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Supporting Pasifika learners

Teaching literacy in a way that is responsive to the diversity in our classrooms has the most profound effect on our learners. Strong school–whānau relationships, culturally responsive classrooms, and the deliberate use of effective teaching strategies can help Pasifika learners achieve success.

There are a range of resources and readings to help us begin to understand and use appropriate pedagogies that will enhance learning for Pasifika learners, and all learners, when engaging with the English Learning area in The New Zealand Curriculum.

Questions to think about in your school context

• What would be a priority focus for your school in lifting outcomes in Literacy for Pasifika learners?

• How can Pasifika perspectives and languages be used in literacy learning?

• What strategies does your department, team or syndicate use to build culturally responsive contexts for Pasifika students within your teaching and learning programmes?

Examples

Building relationships with Pasifika students and fanau
Malae Aloali’i has taught English at Aorere College for over 10 years and establishes caring relationships with her students and fanau, and this impacts positively on student achievement. In this interview with Togi Lemanu, Malae shares her approaches to academic mentoring.

Strategies at work
Teachers use many different strategies to engage their Pasifika learners and help them to achieve. Their strategies work best when they are grounded in responsive and caring relationships with their Pasifika students and the focus on their learning is clear.

Resources

‘I Get It Now’ Enhancing pasifika writing achievement
A power point presentation from Natalie Cowie and Julie Luxton, examining the writing achievement of secondary Pasifika students, and how it could be improved.

What factors promote and support Pasifika students in reading and writing?
This investigation attempts to identify what literacy practices are perceived as contributing to success by Year 6–8 Pasifika students who are achieving at their age levels or above in reading and writing in English. It explores the Pasifika community's perceptions of the relationship between home–school partnerships and success as a literacy learner.

LEAP (Language Enhancing the Achievement of Pasifika)
LEAP is a web-based guideline for teachers that supports the learning of bilingual Pasifika students in mainstream (English-medium) classrooms in New Zealand schools.

Pasifika strategy NZQA
The Pasifika Strategy outlines NZQA’s strategic framework to support the aspiration that Pasifika learners become highly skilled and highly qualified, and thereby contribute to their own, and to New Zealand’s, economic and social prosperity.

Effective literacy strategies Pasifika focus (PDF 192KB) 
Summary of findings from the 2006 professional development project.

Light the fire – The power of community collaboration

Light the Fire is an Auckland based group of teachers and leaders who are passionate about Pasifika ākonga and giving Pasifika students voice and mana within their school.

Each term they meet for a celebration of learning and talanoa about 'Pasifika enjoying success as Pasifika'. Guest speakers and Pasifika students share their educational journeys.

"You can make a difference – one by one – but together we can make a TIDAL wave of difference!"

Related video

At the latest Light the Fire hui, guest speaker David Riley shared useful tips on how to engage Pasifika boys in literacy. He also discussed ways that we can be more culturally responsive in our teaching.

 

New people, new place, new start

Writer: Linda Todd

Introduction

In this task, students critically read several fictional and factual texts that deal with immigration issues. Students interpret their significance and value to the research task, noting how visual and verbal features are organised for effect, where appropriate. The class present considered, structured, and coherent reports based on their findings.

Curriculum links

This achievement standard is derived from written and oral language achievement objectives up to and including Level 7:

• Reading: Close reading, Exploring language, Thinking critically, Processing Information
• Viewing: Viewing, Exploring language, Thinking critically, Processing Information
• Writing: Transactional Writing
• Speaking: Interpersonal Speaking
• Listening: Listening to Texts

Guidelines for use

Students are guided through the research process using the contexts of immigration and settlement issues, examining the ways writers and speakers use particular words and expressions and their effects. They also study exemplars researching the language of travel to develop their understandings about the how to present research. Students then select their own language research topics. They develop research questions to guide their research, record relevant information, then write up their findings in report form.

Conditions

This activity should be worked on in the classroom under teacher supervision as much as possible to ensure authenticity. Once students are working on their own particular topics they may collect information at school and at home but the teacher must check student progress on a regular basis. Teachers may show how the techniques used in exemplars can be applied to the students' own work. Students should write their research reports in class.

