Investigation

Find out more about the family and community backgrounds of your students. You can do this in many different ways, including through group and individual work. It’s likely that all your students will find this sharing of information interesting and useful.

Some suggested starters and questions:

• What is your family background?

The students could explore their backgrounds by means of family trees. (The level of detail will depend on the age and prior knowledge of the students.) An approach of this kind highlights the combination of ethnicities often present in our immediate and wider families.

• What is your family history?

Using their family trees as starting points, students can find out when each branch immigrated to New Zealand, where they came from, and how old they were on arrival.

• What languages are spoken in your home?

You could find out more by asking who speaks what languages, in what contexts (in church, for example), and to whom. (See also the inquiry What is bilingualism? .)

• Which cultural practices are important to your family?

These may include religious practices. Churchgoing is an important part of life for many (but not all) Pasifika families and communities, and White Sunday often has particular significance.