Sentence Building Fun

Curriculum Area

Te Reo Māori – Levels 3-4, New Zealand Curriculum
This lesson aligns with Te Aho Arataki Marau mō te Ako i Te Reo Māori – Kura Auraki, specifically focusing on sentence structure development at Level 3-4, supporting both oral and written language acquisition.

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Lesson Overview

Duration: 30 minutes
Class Size: 12 students
Unit: Everyday Te Reo Structures (Lesson 1 of 10)
Lesson Title: Introduction to Te Reo Māori Sentence Structures
Objective: By the end of this lesson, students will be able to identify and construct basic Te Reo Māori sentences using subjects, verbs, and objects.

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Learning Outcomes

Students will:

• Recognise subject-verb-object structure in Te Reo Māori.
• Construct simple sentences confidently.
• Engage in interactive, kinaesthetic activities to reinforce learning.

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Resources Needed

• Flashcards with subjects (ngā tangata), verbs (ngā mahi), and objects (ngā mea)
• Large colour-coded sentence building cards
• Mini whiteboards and markers
• A soft foam ball for a sentence-building game
• A digital or paper sentence scramble activity

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Lesson Breakdown

1. Whakawhanaungatanga – Warm-Up (5 minutes)

Begin with a quick mihi (greeting) round where each student says:

"Ko [ingoa] ahau. Kei te pēhea koe?" (I am [name]. How are you?)

The teacher responds in Te Reo Māori to model correct pronunciation and flow.

• Call and response to reinforce students' confidence in simple conversational phrases.
• Introduce the day's focus: Basic Sentence Structures in Te Reo Māori!

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2. Unpacking Sentence Structure (7 minutes)

Mini-lesson: Explain that Te Reo Māori typically follows the Verb–Subject–Object (VSO) word order, but for beginners, we will start with Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) to make comparisons with English easier.

Teacher Example Sentences:

1. Kei te oma te tama. (The boy is running.)
2. Kei te pānui a Mere i te pukapuka. (Mere is reading the book.)

Activity: Use large colour-coded word strips to physically build sentences as a class on the board.

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3. Te Reo Sentence Relay – Kinaesthetic Learning (7 minutes)

Setup: Split students into three groups of four. Each group gets jumbled sentence components (subject, verb, object).

Instructions:

1. One student selects a verb flashcard and says the action aloud.
2. The next student finds a matching subject card and places it in front.
3. The third student adds an object to complete the sentence.
4. The whole team says the full sentence aloud together.

Example:

• Student 1 picks "ka kai" (will eat).
• Student 2 picks "te kurī" (the dog).
• Student 3 picks "te kai" (the food).
• The group says: "Ka kai te kurī i te kai."

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4. Sentence Scramble Challenge (6 minutes)

Task: Each student receives a jumbled sentence and must rearrange the parts correctly on their mini whiteboard.

Example Sentence Scramble:

• pānui / a Hemi / i te pukapuka (Hemi reads the book.)
• oma / te kōtiro / ki te kura (The girl runs to the school.)

Once complete, the teacher checks by having students read their sentences aloud.

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5. Wrap-Up & Reflection (5 minutes)

• Students each create and share one original sentence using the flashcards.
• Encourage them to experiment with different verbs and subjects.
• Quickfire question prompts for reflection:
  • What part of the activity helped you the most?
  • What would you like to practice more?

Ka pai! Well done! Hand out fun Te Reo stickers as incentives for participation.

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Assessment & Next Steps

Formative Assessment:

• Observe students' sentence construction accuracy.
• Listen for correct pronunciation and fluency.

Looking Ahead (Lesson 2):
Next lesson, students will expand on sentence-building skills by adding location words (kei, i, ki) to their sentences.

Teacher Notes:

• Encourage positive reinforcement throughout.
• Adapt for different learning styles by incorporating visual, oral, and kinaesthetic activities.
• Focus on confidence-building with repetition and play-based learning.

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Wow Factor Highlight!

This lesson gamifies sentence building to ensure engagement. The sentence relay is a movement-based activity, tapping into students' energy while reinforcing learning. By presenting the lesson in multiple formats (spoken, visual, written, kinaesthetic), all learning styles are supported.

Kaiako (teachers) can extend the lesson with simple digital tools or Te Reo Māori songs to reinforce key sentence structures.

Ngā mihi nui, e kaiako mā!

(Thank you, teachers! Let’s make Te Reo fun and interactive!) 🚀