Michael Mulipola

Have you ever dreamt of something and thought or been told you can't do that. Remember if you can Dream It you can do it. 

Michael Mulipola loves comic books and he used to draw his favourite marvel characters such as Green Lantern. Now he draws for other people not just himself. 

I really like how he mixes two of his favourite hobbies for a paying job, wrestling and comic drawing.

Kilikiti - Island Cricket

 Today we tried a different type of cricket called Kilikiti. Samoa was introduced to English Cricket many years ago. But they thought it was boring as it took 5 days to play one game. So they change some of the rules. 

You must always have two hands on the bat, and if you are not facing the ball the bat needs to be on your shoulder. If you step out of the pitch you are also out. Hopefully the teacher will take some photos for us to share what it looks like.

I found it hard to bowl, as I haven't bowled for cricket in a few years. Next time, I hope to have a bat.

Cooking Food - Yum!

I was trying to find an online version of School Journals about different ways of cooking but lots of them were older. So I took the book and made it in to a set of slides. After reading and discussing it we found out they use a similar method of cooking even in Somalia, where one of our students is from. 

This method of cooking is a traditional way Maori cook for celebrations such as weddings, funerals/ ngā tangi, births and even birthdays, this is because it is a great way to feed a lot of people. In this story they were using the hangi to raise money for the school.

The author talks about how the food is prepared, and how the students lost count and had to count again so they had enough potato and pumpkin. She also talked about how the prepare the hangi pit and fire to cook the food, she used photos to support what she was saying and to help us understand.

This text was a recount because she was explaining using past tense, dialogue or talking showed feelings and frustration with others and their was personal voice. Mr and Mrs Universe, Eat was the best part.

Tradition of Quilting

 Everyone has a different method of making a blanket, whether for a special event or everyday use. I remember sitting of the old tartan coloured blankets for picnics. I even have a guide blanket with badges and scarves sewn on from when I was a girl scout. 

I love how the Tivaevae and Ngatu are used to tell stories and are passed down through the family.

What is your favourite type of blanket?

Ways of presenting

 We have been talking about different ways of presenting our work and how it doesn't always have to teacher directed. We have already shown you our reading using google doc earlier this week here is the same tasks with different readings being compared.

Tradition of Exploring

The tradition of Exploring goes way back. People still like to explore, there have been many movies and books written about exploring under the sea, space and the local area. 

This week I was looking at different ways of presenting our discussions and answers to questions. I was really happy with lots of contributions today. 

Where would you like to explore?

Cultural Diversity and Traditions

 For Inquiry and Reading we are looking at different traditions cultures celebrate. We are looking how they have changed and how they might change in the next ten years. This week following on from last we our big questions was Why is important to keep these traditions alive? How do we know that. After some discussion here is some of our answers. Thanks Levi.

Tokelau Language Week

 This week we have Tokelau Language Week. What I have found fascinating with all these different languages is the similarities. 

I am grateful for the words that a similar as it helps me with the meaning of what I am trying to say.

Which is your favourite language to speak?

Niuean Language

 Today's Early Bird Challenge was to translate either ten colours or the numbers 1 to 10. On Monday we looked at greetings. During class we also looked at how we can introduce ourselves in Niuean. 

Students were asked to learn lines 1, 5 and 6 and make a recording

Language Warriors

Today we watch a you tube clip Language Warriors in response to it being Niue Language Week. Their thoughts and feeling I don't believe are limited to just the Niuean Culture but to making Cultures including other Pasifika and African.

The biggest challenge is people feeling comfortable in the discussion if they are repeating a view already shared.  But everyone view is welcome, you may even have a different reasons for your view.

These were some of the questions we looked at and will continue to discuss as the week goes on and we check out a couple of other videos and culture and heritage  and what this means to people.

What are your thoughts?

Tapa Pasifika

Not only is this week Chinese Language Week it is also Tuvalu Language Week. 

After looking at a range of Tapa Patterns, thanks to the site Tapa Cloths from the Pacific and Art Work, to inspire us. We made a digital tapa pattern, we had the choice of using a premade spreadsheet with a page each and 26 x 26 square (thanks to another teacher) or Google draw with a table 10x10 inserted and the cells reduced to a square shape.

Using google draw was a better way to achieve the pattern I like, that is because you could use the gradient to colour squares and in turn get straighter lines for the diagonal parts.

Have you ever tried making a digital tapa pattern? What did you use?

These 3 are all done in google sheets.

This bottom one was done by the same student who did the above black and white, you can see the difference creating it in google draw.

 

More Proverbs

As I was reading a list of Chinese Proverbs, I realised many of our saying come from this list. I am not sure who had the saying first, but as I can't say them in Chinese I have taken the English version of the Chinese proverb and explained how it inspires me.

Even my Grandmother used to say nothing good comes to those who sit around all day doing nothing. In other words, if you wait for fortune to fall into you lap or come to you, you will be waiting a long time. If you get up and work hard are considerate to others then you will have all the treasure in the world. 

Do you have a saying whanau say all the time?

Comparing Characters and Heroes

We are looking forward to creating an animation about our favourite Myth or Legend. But first we need to do some research and see where else there are similar heroes in the world.

After asking students to find heroes from their home lands we completed the list from different places about different heroes and of course heroines.

Here is an example of the stories we looked at and the sheet we had to complete about our hero. I loved seeing people finding out more about their history, Ka rawe, Awesome!

Useful phrases for school in Te Reo o Maori

After the discussion about phrase we could use at home I though we should have a list that can be used in class as Paahitia te ... pass the ...

Then we came up with some instructions that teachers can use, followed by the rules we have at school and in class.

Hope these phrases are helpful for you too.

What do you say when your in the Kitchen?

 Listening to my boys they are always asking for food. What do you ask for in the kitchen?

This week is Te Wiki o te Reo Maori and today we are looking at what phrases we might use in the kitchen. Pass the ... or Are you hungry? and how you could answer a question.

Hope you can try a phrase in your kitchen.

I think it will be tricky to say these phrase at home because my children tease me when I try to use te reo.

Mrs Mundy Mihi

 Back to Online learning and this week is Te Wiki o te Reo Maori, so we are all practising our mihi.

I like this one as it is all inclusive, people from overseas can use it easily too.

Ko Mrs Mundy tōku ingoa

Nō Ingarangi ōku tīpuna

Kei te noho au ki Papakura. 

Tongan Legends

Today we watched a legend called Sina and the Eel. It is an Tongan Legend about a girl and an eel. When she moves away the eel follows her and she becomes scared. He cousin goes to defend her honour.

We had to make an animation using google slides to reenact the legend. This took ages but I have started.The tricky part was when I wanted to change something back 3 or 4 slides I then had to change on the later ones too.

Have you ever made an animation before? Hope you like mine.

Tongan Language - Rules and Laws

Today in both of our chats online William's Dad from a village in Tonga joined us and talked about life in Tonga and New Zealand. Yes he does live here now with his family.

This afternoon we were talking about rules and laws in the Pasifika Islands pre-european times. We found out in Tonga even though there is a ruling King some villages answer to the Nobles. If there is a feast for a celebration everyone in the village is expected to contribute as much as they can. And of course no one wants to be looked at like the ones who didn't do much, so families give and give. 

Tongan Language Week - from our homes

Welcome to Tongan Language Week with Wesley Intermediate. Thank you Mr Sa for putting this together with you amazing team.

Room 9 worked to together and created a slide show to show some of the basic phrases we know and are learning.

We all had a page to do with different words or information to add and decorate, sharing our knowledge. I really like the way different people helped others and how there were so many ideas for making their page vibrant.