Flashcards

To introduce some simple food-related vocabulary, use flashcards featuring pictures of kai as in resource sheet 3.1. Hold up a picture of an apple, for example, and offer the students two choices, asking one of the following questions in te reo Māori:

Maori vocabulary	English translation
He āporo? He panana?	An apple? A banana?

or

Maori vocabulary	English translation
He āporo, he panana rānei?	An apple or a banana?

or

Maori vocabulary	English translation
He āporo tēnei, he panana rānei?	Is this an apple or a banana?

Language tip

Notice that the word for “or”, “rānei”, comes after the two choices.

Playing cards

Use the pictures and words on resource sheet 3.1 to make packs of cards for games like Snap, Fish, and Pairs.

Bingo cards

Use resource sheet 3.2 to make Bingo cards for a game of food Bingo to reinforce the new vocabulary learning. Call out the words and get the students to put a counter, shell, button, or something similar on the pictures.

To vary this activity, write the food-related words from resource sheet 3.2 on Bingo cards and show the pictures to the students, using the flashcards you made with resource sheet 3.1.

Tip

To make the flashcards, print the resource sheet double sided – on the “short” side. You may wish to laminate, before cutting, for durability.

Multiple choice

Create sets of multi-choice descriptors to accompany the picture of the kitchen on resource sheet 3.3. Get the students to work out which descriptor fits best. For example, the students could choose between the following options:

Maori vocabulary	English translation
Kei runga i te papa parāoa te parāoa.	The bread is on the breadboard.
Kei runga i te pereti te parāoa.	The bread is on the plate.
Kei roto i te kāpata te parāoa.	The bread is in the cupboard.
Kei roto i te pouaka-mātao te pata.	The butter’s in the fridge.
Kei runga i te tēpu te pata.	The butter’s on the table.
Kei runga i te pereti te pata.	The butter’s on the plate.
Kei roto i te hautō te papa parāoa.	The breadboard is in the drawer.
Kei raro i te parāoa te papa parāoa.	The breadboard is under the bread.
Kei runga i te tō te papa parāoa.	The breadboard is on the stove.

Daily food record

Get the students to keep a daily record for a week of what they have brought to eat at morning break, depicting this visually on a chart. Older students could write their own descriptors beside their drawings, whereas younger ones will probably need to dictate theirs to you. Words, phrases, or whole sentences can be recorded, depending on the students’ stage of learning.

To begin with, a student might just record something such as the following beneath their drawings. (Though English translations are included here to assist you, get the students to record only in te reo Māori.)

Mane	Tūrei	Wenerei	Tāite	Paraire
he āporo (an apple)	he panana (a banana)	he pihikete (some biscuits)	he paramu (some plums)	he hanawiti (a sandwich)

Language tip

Note that “he” can mean “a” or “some”.

Later on, this might progress as follows:

Mane	Tūrei	Wenerei	Tāite	Paraire
He āporo kei roto i taku pouaka-kai. (There’s an apple in my lunchbox.)	He panana kei roto i taku pouaka-kai. (There’s a banana in my lunchbox.)	He pihikete kei roto i taku pouaka-kai. (There are some biscuits in my lunchbox.)	He paramu kei roto i taku pouaka-kai . (There are some plums in my lunchbox.)	He hanawiti kei roto i taku pouaka-kai. (There’s a sandwich in my lunchbox.)

An engaging stimulus for this task is the reomation Te wā kai (Lunchtime).

Māori Language Commission names for the days of the week

Students achieving at curriculum levels 3 and 4 could explore the names for Monday to Friday developed by the Māori Language Commission as alternatives to the widely used transliterations.

