te Papa’s Senior Curator Pacific Cultures interviews Rose Namoori-Sinclair who is from Tabiteuea Island in Kiribati. Currently working as a UN Coordination Specialist – Kiribati, Rose has focused her research on the health and wellbeing issues of Pacific women. She discusses the significance of te taetae ni Kiribati in Aotearoa New Zealand. 

UNESCO Decade of Indigenous Languages: Discussion about how to sustain the Kiribati language in Aotearoa could connect to discussion about the work being done to revitalise te reo Māori and other indigenous languages around the world.