Best for
Daily oral-language practice, speaking rotations, low-stakes rehearsal before mihi, and classrooms that want te reo heard more often.
Te Reo Māori • Oral language rehearsal • Years 4-10 • Ready to use tomorrow
Kōrero Role Cards
These short scenarios help ākonga move from isolated phrase practice into real paired speaking. The cards are designed for quick classroom use, with enough support to build confidence without turning the routine back into an English-first script.
Free paired-speaking scaffold, premium adaptation path
This handout is ready for immediate classroom use. If you want role cards rebuilt for your school contexts, senior learners, kapa haka, sports teams, or local places, Te Wānanga can adapt the prompts while keeping the oral-language progression clear.
- Create topic-specific cards for class routines, school trips, or local events.
- Adjust the language load for junior starters or more confident speakers.
- Save the revised version to My Kete and reopen it later in Creation Studio.
Kaiako planning snapshot
- Use length: 15-30 minutes depending on whether you keep it as quick rehearsal or build toward a share-back.
- Grouping: Pairs first, then optional pair-to-pair swaps or a whole-class demonstration.
- Prep: Choose whether students may use the support phrase bank openly or are expected to recall some language from memory.
- Teaching move: Praise brave attempts and communication effort, not just perfect pronunciation.
Resources already provided
- Four short role-play prompts
- Everyday support phrases
- Simple rehearsal process
- Curriculum companion for planning clarity
If you need students speaking tomorrow, the scenarios and phrase support are already in place.
Ngā Whāinga Akoranga / Learning Intentions
- We are learning to hold a short everyday conversation in te reo Māori.
- We are learning to choose language that fits a simple social context.
- We are learning to listen and respond rather than recite alone.
Paearu Angitu / Success Criteria
- I can use a greeting, question, and response that fit the scenario.
- I can speak clearly enough for my partner to follow the exchange.
- I can keep the conversation going for two or three turns.
Curriculum integration / Te Marautanga alignment
Use the companion page to make the curriculum intent explicit around oral interaction, classroom language, and everyday relational use of te reo Māori.
Why role-play matters
Many students can copy a phrase but still freeze when they need to use it with another person. Short, normal classroom role-play helps te reo move from worksheet language into communication that feels useful, social, and achievable.
A mātauranga Māori lens matters because paired kōrero is about whanaungatanga, listening, and relationship-building as much as sentence accuracy. The routine should grow confidence without flattening te reo Māori into scripted performance.
How to use
Pick a card, read the scenario, and create a two- or three-turn conversation. Include a greeting, at least one question, and a natural closing if you can.
Card 1: In the classroom
You arrive late. Greet the teacher, explain why, and ask what you missed.
Card 2: Sports practice
You need a drink bottle. Ask your friend for help and thank them.
Card 3: At home
Ask a whānau member how their day was and respond with encouragement.
Card 4: Hosting a visitor
Welcome a guest to class. Ask their name and where they are from.
Support phrases
- Kia ora - Hello
- Kei te pehea koe? - How are you?
- Kei te pai ahau - I am good
- Nga mihi - Thanks
- Aroha mai - Sorry / excuse me
Quick rehearsal routine
- Read the card and underline the greeting, question, and response you want to use.
- Rehearse once with the handout visible.
- Rehearse again with less support and slightly stronger eye contact or expression.
My kōrero rehearsal
Draft one short exchange you want to try aloud, then note the greeting, question, and response you will use in order.
Teach this tomorrow
Print / share
- One copy between two students or one projected copy for the whole class
- The greetings handout for students who still need phrase support
Decide before class
- Whether students can keep the phrase list visible on first attempt
- Which scenarios best match your class age and confidence level
Good progress looks like
- Students keep the conversation moving instead of stopping after one line
- More students volunteer to speak because the task feels short and achievable
Hononga Marautanga · Curriculum Alignment
Social Sciences — Tikanga ā-Iwi
Level 3–4: Understand how Māori cultural practices, values, and whakapapa shape identity and community; recognise the significance of te Tiriti o Waitangi and the contribution of Māori culture to Aotearoa New Zealand's national identity.
Te Reo Māori — Language and Culture
Level 3–4: Use te reo Māori to express cultural concepts, identity, and relationships with accuracy and respect; understand the significance of Māori language as a taonga and its role in sustaining mātauranga Māori.
Aronga Mātauranga Māori
This resource engages directly with te ao Māori as its subject — the values, practices, language, and worldview that have sustained Māori communities across centuries of challenge and change. Mātauranga Māori is not a supplement to this learning: it is the source. Students approaching this material are invited to engage with it not as outside observers studying a foreign culture, but as people in relationship with a living knowledge tradition that shapes the place they live, the language they may speak, and the obligations they carry as tāngata o Aotearoa — people of this land. That relationship calls for care, curiosity, and respect for knowledge-holders who carry what no textbook can fully contain.
Ngā Rauemi Tautoko · Support Materials
This handout is designed to be used alongside the broader unit resources available at Te Kete Ako handouts library. Related resources from the same unit are linked in the unit planner. All resources are provided — no additional preparation is required to use this handout in your classroom.
📋 Teacher Planning Snapshot
Ngā Whāinga Ako — Learning Intentions
Students will engage with this resource to deepen understanding of Te Ao Māori — exploring whakapapa, tikanga, and cultural identity as living systems that shape who we are in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Ngā Paearu Angitū — Success Criteria
- ✅ Students can explain key concepts from this resource using their own words.
- ✅ Students can connect tikanga Māori and whakapapa to real-world examples in Aotearoa.
Differentiation & Inclusion
Scaffold support: Provide sentence starters, visual glossaries, or graphic organisers to give entry-level access for students who need additional support. Offer extension tasks that deepen cultural inquiry — for example, exploring local hapū histories or interviewing a kaumātua.
ELL / ESOL: Pre-teach key kupu Māori (whakapapa, tikanga, mana, mauri) with bilingual glossaries where available. Allow students to respond in their home language as a bridge to English expression.
Inclusion: Use accessible formats — clear headings, adequate whitespace, chunked tasks. Neurodiverse learners benefit from structured choice in how they demonstrate understanding (oral, visual, written). Acknowledge that students may hold personal connections to the cultural content.
Mātauranga Māori lens: This unit centres Te Ao Māori as a living knowledge system. Whakapapa is not merely genealogy but a relational framework linking people, place, and time. Tikanga grounds behaviour in kaupapa Māori principles. Approach content with aroha and manaakitanga.
Prior knowledge: No specialist prior knowledge required for entry-level engagement. Best used after relevant lesson sequences, or as a standalone introduction to cultural identity.
Curriculum alignment
- Identity, Culture, and Organisation: Understand how cultural identity shapes participation in society — whakapapa, tikanga, and mana as foundations of Māori identity in Aotearoa New Zealand.