Being away from the hurly burly of the classroom, I still believe the government’s decision to remove the Maori learn-to-read book from classroom circulation shows a lack of understanding of the need for diversity in learning and how learning occurs. The book, for five-year-olds, includes six Māori words – marae, karanga, wharenui, koro, hongi and karakia – which some officials argue sit uneasily within structured literacy .
Professor Gail Gillon, who developed the wider Best Start Literacy Programme, told RNZ’s John Gerritsen there was “absolutely no evidence” that children found the reader confusing, “And in fact, our data would suggest the opposite.”
Even with these few Maori words, a teacher obliged to teach structural literacy could look at consonants, vowel length in “koro” and talk about “marae” and home or family and “whanau” and so on and so on !!!!!
Accepting the literacy teaching approach as “the correct model”, is so shortsighted and of course, I do want to avoid using the word “racism” but there… I have included it.
There are many language learning models. Structure, yes, it is one method, but….. what about child confidence and their social experience. What if there is a Maori child in the class? How will the politically bullied teacher work with that unpopular approach “diversity” when the Maori child may use words he/she knows….like “marae”.
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