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thumbnail TRM lesson plans levels 1 and 2
Kei hea a Amo? – Where is Amo?

Kei hea a Amo? – Where is Amo?

Te Reo Māori in English-medium schools

Achievement objective

1.5 Communicate about location.

Learning intentions

Students can:

  • understand, and use, location words.

Modes

At the end of this lesson, students can:

Whakarongo - Listening: Recognise and understand simple, familiar spoken words, phrases, and sentences.

Kōrero - Speaking: Respond appropriately to simple, familiar instructions and simple questions.

Mātakitaki - Viewing: Interpret meanings that are conveyed in combinations of words and images or symbols.

Lesson sequence

In this series of activities, introduce prepositions or location words over several lessons, for example, Where is Amo? Amo is outside.

Ask a student (for example, Amo) to stand just outside the classroom. Then ask the students ‘Kei hea a Amo?’, ‘Where is Amo?’

The students reply:

Kei waho.  Outside. 
Kei waho a Amo.  Amo is outside.

Have the students take turns standing outside the classroom while the others ask where she or he is.

Integrate ‘waho’ into everyday classroom dialogue, for example, when going to the playing field say ‘Me haere tātou ki waho’, ‘Let’s go outside’, ‘Me haere koutou ki waho’, ‘You should go outside’.

Language to use

Prepositions
roto inside
runga on/above
waho outside
Kei hea a Amo? Where is Amo?
Kei waho a Amo. Amo is outside.
Kei waho a Amo i te ruma. Amo is outside the room.

Tips

Second language learning theory suggests that opposites should not be taught together, as this makes it more difficult for the learner, for example, outside, inside.

Consider local variations of the question, for example, Kai hea …? (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāi Tūhoe etc.), Kei whea …? (Tainui).

Further learning

Continue to introduce other prepositions during subsequent lessons. For example, introduce the Māori word for ‘under’ by playing an under the mat activity:

Kei hea ngā pene? Where are the pens?
Kei raro. Under.
Kei raro ngā pene i te whāriki. The pens are under the mat.

Continue to reinforce this vocabulary by using questions that ask where people and things are, for example:

Kei hea a Hone? Where is Hone?
Kei hea te tumuaki? Where is the principal?
Kei waho te tumuaki. The principal is outside.

Introduce runga (on/above) and roto (inside) in two further sessions:

Kei hea te kai? Where is the food?
Kei roto te kai. The food is inside.
Kei roto te kai i te kāpata. The food is in the cupboard.
Me haere tātou ki roto. Let’s go inside.
Kei runga te pukapuka i te tēpu. The book is on the table.
Rauemi tūhono