Best for
Pre-teaching vocabulary, paired reading, glossary walls, seminar prep, and counter-narrative writing support.
Unit 2 language support • Years 8-10 • Bilingual history vocabulary
Unit 2 Historical Vocabulary Glossary
This glossary is not just a word bank. It gives ākonga the language needed to read, discuss, and write about Aotearoa histories with more precision and more respect. Each term matters because it changes how the story is understood.
Free glossary, premium adaptation path
This version is ready to print. Te Wānanga becomes useful when you want a junior version, a local case-study word set, or a class pack with visual supports and sentence stems.
- Generate a Phase 3 glossary with fewer terms and more examples.
- Build a local rohe version with iwi, hapū, or place-specific vocabulary.
- Save the working glossary into My Kete and refine it across the unit.
Kaiako planning snapshot
- Use length: 10-15 minutes for pre-teaching, or ongoing quick reference during reading and writing.
- Grouping: Whole-class pronunciation practice, then individual or pair reference use.
- Prep: Select the must-know terms for the lesson and model them in one or two sentences.
- Teaching move: Teach the context with the term. Definitions without historical use tend to wash out quickly.
- Support / stretch: Support with highlighted “today’s words”; stretch with student-generated examples and contrast language.
Resources already provided
- Core Unit 2 kupu and historical terms in one printable place
- Student-friendly meaning and why-it-matters context
- Room to add examples or personal reminders
- Built-in links to writing and source-analysis tasks
- A matching teacher-only curriculum companion
Vocabulary is infrastructure. If the language is weak, the historical thinking will usually be weak too.
Ngā Whāinga Akoranga / Learning Intentions
- We are learning the language needed to discuss Unit 2 with greater precision and cultural respect.
- We are learning how Māori and historical terms shape meaning, not just vocabulary load.
- We are learning how to use key words accurately in discussion and writing.
Paearu Angitu / Success Criteria
- I can explain what several key Unit 2 terms mean in context.
- I can use at least three terms accurately in a discussion or paragraph.
- I can notice when a word choice changes the historical framing of an event.
Curriculum integration / Te Marautanga alignment
The companion page makes the curriculum fit explicit across disciplinary language, systems and power concepts, and evidence-led historical interpretation.
Language and mātauranga Māori note
Some kupu do not map neatly onto English. When that happens, keep the Māori term visible and explain its context rather than forcing a flat translation. That keeps the concept closer to its actual meaning.
Tino rangatiratanga
Student-friendly meaning: full authority, self-determination, and the right to decide over people, places, and taonga.
Why it matters in Unit 2: many Unit 2 arguments depend on the idea that Māori authority was not simply given away in the way the Crown later claimed.
Kāwanatanga / Kawanatanga
Student-friendly meaning: governance or governorship.
Why it matters in Unit 2: the difference between kāwanatanga and sovereignty is central to Te Tiriti debates.
Raupatu
Student-friendly meaning: confiscation, especially of land taken by force or by Crown law.
Why it matters in Unit 2: students need this word to talk accurately about how land was taken and remembered.
Aotearoa Wars
Student-friendly meaning: the wars fought between Māori and the Crown in the nineteenth century.
Why it matters in Unit 2: the name chosen affects whether the history is framed as rebellion, resistance, invasion, or contest over authority.
Counter-narrative
Student-friendly meaning: a historically grounded story that challenges a dominant version of events.
Why it matters in Unit 2: this is the writing and thinking move many Unit 2 tasks are building toward.
Assimilation
Student-friendly meaning: pressure or policy pushing people to abandon their own language, values, or ways of living in order to fit the dominant culture.
Why it matters in Unit 2: this helps explain urban policy, schooling, and the politics of language and identity.
Redress
Student-friendly meaning: an attempt to address harm or wrongdoing.
Why it matters in Unit 2: students need this word to discuss settlements and apologies with more nuance than “fixed” or “not fixed”.
Mana
Student-friendly meaning: authority, dignity, standing, and power rooted in relationships and responsibility.
Why it matters in Unit 2: many actions in the unit are about defending or restoring mana, not only about winning battles.
