Ta'iala mo le Gagana Sāmoa - Pasifika Education Community

‘O le ālāfua o le Feso‘ota‘igaThe Communication strandIn the core Communication strand, students learn to use the language to make meaning. As theirlinguistic and cultural knowledge increases, they become more effective communicators, developingthe receptive skills of listening, reading, and viewing and the productive skills of speaking, writing,and presenting or performing.The achievement objectives in the communication strand provide the basis for assessment. The twosupporting strands are only assessed through their contribution to the communication strand.See The New Zealand Curriculum (pages 24–25) for further information.‘O le ālāfua o le Poto i le GaganaThe Language Knowledge strandThis strand encompasses the knowledge about the language, and about the way it is structuredand used, that is needed for communication at the levels specified. The Language Knowledge strandis a supporting strand, and it encompasses the following skills:• listening and speaking (oral language);• reading and writing (written language);• viewing and presenting or performing (visual language).These skill groupings are further described below.46Gagana fa‘alogo ma le tautalaOral language: Listening and speakingStudents listen to and speak a language before they learn to read and write it. Opportunities forstudents to listen to and speak gagana Sāmoa are essential to enable them to develop their orallanguage competence and may also build a foundation for the development of their literacy skills.Students need a variety of opportunities to engage in sustained conversations with other speakersof the language and to take part in cultural events, activities, and meetings that allow them to absorband practise protocols appropriate to their age, status, and experience. Students should progressivelydevelop the ability to communicate their own ideas, feelings, and thoughts in gagana Sāmoa andlearn to respond to others appropriately in a range of formal and informal situations.Teachers should plan activities that allow students to engage in oral language in a variety ofsituations and contexts. At earlier school levels, students are still developing oral language skills.Young children are attuned to listening to and reproducing the sounds and patterns of a language.Students whose first or home language is gagana Sāmoa can be expected to have a more developedsense of the sounds and patterns of the language than second language learners.Gagana faitau ma le tusitusiWritten language: Reading and writingReading and writing provide a foundation for learning in the modern world. Students learneffectively within a stimulating environment that encourages reading and writing in gagana Sāmoa.Reading programmes should build on the students’ interest in listening to legends and to other stories,rhymes, and chants. They should start to retell gagana Sāmoa stories and to be active viewers andlisteners when books in gagana Sāmoa are read to them.