📚 Unit Plans → 🗣️ Te Reo Māori Foundations → 📖 Lesson 3: Tikanga in Kōrerorero
Years 7–10 Te Reo Māori

Tikanga in Kōrerorero — Values in Conversation

Lesson 3 of the Te Reo Māori Foundations unit — the why behind how we speak.

🕘 Lesson at a Glance | Te Hōtaka

Do NowGreeting circle drill⏱ 5 min 1 · ValuesThree values, made visible⏱ 15 min 2 · Host & guestWelcome and respond⏱ 20 min 3 · Role cardsScenario challenge⏱ 25 min SynthesisWhich value showed?⏱ 5 min Exit1-2-3 reflection⏱ 5 min

Lesson Overview | Tirohanga Whānui

This lesson is about the why behind how we speak. Ākonga already have greetings (Lesson 1) and pepeha (Lesson 2); today they practise the values that guide respectful kōrero — manaakitanga, whanaungatanga and aroha — as actions, not definitions. Through a host-and-guest exchange and real classroom scenarios from the role cards, they learn that tone, body language and care for the other person are as much a part of te reo as the words themselves.

Learning Intentions | Ngā Whāinga Ako

  • Explain how manaakitanga, whanaungatanga and aroha guide respectful kōrerorero.
  • Use welcoming and responding phrases with clear pronunciation and eyes-up delivery.
  • Show a tikanga value in action through a short role-play scenario.

⚡ Do Now — Greeting Circle Drill

⏱ 5 min

Everything from Lesson 1, at speed. Stand in a circle.

  1. The kaiako calls a greeting — Kia ora, Ata mārie, Tēnā koe. Each ākonga turns to the person on their left, looks them in the eye, and delivers it with a clear voice.
  2. Rotate one place and go again with the next greeting. Quick-fire pace — three or four rounds.

Teacher: this drill is secretly today's whole lesson in miniature — the greeting is the words, but the eye contact and turn towards the person is the tikanga. Don't name that yet; you'll come back to it in the synthesis.

Activity 1 · Values in Action — Three Words That Guide Everything

⏱ 15 min

What it is: Three values, framed as living practice rather than vocabulary. Ākonga turn each into something you can see a person do.

Manaakitanga

Care and respect for others — hospitality in action. Looking after a guest, offering a seat, making someone welcome.

Whanaungatanga

Relationship and connection — the sense that we belong to each other. Learning names, asking after whānau, remembering.

Aroha

Compassion and goodwill — speaking and listening with care, especially when it's hard.

Run it

  1. Frame (3 min): The kaiako introduces the three values as guiding principles, not rules, with one lived example each — "manaakitanga is looking after guests → offering a visitor a seat."
  2. Make it visible (10 min): In pairs, ākonga choose one value and make a quick A4 "definition + action" mini-poster: the kupu, a plain-English meaning in their own words, and a drawing or freeze-frame pose of the value in action.
  3. Gallery flash (2 min): Pairs hold up their posters; the class matches each action to its value.

🪶 Deeper tikanga (kaiako Māori / kaumātua): concepts like tapu and noa sit behind these values and shape real kawa — they deserve proper treatment, not a poster. If your kura has kaiako Māori or kaumātua support, this is the lesson to invite that voice in; otherwise keep the focus on the three values ākonga can practise today.

Activity 2 · The Host and the Guest — Mihi and Response

⏱ 20 min

What it is: A welcome is a two-way exchange. Ākonga practise both roles — offering a warm welcome and responding to one — with the focus on how it's said: tone, eye contact, clear vowels.

Nau mai, haere mai — welcome Tēnā koe — greetings (formal) Ngā mihi — thanks / regards Kia ora rā — thanks, all good

Run it

  1. Model (5 min): The kaiako models a short host/guest exchange — the host welcomes (Nau mai, haere mai. Tēnā koe.), the guest responds (Ngā mihi. Kia ora rā.). Model it twice: once flat and rushed, once warm and unhurried. Ask: which one showed manaakitanga?
  2. Practise (12 min): In pairs, one hosts, one guests, then swap. Rotate partners three times so everyone welcomes someone new — whanaungatanga in action.
  3. Debrief (3 min): Quick kōrero: what changed between your first and third exchange?

Teacher: practise the exchange yourself beforehand so you can model it confidently — lengthen the vowels. You hold the pronunciation calls as you circulate; ākonga focus on warmth and delivery.

Activity 3 · Scenario Challenge — Kōrero Role Cards

⏱ 25 min

What it is: The values leave the poster and enter real situations. Pairs draw a scenario card — welcoming a new student, resolving a misunderstanding, offering help — and act it out using the reo and the tikanga they've built across three lessons.