Today’s must-know terms
Circle or highlight the three terms you need most for today’s lesson.
Sentence practice
Write two sentences using Unit 2 vocabulary accurately in historical context.
Framing challenge
Name one colonial term or phrase you would challenge and suggest a better alternative.
Hononga Marautanga · Curriculum Alignment
Social Sciences — Tikanga ā-Iwi
Level 3–4: Investigate social, cultural, environmental, and economic questions; gather and evaluate evidence from diverse sources; communicate findings and reasoning clearly for different audiences and purposes.
English — Communication
Level 3–4: Read, interpret, and evaluate information texts; write clearly and purposefully for specific audiences; apply critical thinking skills to evaluate sources and construct well-reasoned responses.
Aronga Mātauranga Māori
This resource sits within a kaupapa that recognises mātauranga Māori as a living knowledge system with its own frameworks, values, and ways of understanding the world. The New Zealand Curriculum calls for learning that reflects the bicultural partnership of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, which means every subject area has an obligation to engage authentically with Māori perspectives — not as cultural decoration but as substantive contributions to how we understand our topics. The concepts of manaakitanga (care for others), kaitiakitanga (guardianship), whanaungatanga (relationship and belonging), and tino rangatiratanga (self-determination) provide a values framework applicable across all learning areas, and all are relevant to the work in this handout.
Tuhia ōu whakaaro · Write Your Thoughts
Reflect on what you have learned today. What was the most important idea? What question do you still have?
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 develop a decolonized understanding of Aotearoa's history — reading the past through the eyes of tangata whenua, examining primary sources critically, and understanding how colonisation continues to shape the present. This unit centres mana Māori as the starting point, not a footnote.
Ngā Paearu Angitū — Success Criteria
- ✅ Students can analyse a historical source for perspective, reliability, and significance — including identifying whose voices are centred or absent.
- ✅ Students can explain how a specific historical event — such as the NZ Wars, land confiscations, or the Dawn Raids — connects to present-day inequities and Māori-led responses.
Differentiation & Inclusion
Scaffold support: Provide annotated source analysis frames for entry-level access — guiding students through the OPCVL or SOLO process step by step. Offer extension tasks asking students to compare a colonial-era source with a contemporary Māori account of the same event, analysing how the historical narrative has been contested and reclaimed.
ELL / ESOL: Primary source language (particularly 19th-century English) presents specific challenges — pre-read sources with students and pre-teach archaic or specialist vocabulary. Allow students to express historical analysis in their home language first before translating to English. Bilingual glossaries support engagement without reducing intellectual demand. Some ELL students may bring first-hand experience of colonisation from other contexts — honour these as valid comparative perspectives.
Inclusion: Decolonized history can surface difficult emotions for Māori students encountering colonial violence and injustice in the curriculum for the first time. Create a trauma-informed classroom. Neurodiverse learners benefit from chunked tasks and clear analytical scaffolds. Ensure all students understand that the purpose of this unit is not guilt but understanding — and that understanding is the foundation of partnership and change.
Mātauranga Māori lens: Decolonizing history means more than "adding Māori perspectives" — it means recognising that the dominant historical narrative itself is a colonial artefact. Whakapapa is an alternative historical framework: tracing connections, obligations, and continuity across time. The NZ Wars were not distant events — their consequences live in land ownership patterns, economic disparities, and community structures today. Tino rangatiratanga — the right of self-determination — was not surrendered at Waitangi and has been asserted continuously through protest, legislation, and resurgence. Teaching this history is an obligation of Te Tiriti partnership.
Prior knowledge: Students benefit from foundational knowledge of the Treaty of Waitangi and its context. No specialist prior knowledge required for entry-level source analysis tasks — scaffolds are provided.
Curriculum alignment
- Aotearoa New Zealand Histories — Know: Understand that colonisation was a global process that had a specific and profound impact on tangata whenua in Aotearoa, and that Māori responses to colonisation have been continuous and varied.
- Do — Social Studies: Explore perspectives, use evidence to form conclusions, and share ideas — analyse primary sources, compare historical perspectives, and present findings.