He Aha Tēnei?

This resource is an Android and Apple app that is marketed at pre-schoolers and their caregivers. However, since this app covers the learning of basic knowledge in terms of everyday objects and forming a simple sentence, it would also be an appropriate resource for junior school students (years 0-2) who are learning Te Reo.

Year Level

Years 0-2

Digital Technology

App – Android and Apple compatible.

Access

Search ‘He aha tēnei’ in Google Play or iTunes to download app.

Features

Free App.
Exciting and upbeat background music.
Colourful and dancing graphics.
No start menu, begins straight away.
Young child’s voice used to pronounce words.
Dictionary with a list of all the words used in the app and their English translation.
Drag and drop letter and letter groups to the word outline (spelling focus).
Each letter or letter group dropped into the word, says how those letter combinations are pronounced (grapheme/phoneme understanding).
Word is said in chunks and then altogether.
Word is put into a sentence (he rākau tēnei – this is a tree).
Uses words that are recognisable to young children (e.g. slide, tree, apple, and hat).

Review and Critique

This resource is a vibrant, fun and interactive app that is both exciting and engaging for younger children. This app ideally compliments lessons based on the topic ‘he aha tēnei?’ (What is this?). This app is not intended to teach the vocabulary, but rather reinforce the learning of the language through the use of technology that students are familiar with and interested in (Churchill, 2017; Duchesne & McMaugh, 2016; Kirkman, 2017; Kucirkova & Falloon, 2017; Mills, 2014).

He Aha Tēnei supports learning by providing familiar animated pictures that coincide with the Te Reo word. This allows students to make links between the Te Reo word and their own knowledge (Duchesne & McMaugh, 2016; Churchill, 2017; Mills, 2014). The app has a small but sufficient vocabulary list which allows students to practise the new language in an interactive drill type setting (Churchill, 2017). Writing is also catered for in this app in the form of dragging and dropping letters onto the word outline, which encourages students to recognise letters and Te Reo sounds. Although it is unlike traditional writing activities, it is still an effective activity as it focuses students’ attention on letter order in relation to sound (Kucirkova & Falloon, 2017).

Because this resource is a free app, it is highly accessible to most students by having parents download it onto their smartphones or tablets/iPads (Kucirkova & Falloon, 2017; Mills, 2014). This further supports the students’ learning of Te Reo, as it allows them to extend their learning beyond school and share their knowledge with their whānau.

A critique of this app is the lack of control and ownership that a student has when using this app. Words from resource’s personal dictionary are selected to appear on the screen randomly. The user then has to drag the letters to that word and listen to it being read aloud on its own and in a sentence before moving on to the next word. There is no option for the student to pick and choose what object they would like to learn.

Recommendations for Users and Developers

I would recommend that this app be used to consolidate learning around the topic of everyday items, and posing and answering the question “he aha tēnei?” This resource would provide years 0-2 students with the tools to feel further empowered in their learning whilst also building interest in the language through a medium they are interested in (Bransford et al., 2000; Churchill, 2017; Mills, 2014).

I would also recommend that parents of the students be aware of this app, and promote the use of the app and the language at home, in order to continuously support classroom learning (Kirkman, 2017).

I have suggested that this resource is suitable for years 0-2, because of the nature of the app. The app is vibrant and exciting, but I believe that children any older than 7 would find this app a bit childish and boring (Beavis, Dezuanni, & Mara, 2017).

A recommendation for the developers would be to enable the app to give students some ownership and control over the resource. It would be useful if the app allowed users to tap on a picture of something (e.g. apple) and then the word and the activity would appear. This way students could take control of their own learning and focus on those objects that they are interested in learning first.

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