Te Reo Māori in English-medium schools
3.3 Give and follow directions.
At the end of this lesson, students can:
Kōrero – Speaking: Initiate and sustain short conversations.
Whakarongo – Listening: Understand a range of short oral texts consisting mainly of familiar language.
Explain to the students that this activity is similar to ‘pin the tail on the donkey’.
Allocate one instruction to each student from Resource sheet 3H: He tohutohu. This way the students become familiar with one instruction each.
Take turns blindfolding the students, leading them to a location in the room.
The class instructs the blindfolded student to find a taonga (treasure) in the room, for example, a rock or a lolly. If the student should turn right, the student responsible for that instruction calls it out, for example: ‘Huri whakamatau!’ The students keep guiding the blindfolded student until they reach the target.
Ensure that each student takes a turn being blindfolded and calling instructions.
Language to guide/instruct (see Resource sheet 3H: He tohutohu). Use of ‘e’ before instructions with two or less syllables. The use of ‘whaka’ meaning ‘towards’ or ‘in the direction of’:
Some students may call instructions at the same time. This will add to the atmosphere of the activity.
Turn the activity into a live version of a video game. As a student sits in the driver’s seat, students move toward them representing obstacles such as bridges, rivers, bends in the road etc. A passenger could sit next to the driver and inform them which way to go. The students could draw a map of the course taken and then write how they got to where they were.