Between drafts of the written reports, teachers can advise students that their writing may need further work on ideas, language, structure or accuracy in spelling, punctuation or paragraphing but not correct errors. Students should have access to dictionaries to check their writing. Word processing is acceptable provided it is done under teacher supervision.

Teachers are directed to the Assessment Notes contained in the Achievement Standard 2.8.

Information used in this research report could be incorporated into a related topic to fulfil the requirements of English Achievement Standard 2.2

NB: Teachers using this unit will need to check that it accords with their school assessment policy.

Possible local adaptation

Where local adaptations are made, teachers and schools should ensure that they have:

• Checked that the adapted assessment validly assesses the standard;
• Checked the copyright status of any material imported into the assessment resource;
• Complied with all internal and external quality assurance requirements.

It is intended that the subject of research should be related to a student's study of language texts. It may include information from primary sources (written, visual or oral) relevant to the topic/issue and secondary sources such as commentaries, articles, reviews etc.

Teaching and learning activities

Learning task 1

Learning task 2

Learning task 3

Assessment

Presenting your research

Refer to the instructions in the student assessment activity [Eng/2/8].

As this unit of work is assessed internally, moderation should be through the English department in your school.

Resources

Print

• Tran, Dinh (1996) Fitting In, ed Grover, Paul, Voices Nearby, , Heinemann
• Maniam, K.S. (1997) Arriving, ed Grover, Paul, Voices Nearby, Heinemann
• Dediya, Ruby (2001) Nauru in 2001, ed Grover, Paul, Voices Nearby, Heinemann
• Lay, Graeme (19 ) Soesa, ed Tabasco Sauce and Ice-cream,
• Gavin, Jamila (2002) Forbidden Clothes, From out of the Shadows, Egmont Books
• The New Wife Stones from the Spring. Choices: Settling in, Learning Media
• Jansen, Adrienne (1990) I Have in my Arms Both Ways Allen & Unwin
• Ng, Eva & Thomson, Jane (1992) Amongst Ghosts, Learning Media
• Reid, Robyn (2002) Lift the Lid of the Cumin Jar, Wellington ESOL Home tutor service.
• Stirling, Pamela (2003) Driving While Asian, August 16-22, The NZ Listener
• Philp, Matt (2001) Asia Downunder the New New Zealanders, September 22-28, The NZ Listener.
• Ruscoe, Kim (2004) The End of Despair, March 13, The Dominion Post.

Electronic

Useful websites:

• Personal Stories
  Immigration experiences written by young people coming to the US. "Volunteers" uses the phrase "there is no free lunch in the world".
• The Africans
  Unlike other immigrants, most Africans came to North America against their will, caught up in a brutal system of human exploitation. The treatment they and their descendants endured in the United States was of a harshness seldom surpassed in recent history, and their role in U.S. society was contested with a ferocity that nearly tore the nation apart.
• The fear that renders ordinary people outcasts
  Muslims describe their fears since the Bali bombings and the subsequent backlash
• The New Zealand Herald
• The EPIC Database gives access to hundreds magazine and newspaper articles as well as photographs, video clips, essays etc. Access to EPIC requires a user id and password from your school.

Other

• Hagley Community College ESOL Department (2002) "Refugee Students: A Hagley Initiative" To purchase this video contact the HOD ESOL at Hagley Community College: [email protected]

Principle 1 Know your learners

Know your learners - their language background, their language proficiency, their experiential background.

What do you know about your students' language skills? What do you know about their prior knowledge? How will you find out this information? How will it affect your planning?

School stories

Watch these examples of ESOL principle 1 in the classroom

Primary level: Year 7 technology focus

Secondary level: Year 10 social studies 

Learn how to  build a cultural village with your students. A collaborative way for teachers to discover more about their learners and their backgrounds. This resource can be used in a variety of ways, and enables students to share information about their country with classmates.

