Ministry of Education Pasifika and ESOL resources

Pasifika language resources

Pasifika curriculum statements and guidelines (the Ministry of Education has published Sāmoan in the New Zealand Curriculum/Ta‘iala mo le Gagana Sāmoa i Niu Sila in 1996, Cook Islands Māori in the New Zealand Curriculum in 2004, and Tongan in the New Zealand Curriculum and Vagahau Niue in the New Zealand Curriculum in 2007. Tokelauan in the New Zealand Curriculum is expected to be published in 2008. Prior to developing these documents, the Ministry of Education published and distributed Developing Programmes for Teaching Pacific Islands Languages and accompanying guidelines with suggestions for teaching Sāmoan, Cook Islands Māori, Tongan, the Niue language, and Tokelauan).
Student reading materials in Pasifika languages and the teaching notes that accompany them. The Tupu series provides reading materials in Sāmoan, Tongan, Cook Islands Māori, Niue language, and Tokelauan, which include books and audio recordings suitable for early childhood, primary, and secondary school learners. The Folauga series provide students’ reading material in Sāmoan mainly for the primary area but some issues can be used in secondary. Folauga and the Tupu series are both accompanied by teachers’ notes that are linked to the relevant curriculum guidelines and reflect best practice principles for language learning.
The Pasifika songbooks and accompanying CDs in primary schools: Fātuga Fa‘asāmoa i Aotearoa: Sāmoan Songs (2000); ‘E Au ‘Īmene Kūki ‘Airani nō Tātou i Aotearoa nei: Cook Island Songs (2002); Hiva, Ta‘anga, mo e Himī ‘i loto Nu‘u Sila: Tongan Songs (2003); and Tau Lologo Niue ma e Tau Aoga i Niu Silani: Niuean Songs (2005).
The Feed the Mind pamphlets, booklets, and website (available in English, Cook Islands Māori, Niue language, Sāmoan, Tokelauan, and Tongan) are designed to promote ways for parents and other family members to help children develop literacy and numeracy skills.
The Team-Up website and booklet provide information and resources to help people get involved in and support children’s education. This includes information for educators, learners, researchers, communities, and those in governance – for example, a board of trustees member – as well as for parents and caregivers. Booklets are available for early childhood, primary/intermediate and secondary, and are published in English, Sāmoan, Cook Islands Māori, Tokelauan, Tongan, and Niue language.
Return to top

ESOL resources

Non-English-Speaking-Background Students: A Handbook for Schools helps primary and secondary schools to develop and implement policies and practices that support ESOL students and their families and teachers.
The English Language Learning Framework (ELLF) will, in its final form, consist of four booklets offering approaches to programme planning and to assessment of English-language learners, in conjunction with a DVD of exemplars of oral language progression. (Still under development, expected to be available in 2008)
The DVD Oral Language Progression Exemplars for the English Language Learning Framework presents samples of oral language from learners of different ages (both primary and secondary) who are at various stages along the English-language learning pathway.
Making Language and Learning Work 1: Integrating Language and Learning in Secondary Maths and Science is a DVD that shows how teachers can effectively integrate content-area teaching and language learning.
Many Voices, a periodical distributed to all schools once a year, provides practical classroom applications of recent research and a forum for ESOL teachers and teachers of community languages.
ESOL in the Mainstream: Effective Practice consists of a video and booklet that draw attention to the needs of ESOL learners in primary and secondary curriculum contexts, and suggest how schools and teachers can meet these needs.
English for Speakers of Other Languages: Information for Schools is a folder, available from the Ministry of Education, with the following resources:
- resourcing information and forms for ESOL assessment and funding applications
- ESOL Funding Assessment Guidelines. This handbook aims to help teachers assess their ESOL students against the criteria in the ESOL Assessment Form (ESOL/AF) and to diagnose student needs so that effective and appropriate programmes can be developed
- ESOL Progress Assessment Guidelines. This handbook can be used by all teachers of ESOL students to inform their selection of assessment tools and processes, and to help them make judgments about the starting points and progress of these learners
- Refugee Handbook for Schools. This resource was developed to enable schools to make effective provision for refugee students. It includes details on: welcoming students; enrolment, placement, and monitoring; planning and delivering effective teaching programmes; using bilingual support workers; providing pastoral care; and supporting students at transitional points
- Effective Provision for International Students. The purpose of this handbook is to guide schools in making appropriate decisions when developing support programmes for international fee-paying students
- Non-English-Speaking-Background Students: A Handbook for Schools (see” Resources for School Management”).
The English Language Intensive Programme Years 7–13 Resource (ELIP) is a set of programme guideline materials for teachers of Year 7–13 English-language learners. It sets out four stages of materials, each with annotated texts that are related to a range of curriculum areas. ELIP provides a clear set of language-learning outcomes for each stage, and suggests teaching strategies and grammar teaching points.
There are three supporting models of teaching units for teachers. They are Phonemic Awareness, Microbes, and Bamboo and Flax.
Focus on English is a series of six units of work to support content area and language learning in maths, science, and social studies for ESOL students in Years 7–10 whose vocabulary has only 300 English words or fewer.
Return to top

