Teacher support material: New contact and new words

Teacher support material

Chapter 2: 1769–1835 New contact and new words

The second chapter of Te Mana o te Reo Māori gives students an overview of early interactions between Māori and Europeans during the period 1769–1835.

Teacher support material: New contact and new words

It describes how early trade along with the introduction of religion and literacy to Māori led to Pākehā wanting to learn te reo Māori, and for Māori to learn English.

Te Mana o te Reo Māori – Chapter 2

On this page, you'll find materials to support your students as they learn about te reo Māori in the early contact era, including focus questions, suggested activities, and language support.

Introducing this chapter

Artwork

Artwork can be a wonderful way to introduce students to a new topic or context. Chapter 2 presents several artworks featuring early interactions between Māori and Pākehā.

Te Mana o te Reo Māori – Chapter 2

You could introduce your students to this chapter by showing them some of these images and facilitating discussion and the formation of inquiry questions inspired by these images. Art is open to interpretation which means students can formulate and offer up opinions about what they see without the fear of being wrong.

Chapter 2 poster activity

Ruatara interprets Samuel Marsden's sermon on Christmas Day 1814.
Alexander Turnbull Library; Reference: B-077-002. Lithograph by Jack Morgan

The Chapter 2 poster from the picture pack He Pūkei Whakaahua o Te Mana o te Reo Māori presents an image that features in Chapter 2 of the digital story. The image shows Ruatara interpreting Samuel Marsden’s sermon on Christmas Day 1814. It provides key questions and information to introduce this chapter to your students. You can use this poster to facilitate discussions with your students about early interactions between Māori and Pākehā. This can be a great way to help them identify what they already know about how these early interactions may have helped shape the history of te reo Māori.

Additional resource components

There is also further content available for students to explore this topic:

Key themes

This resource tells the history of the decline and revitalisation of te reo Māori with a focus on five themes from Te Takanga o te Wā.

Te Takanga o te Wā Māori History Guidelines Year 1–8 (Te Kete Ipurangi)

Each of these themes provides a way for learners to connect with the history of te reo Māori. Keep an eye out for these icons to see how activities and content in these resources link to each of these themes.

Here are some key questions that relate to each of these themes. These questions are intentionally broad so that students can explore them in multiple ways.

Whakapapa
Tūpuna – Connections – Belonging – Identity – Culture – Community – Tikanga – Mana Whenua
Where do I fit in?
How and when did my tūpuna (ancestors) arrive in Aotearoa New Zealand?

Tūrangawaewae
Belonging – Identity – Culture – Community – Place – Continuity
What stories exist about early interactions between Māori and Pākehā in my tūrangawaewae (place of belonging)?
Whose perspectives are represented in these stories about Māori–Pākehā interactions in my tūrangawaewae?

Mana Motuhake
Belonging – Identity – Mana – Controversy – Conflict – Consequences – Tino Rangatiratanga
What impact did the introduction of Christianity have on Māori understandings of and beliefs around atua Māori?
What impact did the introduction of Christianity have on te reo Māori?

Kaitiakitanga
Time – Context – Perspective – Knowledge – Tikanga – Guardianship
What values do you think Pākehā missionaries brought with them to Aotearoa New Zealand?
What value do you think Pākehā saw in learning te reo Māori?
What value do you think Māori saw in learning English?

Whanaungatanga
Whānau – Hapū – Iwi – Whakapapa – Tūpuna – Connections – Community – Manaakitanga – Kotahitanga – Unity
What different ethnicities make up my whānau?
How did these people of different ethnicities in my whānau meet?

Each of these themes provides a way for learners to connect with the history of te reo Māori. Keep an eye out for these icons to see how activities and content in these resources link to each of these themes.

Activities and learning experiences

Here are some suggested activities for your students.

Activity 1: He rārangi wā – Te Mana o te Reo Māori timeline

Themes:

Have a look at the timeline for Te Mana o te Reo Māori on Te Tai Taiwhakaea. In particular, look at the events that appear in the timeline between 1769 and 1835.

Create your own visual timeline using a collage of images to illustrate the important key events that happened in the history of te reo Māori. You may decide to add other events or statistics of significance that do not appear on this digital timeline, but are important to you. You could create symbols to help communicate some of the information on your timeline (e.g. a waka to represent the numerous migrations of people from the Pacific).

Your timeline could include the arrival of your ancestors to Aotearoa New Zealand, or events important to your whānau / hapū / iwi / town / community / region / tūrangawaewae. Your timeline should show events that you feel are important to your understanding of the history of te reo Māori and to your own personal Māori language journey, or that of your whānau.

Activity 2: He tirohanga rerekē – Different perspectives

Theme:

Chapter 2 features a number of different paintings showing early interactions between Māori and Pākehā. Imagine you were in Aotearoa at sometime between 1769 and 1835. Research the different kinds of interactions between Māori and Pākehā that would have taken place during those early times e.g. trade, the spread of the written word, church services. Choose an interaction that would have taken place and create an artwork to capture that moment in time.

Consider:

Who do you want to include in the image? Why?
Whose perspective do you want to create the picture from? Why?
How do you think this perspective might influence what you choose to include or exclude in your picture?
How might the picture change if you were to draw the same interaction from someone else’s perspective? Would it be different at all?

Activity 3: He kōrerorero – Conversations

Theme:

Choose one of the images that feature in Chapter 2 of the digital story. Create a conversation between the people you see in the image. What do you think they might have been talking about? What language do you think they would have been speaking? Do you think there would have been any difficulty understanding each other?

You can present your findings as a:

short skit to your class with one or two of your classmates
cartoon or a comic strip
written dialogue (like how a play is written)
Google Slides presentation
short video with you and a friend.

Activity 4: He wero, he āhei – Challenges and opportunities

Theme:

Many challenges and opportunities were created by Māori–Pākehā interactions between 1769 and 1835. Consider each of the following elements of these interactions:

English language
te reo Māori
trade
religion
reading and writing.

Choose one of these elements, then research and answer the following questions:

How did Māori respond to that particular challenge or opportunity? Why? What was the result?
Did it present a challenge or an opportunity to Māori?
How did Pākehā respond to it? Why? What was the result?
Did it present a challenge or an opportunity to Pākehā?

You can present your findings as:

an oral presentation to your class
a visual poster
a written report
a Google Slides presentation
a short video clip.

Language support

āhei
opportunity

atua Māori
Māori gods

hapū
subtribe

rārangi wā
timeline

waka
sailing canoe

whānau
family (including extended family)

wero
challenge

Te Tai – Treaty Settlement Stories

Story: Te Mana o te Reo Māori