Maori vocabulary	English translation
Monday	day of the Moon
Rāhina	rā + Māhina (day + Moon)
Tuesday	day of Mars
Rātū	rā + Tūmatauenga (day + Mars)
Wednesday	day of Mercury
Rāapa	rā + Apārangi (day + Mercury)
Thursday	day of Jupiter
Rāpare	rā + Pareārau (day + Jupiter)
Friday	day of Venus
Rāmere	rā + Mere (day + Venus)

Māori recipes

Once the students know a variety of food-related terms, help them to follow a simple Māori recipe. This could be a recipe where:

• Māori words are embedded in English text
• the text is in Māori but there are picture clues
• the text is totally in Māori, without picture clues.

There are Māori recipes in Nāu te Rourou Nāku te Rourou.

This task could lead to the compilation of a class recipe book, using Māori words and phrases for some of the ingredients and instructions.

Information transfer

Design a type of information transfer task by getting the students to put the written text of a recipe or menu into pictorial form – or the converse. This task encourages deep processing of information. Your students can show that they have understood the information deeply enough to adapt it from a written to a visual form or vice versa.

As they gain confidence with the language structures associated with recipes, some of your students could write a series of instructions (in the form of cooking steps) to read to the class, while others record the steps pictorially (with keywords labelled).

An extension task would be for them to follow a recipe in Māori and share the finished dish with classmates, invited guests, and whānau.

You can facilitate a simpler information transfer task by using resource sheet 3.4 and the corresponding transcripts available online from the reomation Te mahi kai (Preparing food).

Strip-story

Cut a recipe into strips to make a strip-story task and ask the students to collectively order the steps/instructions. Give each student one step/instruction to read and then memorise. Once they have memorised the steps/instructions, collect the strips and get them to work together to sort out the correct order. To make the task easier, let the students keep the written instructions while they are putting them in order.

A strip story for making a cup of drinking chocolate is on resource sheet 3.5.

A more difficult variation is to cut each strip in half so that each student starts with just half a strip. The students have to join the halves together before they can reconstruct the whole recipe.

A variation for younger or less confident students is to include picture clues that illustrate the words (with written instructions on separate strips from the matching pictures). Their task is to negotiate with their peers, match the words to the pictures, and reconstruct the recipe.

You can turn dialogues about food into strip stories, for example, a mealtime conversation.

Picture dictation

For a picture-dictation task similar to a strip-story task, but somewhat easier for the students to do, read out a food-related story or recipe and get the students to sequence the illustrations. You could use the He Purapura book Ētahi Kai for this activity.

Strip-picture

For a strip-picture task, cut a picture featuring kai into strips or squares. Have each student describe their part of the picture, with the students communicating with each other in te reo Māori as they work out how the strips or pieces fit together. For example, you could use the pictures in resource sheet 3.6 from the reomations Te mahi kai (Preparing food) and Kei te hiakai ahau (I’m hungry).

True-false-make it right

Give the students a true-false-make it right task. Hand them a set of pictures depicting a recipe, food-related story, or menu. Read the associated text to them, working through it sequentially from beginning to end, deliberately making untrue statements along the way. The students’ job is to say or write either “kei te tika” (true) or “kei te hē” (false). If the latter is their answer, they could go a step further and give you the correct form.

For example, using the pictures on resource sheet 3.7 from the reomation Kei te hiakai ahau (I’m hungry), you could suggest the following in te reo Māori:

Māori vocabulary	English translation
He pai ki a ia te tīhi.	He likes cheese.
He pai ki a ia ngā noke.	He likes worms.
He pai ki a ia te tōhi.	He likes toast.
He pai ki a ia ngā rēmana.	He likes lemons.

Once they are confident, the students could take on the job of reading a recipe, food-related story, or menu, putting in some deliberate errors themselves for their peers to notice and correct.

Cloze

Design a cloze, where the students have to fill in gaps in a piece of text, using food-related pictures as a stimulus. You could use resource sheet 3.8 and the transcript available online from the reomation Te mahi kai (Preparing food).

