Tōku Reo

This digital resource is a series of television episodes that explain, teach, and demonstrate the Māori language. Having already been aired, these half hour episodes are available to watch anytime online. Each episode is accompanied by three sets of activities and a podcast that summarises the episodes learning.

This resource is intended for beginning learners but has 300 episodes with different vocabulary to learn, so this resource could cater for any stage in the learning of Te Reo.

With vibrant animations and enthusiastic speakers, users are provided with an opportunity to become engaged and motivated to learn Te Reo through this digital platform.

Year Level

Any year level

Digital Technology

Website–accessible from computer, laptop, mobile devices and tablets/iPads.

Access

www.tokureo.maori.nz/index.cfm/1,186,0,43,html

Features

Able to be accessed on most digital devices.
There are five series with 50-100 episodes in each.
In each block of five episodes, users learn vocabulary based around a theme and small number of sentence structures.
Each episode has its own relevant activities and exercises to practise, develop language skills, recap key learning and reinforce what has been learnt.
Option to watch podcast which is roughly 3-5 minutes and recaps the main vocabulary and learning points of the lesson. Or watch the full half hour episode with vocabulary introduction and demonstrations from native speakers in various relevant situations.
Vocabulary posters for each episode are able to be downloaded.
Activities are separated into three components; grammar, vocabulary and test. The activities include written answers, multi-choice questions, a test that incorporates vocabulary and grammar.
Users are able to check each answer by clicking the ‘check answer’ box under each question.
Range of topics to learn. This programme was originally intended to be watched systematically but now that all episodes have aired, they are available online to pick and choose from.

Review and Critique

This resource is a compilation of digital resources that are intended to aid the user in their learning of Te Reo. The video episodes and interactive activities engage and motivate students to learn for a purpose, as each episode has a main focus (Churchill, 2017; Duchesne & McMaugh, 2016; Kirkman, 2017). Due to the step by step nature of this resource, it can be said that it is helpful in scaffolding learning to ensure students can achieve the learning outcome (Mayes & Freitas, 2013; Mills, 2014).

Tōku Reo provides context for topic vocabulary being taught (Vandergriff & Goh, 2012). A simple example of context in an episode is the scenario of seeing two of your friends at the park, and how to greet them appropriately. This gives students relatable examples that could be used in their own lives, hence allowing them to build a deeper understanding of the learning (Churchill, 2017; Kirkman, 2017).

Although this digital resource is not intended to replace or be the main focus of the teaching, it does have the ability to enhance the learning and make the learning process more efficient (Churchill, 2017; Mills, 2014). This is because students are given the chance to hear the language straight from native speakers, allowing students to make links between the textual, aural, and oral components of the language (Churchill, 2017; Vandergrift & Goh, 2012). This could potentially be extremely beneficial in cases where the teacher is not a native speaker of the language.

Tōku Reo empowers students to be active learners who engage in conversation, in which new ideas and learning have the potential to be formed (Kirkman, 2017). For example, students may engage in a conversation about the language and contexts it can be used in, raising questions, or points of interest to extend their learning.

Lessons in the classroom are unlikely to incorporate all 300 episodes. However, since this is a digital resource that can be accessed from any device connected to the internet, students are able to continue watching and completing activities at home for their own personal learning and interest (Duchesne & McMaugh, 2016; Mills, 2014).

There are some critiques for this resource. To begin with, the only feedback that the user gets when answering questions incorrectly in the activities is ‘try again’. This does not allow the student an opportunity to have the answer explained in terms of what was wrong and how to amend it (Churchill, 2017). This could be problematic for the written answer activities, as the student might know the word, but have difficulty spelling it, or leave out a macron. Therefore leading to the student possibly becoming confused or frustrated that their answer is wrong, when it is in fact correct, just not spelt right.

There is also the issue of students’ progress in the activities not being saved. This is inconvenient in a learning setting as the student cannot refer back to the website to see their progress, and the teacher cannot access students’ results for one way of assessing their learning. Students could likely lose their motivation or determination to continue completing activities, as there is no incentive to continue, like other digital resources.

Recommendations for Users and Developers

I would recommend that the episodes in this resource be used partially. For example, the teacher might use the three minute podcast that sums up the vocabulary words as either an introduction at the beginning of the lesson, or to reinforce learning later on. It is possible that small sections of the episode could also be used to allow students to listen to native speakers demonstrate how to pronounce the vocabulary and what to say in different situations. From here, students could also potentially re-enact their own demonstrations, filming these and creating their own tutorial type resources.

The activities could be used as a whole class, small group, paired, or individual activity, depending on what the lesson incorporates. The activities in the resource do not even have to be used. The videos from the resource could simply be used, or vice versa.

I have suggested that this resource could be used throughout primary school simply because Tōku Reo incorporates many different topics of vocabulary that are potentially relevant to all learners as they increase their Te Reo knowledge.

For the developers, I would recommend that the activities provide more feedback prompts that suggest whether the student has almost got the answer, or not quite. Also including extra prompts that give a small hint at the answer, or resources to refer back to if they are unsure would be beneficial to learners as it would empower them to try again.

Also, if the activity progress was able to be saved for the user, I believe that this would benefit both the teacher and student as they would be able to see their strengths and weakness, and what they should focus on next.

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