Useful teaching strategies to support Principle 1

Being Eve

Adapted from The Arts/Nga Toi Materials Unit - Being Eve

Adaptations for ESOL students: Christine Jones

Teaching and learning activities

1. Learning task 1: Introduction
2. Learning task 2:Technical elements
3. starter (Word 34KB)
4. Learning task 4: Being a writer
5. being_dramatic (Word 51KB)
6. being_productive (Word 36KB)
7. Being Eve2 (RTF 19KB)
8. Learning task 8: Episode summaries
9. Learning task 9: Interview with Maxine Fleming
10. Learning task 10: Behind the Scenes  (501 kB)

Learning task 1: Journal writing

1. Brainstorm ideas on why people write. Write down all the different types of writing they know, eg. shopping lists, notes, stories, reports etc. Beside each type of writing give a reason for the writing:

   • Shopping list - to buy the correct items at the shop.
   • Notes - to excuse the child from sport.

   Look at the importance of the reader in all types of writing. Discuss and steer the children towards the idea that writing is communication between the author and the reader.

2. Write a list of favourite authors and books. Ask why do these authors write, eg. to tell stories, communicate, entertain.
    
   Ask what do we know about these authors? Can we find out about them and why they write? Would they have good ideas for helping us as "budding authors"?

   The following book has many known New Zealand authors and has comments from the authors. Some are too difficult for the children to understand but others give a good insight into why and how they write, eg. Jennifer Beck, Margaret Mahy, Joy Cowley.

   Fitzgibbon Tom, with Spiers Barbara (1993) Beneath Southern Skies New Zealand Children's Book Authors and Illustrators. Ashton Scholastic, Auckland

3. Getting started with journal writing will need the teacher to explain the difference between a diary and a journal (RTF 178KB) . A diary is a record of actions or what they have done. A journal is a record of reactions. A journal is mostly about the student and as such is writing about themselves, their ideas, thoughts, dreams and opinions.

   Explain to the students they can write in prose, poetry or occasionally draw illustrations. As long as the journal entry reflects some thoughts or ideas of the writer it can be included.

   Allow students ownership of their journal. It is private between them and the teacher. Sometimes they will have written about things they don't want anyone to read, [including the teacher] and the teacher must respect this. Students will label such writing.

   Journals are never marked for spelling, punctuation etc. The teacher can comment by responding in some positive or constructive way to the student's writing eg sympathising with their feelings, suggesting other ideas or just commenting on the mood of the writing.

   Provide students opportunities to write in their journals. It could be 10 mins of a writing lesson once a week or for a few minutes each day.

   Students will be asked to evaluate their journal writing once or twice a term. From their journals they will select a piece of writing to present in their portfolio. This piece of writing will be reshaped so that it can be shared with others.

4.  After discussing the concept of journal writing give each child a prompts (RTF 20KB) . Teacher models journal writing by recording in their own personal journal. Compare it with a pre-written diary entry. Discuss with the students the difference and discuss how well you, as the writer, have conveyed thoughts and ideas. For the first week attempt journal writing every day, with the teacher modeling and monitoring the student's progress. Students may want to share their journal writing with the class.

   Over the next few weeks use journal writing when appropriate and allow the children opportunities to write in their journals in their own time. Use journal prompts for students who have difficulties coming up with ideas.

   Refer the children to the revise (RTF 23KB) and self_assessment (RTF 390KB) sheet. Model initial reshaping of a journal entry. Talk aloud your thoughts so the children can see how you change your work.

   Discuss changing names to protect the identity of people in the piece of writing. Let them see you work through the process changing your ideas and thoughts several times. Establish the idea that a piece of work full of editing changes is what we aim for, at this stage, not a perfect copy.

   Allow latitude in presenting the work as the children try out different methods for publishing, eg. shaped pieces, small books, word processed etc.

   When the work is published ask the child to fill in the self-evaluation sheet. Stress the importance of evaluating both the journal and the published piece of writing. The first part of the evaluation is asking the child to examine and analyse their journal writing over a period of time. The second is looking at just one piece of published work. The reason for choosing the portfolio piece will have been modelled first by the teacher. This will give the children ideas and help them choose their first piece.