For example:

Maori vocabulary	English translation
Anei te (pereti).	Here’s the (plate).
Anei (te) parāoa.	Here’s (the) bread.
He (pata).	Some (butter).
(Anei) he (rētihi).	(Here’s) some (lettuce).
He (parāoa) anō ... mmm ... he (tino) reka!	Some more (bread) ... mmm ... (very) delicious!
Āe, he reka. Engari, mā (te) (manuhiri) tēnā.	Yes, delicious. But that’s for (the) (visitors).

For a more simple cloze, you could use the text in the reomation Ngā ika e rua (Two fish).

Alternatively, design a cloze task that doesn’t include picture clues. Just leave out some words in a story, instruction, recipe, or menu for the students to fill in. There are several options: you could leave out every nth word, for example, or you could omit a particular part of speech.

Once your students are experienced with the cloze technique, they could make up their own kai clozes for their peers to complete.

Same-different

Get the students to work in pairs on a same-different task. For this, you need two sets of numbered grids (set A and set E) with pictures of food items on them, some of which are the same across both sets and some different. There is an example on resource sheet 3.9.

In pairs, one student has set A and the other set E. The task is for the students to communicate with each other, box by box (starting from number 1), to determine which boxes are “he rite” (identical) and which are “he rerekē” (different).

You can use this task for recipes and menus, with similarities and differences across the two students’ versions.

To make this task more complex, have the same pictures of the items in set A and set E with different characteristics, for example, a green apple in set A and a red one in set E. Now the students have to describe the items as well as name them. You could use this more complex version of the task to consolidate adjectives associated with length, shape, and colour.

Dycomm

In pairs or groups, get the students to take part in a dycomm task, in which each student possesses a different but essential bit of information that is needed to complete the task. For example, a student could have some of the steps of a recipe and their partner could have the other ones. The students then have to combine their knowledge and communicate in te reo Māori in order to work out the entire recipe.

For an example of a four-person dycomm task for teaching prepositions, see resource sheet 3.10. Each student has to ask and answer questions about the location of different things in the kitchen.

For example, they might say in te reo Māori:

Maori vocabulary	English translation
Kei hea te/ngā ...?	Where is/where are the ...?
Kei runga i te tēpu te pouaka-kai.	The lunch box is on the table.
Kei mua i ngā pihikete te naihi koi.	The sharp knife is in front of the biscuits.
Kei te taha mauī o te puoto te naihi.	The knife’s on the left side of the sink.
Kei raro i te parāoa te papa parāoa.	The breadboard is under the bread.
Kei runga i te tēpu te pepa piri kai.	The cling wrap is on the table.
Kei muri i te naihi koi ngā pihikete.	The biscuits are behind the sharp knife.
Kei runga i te tēpu-mahi te pereti.	The plate’s on the bench.
Kei te taha mauī o te parāoa te tote.	The salt’s on the left side of the bread.
Kei runga i te whata te hēki.	The egg is on the shelf.
Kei roto i te ipu-huarākau te āporo.	The apple’s in the fruit bowl.
Kei runga i te whata te tiamu.	The jam’s on the shelf.

Text innovation

For a text innovation task, get your students to manipulate the language in the reader Ētahi Kai while they still have the security of the predictable sentence patterns of the original text. Once they have modified the text, they can work together to create a dramatisation of their new version.

4–3–2

To increase their fluency, give your students a 4–3–2 task where they have four, then three, and then two minutes to give instructions on how to make a particular dish. (Vary the times to match the abilities of your students.) Give them some time to practise first. The aim is for them to become more fluent with each attempt.

If your students have some prior knowledge of Māori numbers, they can include expressions of weight, too, for example:

Maori vocabulary	English translation
He pata – 200 karamu.	Butter – 200 grams.
50 manokaramu te pēke rīwai.	The sack of potatoes is 50 kilograms.

Language tip

To express “200”, say “rua rau”.
To express “50”, say “rima tekau”.

Ordinal numbers

Once their knowledge of cardinal numbers has been consolidated, introduce students to ordinal numbers as a way of describing what they had for lunch on each day of the school week.