Run it

  1. Draw and prep (7 min): Pairs draw a Kōrero Role Card and plan a 30-second role-play using at least two te reo phrases they know and one visible tikanga action.
  2. Perform (12 min): Pairs perform for another pair, then swap. The observing pair's job: spot which value was strongest — manaakitanga, whanaungatanga or aroha — and say what they saw that showed it.
  3. Round two (6 min): Time allowing, pairs draw a second card and go again — this time aiming to show a different value.

You'll need: Kōrero Role Cards — print and cut one set per four ākonga. Teacher: the observers judge values, which they can genuinely see; you keep judging the reo. Watch for caricature — the actions must be real expressions of care, not performances of "being Māori". Ground them back in the Activity 1 posters if needed.

Synthesis · Which Value Showed?

⏱ 5 min

Whole-class kōrero, circling back to the Do Now:

  1. Which tikanga value felt strongest in your role-play — and how did your body language carry it?
  2. Remember the greeting circle at the start? What tikanga was hiding in it all along? (The turn, the eye contact, the clear voice — manaakitanga before a single word.)

Exit · 1-2-3 Reflection

⏱ 5 min

On a sticky note, three quick lines before leaving:

  1. One tikanga kupu you used or showed today.
  2. One phrase you nailed.
  3. One thing to improve next time.

Teacher: the third line is tomorrow's differentiation, written by the ākonga themselves. Lesson 4 turns to whānau language — the people these values come from.

🎯 Curriculum Links | Te Hononga ki te Marautanga

This lesson's focus: Ākonga practise the values that make kōrero respectful — carrying the pepeha work of Lesson 2 into how they host, respond and interact.

Pāhekoheko — Practices (Emergent 1 | Learning Languages)

"Pepeha are a way of upholding the values of manaakitanga and whanaungatanga."

📑 See the audited unit curriculum map → — Te Mātaiaho 2025 · Learning Languages.

📦 Materials & Resources

📋 Handouts & Worksheets

🛠️ Equipment & Setup

  • A4 paper and markers for the values mini-posters
  • Role card sets printed and cut
  • Sticky notes for the 1-2-3 exit
  • Room space for the opening circle and paired role-plays
📊 Assessment Framework

This is a single lesson, so assessment here is formative — watching and listening for learning as it happens. The unit's summative assessment sits at the end of the unit, not in this lesson.

What to look for, mapped to the learning intentions

  • Values understanding (LI 1): the mini-posters — is the plain-English meaning their own words, and does the action genuinely show the value?
  • Delivery (LI 2): the host/guest rotations — warm tone, eyes up, vowels honoured. Your circulation is the measure; the third rotation should be noticeably better than the first.
  • Values in action (LI 3): the role-plays — did the observing pair correctly spot the value, and could the performers say what they did to show it?
Quick exit read: the 1-2-3 notes give you a self-assessed class map — line 3 ("one thing to improve") writes tomorrow's warm-up for you.
🚀 Extension Activities

🎭 Unscripted Round

Confident pairs perform a role-card scenario without prep time — drawing the card and responding in the moment, the way real kōrero works.

🏫 Tikanga Spotters

Over the next week, ākonga collect one real example of manaakitanga, whanaungatanga or aroha they see around the kura — and name the value when they report back.

🗣️ Register Stretch

Ākonga with strong reo rework one scenario twice — once casual (a mate), once formal (a kaumātua visitor) — and explain what they changed and why.

🔗 Unit Progression & Next Steps

Sounds and greetings (Lesson 1), identity through pepeha (Lesson 2), and now the values that guide it all. The unit keeps building:

Lesson 4: Whānau Connections

The language of family — the people behind the pepeha and the values

Lesson 5: Kōrerorero o Ia Rā

Sustained everyday conversation — greetings, pepeha, values and whānau language working together

Preparation for next lesson: ākonga think of two whānau members (by role, not name — a grandparent, a younger cousin) they'd like to be able to talk about in te reo.

📋 Teacher Planning Snapshot

Ngā Paearu Angitū — Success Criteria

  • ✅ I can explain manaakitanga, whanaungatanga and aroha in my own words, with an action for each. (LI 1)
  • ✅ I can welcome someone and respond to a welcome, eyes up and vowels clear. (LI 2)
  • ✅ I can show a tikanga value in a role-play that others can recognise. (LI 3)

Prior prep — do these before class

  • Rehearse the host/guest exchange so your model is confident — the "flat vs warm" double-model is the lesson's key teaching move.
  • Print and cut the Kōrero Role Cards (one set per four ākonga).
  • Frame the values as living practice throughout — "guiding principles", never "rules".

Inclusion and differentiation for this lesson

  • Nervous speakers: the poster task and observer role are full participation — build towards the role-play across the lesson, don't force it first.
  • Strong reo: the unscripted round and register stretch (extensions) keep the ceiling high.
  • Keep it genuine: if a role-play tips into caricature, pause and return to the Activity 1 posters — the action must show care, not costume.

Broader differentiation and the unit-wide framing live on the unit overview.