Vagahau Niue L7: Example 3
Example 3: Student blog
Manako au ke tā taha lologo mafiti. Ai fia loto au ke tā he lologo eto, neke tauvelimohe e tau tagata. Homo e tau lologo ka logona e ukulele. Ka pehē fakaaoga e ukulele, ko e mua atu e fuluola he lologo ka tā. Iloa ni he tau tagata ko e lologo uho mai he fānau Pasifika. Pete ni he vahā nei, kua fiafia e tau fānau fuata ke fakanogonogo ke he island reggae. Fai taha nakai ke fakamaama mai ki a au, ko e hau fēfē e island reggae ki a tautolu? Ai fai lologo ne tata ke he ha mautolu a tau lologo vahā tuai, tuga ne fakaako he tau matua tupuna? Tuga e 'Ko Mautolu Nei'. Kua loga tai e tau fati kehekehe he lologo ia. Maama e tau kupu mo e fati, tā aki e nafa, ukulele mo e kitā. Ai fakaaoga e bass guitar, palau hila, kofe hila po ke piano hila. Ka o a tautolu ke hikihiki e tau tā kofe Niue ke he island reggae to nākai fai lologo Niue ka toe. Kua o tā e island reggae, ka e nākai fai reggae he tau motu Pasifika?
Fēfē e haau a manatu? O ki mua nakai e tau lologo Niue … po ke lahi ni a tautolu ke fifitaki ke he tau lologo he tau motu kehe?
Blog mai la e tau manatu ha mutolu ma tau kapitiga.
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Context and text type
A year 12 student of Niue heritage who is learning vagahau Niue blogs about the influence of western music on traditional music.
Text type
Blog. Productive.
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Examples showing how the student is:
Communicating information, ideas, and opinions through increasingly extended and varied texts
The student identifies a personal preference for songs with a fast tempo:
- Manako au ke tā taha lologo mafiti.
They express an opinion, 'Ai fia loto au', and offers a suggestion of what else could be done:
- Ka pehē fakaaoga e ukulele, ko e mua atu e fuluola he lologo ka tā.
As they read the blog and encounter the writer’s ideas and beliefs, readers will find themselves exploring their own views and relating what the writer says to their own knowledge, understandings, and beliefs.
A blog is by definition extended text. It is in effect a 'one-sided conversation'.
The text uses a variety of sentence patterns, for example:
- Ai fai lologo ne tata ke he ha mautolu a tau lologo vahā tuai, tuga ne fakaako he tau matua tupuna? Tuga e 'Ko Mautolu Nei'. Kua loga tai e e tau fati kehekehe he lologo ia.
Beginning to explore the views of others
The student invites other bloggers to help provide answers, for example:
- Fai taha nakai ke fakamaama mai ki a au, ko e hau fēfē e island reggae ki a tautolu?
They ask a question relating to the different playing styles of past and present:
- Ai fai lologo ne tata ke he ha mautolu a tau lologo vahā tuai, tuga ne fakaako he tau matua tupuna.
Beginning to develop and share personal perspectives
The student expresses personal views:
- Homo e tau lologo ka logona e ukulele.
They compare instruments past and instruments present:
- Maama e tau kupu mo e fati, tā aki e nafa, ukulele mo e kitā. Ai fakaaoga e bass guitar, palau hila, kofe hila po ke piano hila.
Beginning to justify their own ideas and opinions
The student justifies an opinion:
- Ka pehē fakaaoga e ukulele, ko e mua atu e fuluola he lologo ha tautolu. Iloa he tau tagata ko e lologo uho mai he fānau Pasifika.
They share and justify an opinion:
- Ka o a tautolu ke hikihiki e tau tā kofe … to nākai fai lologo Niue ka toe.
They use evidence to justify a view that Niue music has changed over time:
- Tuga e 'Ko Mautolu Nei'. Kua loga tai e tau fati kehekehe he lologo ia
Beginning to support and challenge the ideas and opinions of others
The student uses a range of open-ended questions to invite other bloggers to support or challenge his views, for example:
- Fai taha nakai ke fakamaama mai ki a au, ko e hau fēfē e island reggae ki a tautolu?
The student challenges online bloggers, especially people of Niue, to reflect on the changes and their implications for Niue:
- Fēfē e haau a manatu? O ki mua nakai e tau lologo Niue … po ke lahi ni a tautolu ke fifitaki ke he tau lologo he tau motu kehe? Kua o tai ke he island reggae, ka e nākai fai reggae he tau motu Pasifika.
Beginning to engage and sustain interactions and produce extended text
The student uses the blog to sustain interaction with unseen readers. The topic is one that invites others to participate. Music and its traditions, influences, and development is of great interest to young people, and the student’s views and questions open up the possibility of further, rich discussion.
The student uses questions to invite fellow bloggers to voice their opinions and thereby sustain the interaction:
- Kua o tai ke he island reggae, ka e nākai fai reggae he tau motu Pasifika.
The student is very open in expressing their views, opinions, and personal perspectives. This invites others to be just as open in expressing their views.
Interpreting ways in which the target language is organised in different texts and for different purposes
The student uses formulaic expressions when emphasising the importance of maintaining an authentic Pasifika sound:
- Iloa he tau tagata ko e lologo uho mai he fānau Pasifika. Maama e tau kupu mo e fati, tā aki e nafa, ukulele mo e kitā. Ai fakaaoga e bass guitar, palau hila, kofe hila po ke piano hila.
When referring to particular musical instruments, the writer uses words that come directly from other languages: ukelele, bass guitar, piano. These words will be known across languages.
Ukelele (also spelt ukulele) is a word that is widely used in the Pacific. Originating in Hawaii, this instrument spread to the rest of the world. Like other languages, vagahau Niue kept its Hawaiian name.
The tone of the blog is conversational. It reads like a one-sided conversation.
In the tradition of social networking on the Internet, the student addresses unseen readers as 'friends':
- Blog mai e tau manatu ma tau kapitiga.
Internet age terminology is infiltrating all languages. We see an example here in the use of 'blog' as a verb in vagahau Niue:
- Blog mai e tau manatu ma tau kapitiga.
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Opportunities for developing intercultural communicative competence
Students could explore how the same issue could be presented in, for example, a speech, video presentation, debate, or song.
What language, conventions, or protocols would students need to know and use for different audiences? What resources and stimulus material might they use?
Students could compare how people express opinions and invite responses in English and their own languages and cultures.
Last updated January 16, 2013
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