For example:

I te rā tuatahi, he hanawiti.	On the first day, a sandwich.
I te rā tuarua, he parehe.	On the second day, some pizza.
I te rā tuatoru, he āporo.	On the third day, an apple.
I te rā tuawhā, he panana.	On the fourth day, a banana.
I te rā tuarima, he hupa.	On the fifth day, some soup.

Role play

Use semi-scripted dialogues and get the students to role-play some typical meal scenes.

Māori vocabulary	English translation
I te rā tuatahi, he hanawiti.	On the first day, a sandwich.
I te rā tuarua, he parehe.	On the second day, some pizza.
I te rā tuatoru, he āporo.	On the third day, an apple.
I te rā tuawhā, he panana.	On the fourth day, a banana.
I te rā tuarima, he hupa.	On the fifth day, some soup.

Similarly, they could use ordinal numbers to preface the sequential steps in a recipe, for
example:

Māori vocabulary	English translation
I te tuatahi ...	Firstly ...
I te tuarua ...	Secondly ...
I te tuatoru ...	Thirdly ...

Shopping list

To practise communicating the cost of something, get your students to write a shopping list in Māori, analyse supermarket fliers, and work out the costs in te reo Māori.

Dictocomp

For a dictocomp, you could read out a simple recipe in Māori, twice. During the first reading, the students just listen. During your second reading, pause between the sentences so that they can jot down rough notes, in English or Māori, about key content. The students then work in small groups and use their notes to list the key ingredients and the main steps.

Alternatively, you could give the students a recipe to read, then remove it and get them to reconstruct it.

In such a dictocomp, you could focus on the word endings we use in instructions, for example:

Māori vocabulary	English translation
Purua!	Put (it) into.
Tapahia!	Cut it.
Āpititia!	Add (some).

Listen-and-draw

Facilitate a listen-and-draw task using resource sheet 3.11. Each partner has to tell the other what food-related pictures to draw in the empty squares so that, by the end, both grids are identical. Useful vocabulary and language structures for this task include:

Maori vocabulary	English translation
pouaka	box
tapawhā	square
nama	number
he	a, some
tuatahi, tuarua, tuatoru	first, second, third
Tuhia.	Draw.
Tuhia he āporo.	Draw an apple.
kei roto i te pouaka	in the box
kei roto i te pouaka tuawhā	in the fourth box
Haere ki te pouaka/tapawhā tuarima.	Go to the fifth box/square.

Building phases and sentences

Your students could build phrases and sentences from a selection of words you have prepared on cards, playing a game similar to Last Card. Get them to do this activity in groups of four, five, or six. Give each player three to five cards on which you have written starter words in capital letters (for example, HE).

The aim is for the students to take turns to build a phrase or sentence that makes sense, for example:

Maori vocabulary	English translation
HE paramu pāpura.	A purple plum.

Any player who cannot contribute picks up a card from the pack. The winner is the first person with no cards.

You can make this card game more challenging by including more difficult words so that the students create more complex sentences.

For example:

Maori vocabulary	English translation
HE pai ki ahau ngā āporo.	I like apples.
HE kawa ngā rēmana.	Lemons are sour.
HE pai ki a koe te mīti?	Do you like meat?
HE pai ki a ia te tiakarete.	She/He likes chocolate.
HE pai ngā rōpere ki ahau, nō te mea he reka.	I like strawberries, because they are sweet.

Using te reo Māori input from TV

As a class, you could watch television cooking programmes broadcast in Māori that demonstrate how to gather and cook kai. These are opportunities for your students to consolidate familiar vocabulary and hear new words and phrases.

Afterwards, you could invite a whānau member to prepare one of the recipes with your class.

Exploring Māori place names associated with food

The students could explore Māori place name derivations that are associated with food, such as Ruātoria and Kaikōura.

Simple karakia

You and your students can learn the words to two simple karakia - one to start the day, and one before eating.