Key teacher resources that include ESOL information

The following resources include valuable information that is relevant for ESOL teaching and learning:

Effective Literacy Practice in Years 1 to 4 and Effective Literacy Practice in Years 5 to 8 have specific advice and suggestions about meeting the needs of English-language learners. The section on pages 127–130 of the latter is particularly useful
Effective Literacy Strategies in Years 9 to 13: A Guide for Teachers is a handbook designed to support secondary school teachers in all subject areas as they learn and teach literacy and thinking strategies to meet the needs of their students. While the book is intended to benefit all teachers of secondary students, teachers with ESOL students will find it particularly useful
The resource packages Guided Reading (a book, two videos and a CD for teachers of Years 1 to 4) and Guided Reading: Years 5 to 8 (a book and video) explain the use of guided reading as an effective approach for primary school teachers to use with all their students, including ESOL students. The sections on meeting diverse needs and the case studies are especially relevant.
The Home-School Partnership Programme is designed to enable families and teachers to work together in partnership to share their knowledge and expertise to support students’ learning. The programme is particularly suitable for use in diverse school communities where many languages are spoken. Materials related to the programme include:
- The Home-School Partnership Programme: Literacy Focus
- The Home-School Partnership: Numeracy Insert
- The Home-School Partnership Programme (video)
- The Home-School Partnership: Secondary (under development)

Return to top

Resources for ESOL students with teacher materials

The Selections resources

The Selections resources comprise a series of books for ESOL students in Years 7–13, with accompanying teachers’ notes (and, for the more recent pairs of books, a CD).

Titles of the six books available so far in this series are:
- Insects
- Making It Happen
- Coping with Crises
- Animal Rescue
- Maths in Action
- Design in Action.
Ready to Read Selections consist of packs with multiple copies of eight Ready to Read titles appropriate for use with ESOL students in Years 7–13.
The accompanying teaching notes for both types of Selections books are written so that ESOL specialist and mainstream teachers can use the books to integrate English-language learning with learning to read and reading to learn in a range of topic areas.

ESOL teaching notes for Danger

ESOL teaching notes have been especially written to accompany Danger, in the Choices series of books for students in Years 9–13. These notes provide a model of scaffolded language learning for secondary students seeking to gain credits towards the Level 1 literacy requirements of NCEA.

CD-ROMs for ESOL students

The four CD-ROMs listed below are collections of high-interest texts with audio, designed to motivate and support students who are not proficient readers. They include the choice of two voices, one in very clear English for use with ESOL students, and the other in a more typical New Zealand accent.

Frog Pond and other stories (Years 5–6)

Give It a Try and other stories (Years 5–6)

Creepy and other stories (Years 7–10)

Just Swallow This Camera and other stories (Years 7–10).