"Ko te kai a te rangatira, he kōrero"
The food of chiefs is conversation
Students create, develop, and refine texts for different purposes and audiences using deliberate structure, language choices, and knowledge of how texts work.
How this lesson aligns
This lesson is primarily a writing lesson. Students plan and draft narratives with deliberate structural choices, shaping voice, setting, and perspective rather than relying on generic plot formulas.
Use this as the main curriculum anchor for planning and moderation of the writing task.
Students recognise how texts draw on language, structure, and cultural knowledge to shape meaning for readers and listeners.
How this lesson aligns
The lesson explicitly compares story structures and asks students to notice how whakapapa, whenua, collective voice, and oral-language patterning shape the meaning and feel of a narrative.
This is the main interpretive bridge that justifies the Māori story-structure focus.
Students draw on speaking, listening, and discussion to develop ideas before shaping them into stronger texts.
How this lesson aligns
Oral rehearsal, pair kōrero, and collective modelling are built into the sequence, which supports students to generate and refine narrative ideas before drafting.
Useful when explaining how discussion and oral rehearsal contribute to improved writing outcomes.
Students learn through texts and contexts that help them understand identity, place, history, and the lived realities of people in Aotearoa New Zealand.
How this lesson aligns
The lesson asks ākonga to build narratives through place, memory, and relationship, which supports local identity work and a stronger Aotearoa-centred literature lens.
This is especially useful if the class is drawing on local stories, whenua, or whānau memory.
Puna Kōrero — Sources
Ministry of Education. (2007). The New Zealand Curriculum. Learning Media.
Ministry of Education. (2021). Te Mātaiaho: The Refreshed New Zealand Curriculum. Ministry of Education.
Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand. (2021). Tātaiako: Cultural Competencies for Teachers of Māori Learners. Teaching Council.