Creative Writing

Teacher Linda Chapman

Teacher background reading

• Mind Maps and Mind Tools
• Make Kids' Writing Shine: Using Beginnings and Endings to Teach Craft

Teaching and learning activities

Select and adapt these learning activities to best meet the needs of your students, and to fit the time available:

Begin by giving the children an exercise book and a notebook. The exercise book becomes their personal journal and the notebook a "writing ideas" book. Explain that these will be used for the duration of the unit and should be kept close for jotting down ideas.

Learning task 1

Learning task 2

Learning task 3

Assessment

Assessment Task

Publication of a piece of poetic writing, selected from journal entry, that has been drafted, reworked, proof read. Share with students, prior to writing, the assessment key indicators.

assessment (RTF 9KB)
self_assessment (RTF 390KB)
self_evaluation (RTF 250KB)
English Exemplar Project: Personal Experience Writing levels 1-5

Resource

• ABC'S of the Writing Process

Listen up! Speak up!

Teacher Jan Foote

Teacher background reading

Oral Language - English Exemplar Project

Teaching and learning activities

Select and adapt these learning activities to best meet the needs of your students, and to fit the time available:

Learning task 1

Learning task 2

Learning task 3

Resources

See these Assessment Resource Banks resources for assessment activities focusing on speeches for other purposes eg. 

• Impromptu speech (ARB username and password required to view this resource)
• Impromptu Speech II
• Prepared speech 3 (ARB username and password required to view this resource)

Follow up

It became apparent that the pupils wanted to find more information both for their speeches and about Martin Luther King. However, their information skills were pretty limited and more work needs to be done in this area. Because there is so much information on Martin Luther King on the web, this lends itself to a comparative trash or treasure exercise where different websites are compared for their usefulness.

Supporting all learners

Information on inclusive practices

Supporting teachers to meet the needs of all learners. 

Inclusive Education: Tiered support model pdf 
This is a flexible whole-school approach, designed to help you ensure the right levels of support are in place to improve children’s learning outcomes. 

Inclusive Education: Understanding dyslexia 
Find out about dyslexia, what it is, how it affects learning, and the adaptations and modifications you can make to support dyslexic children.

Inclusive Education: Learning the code and literacy acquisition 
This slideshow provides guidance on supporting dyslexic learners with literacy acquisition. It includes an explanation of phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, and the alphabetic principle.

Te Whāriki Online: Supporting bilingual and multilingual learning 
This section of Te Whāriki Online describes inclusive practices you can use to support children living in bilingual and multilingual households when they transition to school.

Inclusive Education: Understanding how to build fluency 
Find out how to build fluency (automatic word reading) so that learners can focus on the meaning of texts, instead of trying to work out key words. 

Content knowledge

Literacy acquisition

Literacy is a foundational skill. To be successfully literate, children need to master three key areas of reading and writing: learning the code, making meaning, and thinking critically.

 
Learning the code
The ability to decode and encode written language. Students:

• develop phonological awareness
• understand the alphabetic principle.

Making meaning
The knowledge, strategies, and awareness to gain and convey meaning when reading and writing. Students understand:

• the types and purposes of different text
• texts are for an audience.

Thinking critically
Analysing meaning. Students:

• read and respond critically to text
• are critically aware when composing text.

Goal of phonics instruction

The goal of phonics instruction is to help children to learn and be able to use the alphabetic principle. Phonics instruction helps children learn the relationships between the letters of written language and the sounds of spoken language. 

As children learn the predictable relationships between sounds and letters, they are increasingly able to apply these relationships to familiar and unfamiliar words. As they do this, they begin to read with fluency.

Teaching phonics

• Be explicit – directly teach children the specific associations between letters and sounds, rather than expecting them to gain this knowledge indirectly or implicitly.
• Be systematic and sequential – The English language has a complicated spelling system. It is important to teach letter-sound mappings in a systematic way, beginning with simple letter-sound rules and then moving onto more complex associations. The goal of systematic and sequential instruction is to make sure that students have the knowledge they need to learn a new skill. It's important to practice and review previously learned skills.

More information

Other resources

Inclusive Education: The simple view of reading and literacy acquisition
Find out how to support learners to “crack the code” and build their language comprehension. This gives information about early literacy acquisition, the simple view of reading, and Scarborough’s Reading Rope.