Respond

Ensure at least one kaiako understands, and shares with the wider team, the unique ways each mokopuna communicates, including often subtle, non-spoken cues.

Check your understanding of mokopuna communications by using both spoken language and non-spoken cues.

Align your non-spoken communication cues with your spoken messages.

Interpret children's non-spoken communication as if it were spoken and respond with words and simple sentences.

Name objects in the environment. Use and repeat single words or short phrases.

Use intonation along with corresponding facial expression, contextual cues when introducing a new word to support comprehension.

Model enjoyment and a playful disposition for vocabulary through the frequent use of waiata, chants, rhymes, and stories.

Name and label objects in the environment. Use single words or short phrases and repetition.

Read to mokopuna every day, using stories with pictures that connect to their lived experience and interests.

Provide a range of sensory resources for mokopuna to explore. Observe and describe or comment on their experiences.

Use clear words and phrases matched with non-spoken cues such as facial expression, tone, gestures, images that reflect your meaning.

Use responses that expand on children’s spoken words or short phrases, e.g. a child points and says “dog”, you respond with, “yes, it is a black and white dog”.

Regularly share poetry, waiata, stories, oriori, rhymes that you and/or children are familiar with and enjoy.

Use a range of te reo Māori kupu and phrases every day with attention paid to accurate pronunciation.

Combine these phrases with clear and consistent non-spoken cues (facial expression, intonation, gestures, images etc).

Provide frequent opportunities for children to hear rich te reo Māori, such as in waiata, oriori, pūrākau and pukapuka in te reo Māori.

Use a back and forth, serve-and-return approach to interactions (spoken and non-spoken), being mindful of wait time to let mokopuna think and respond.

Encourage interactions between mokopuna, providing simple phrases to describe and explain what is happening.

Sensitively interpret the non-spoken communications between mokopuna, e.g. “Elli wants to share with you. Thank you for sharing, Elli.”

Model variation in ways to communicate, including New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL), Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC) systems, body language and gestures.

Provide frequent opportunities for mokopuna to watch and participate in drama, dance, music, storytelling.

Suggest non-spoken alternatives such as pointing when spoken communication is unclear.

Use recasting and rephrasing to model new vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar as part of conversations with mokopuna, e.g. if they point at a car and say “tar”, the kaiako may respond, “Yes, it is a car. It’s a blue car”.

Encourage mokopuna to use non-spoken language to express their understanding of new words.

Draw attention to new words and phrases in stories, waiata, chants, and rhymes.

Observe children’s engagement and model rich language by describing or commenting on what they are doing and experiencing.

Provide short excursions or centre visits and use these opportunities to integrate new vocabulary as you talk with children about what they experience.

Read books that take children into a world beyond their lived experience of home and centre, e.g. dinosaurs, zoo animals.

Model short phrases and sentences that are grammatically accurate and will help mokopuna express themselves, e.g. modelling ways to express feelings or make requests.

Respond to and extend on mokopuna communications, utilising words from different categories to expand vocabulary, such as, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs.

Encourage mokopuna to actively participate in poetry, waiata, stories, oriori, rhymes by making these a frequent feature of regular routines.

Repeat kupu and phrases as part of everyday interactions, paying attention to correct pronunciation, e.g. “āta mārie” (good morning), “he aha tēnei” (what is this?), “haere mai ki tāku taha” (come alongside me), “awhi mai ki ahau” (help me), “me haere tāua” (let's go together).

Take opportunities to communicate with children solely in te reo Māori, utilising non-spoken cues (facial expression, gestures, images etc) to support their understanding.

Talk about words and phrases ‘in te reo Māori’ or ‘in English’ to raise awareness of their origin and show that drawing on multiple languages is valued and useful.

Use a conversational style of interaction that includes comments, sharing your ideas and thinking as well as open-ended questions. Encourage mokopuna to respond using spoken and non-spoken language.

Plan and scaffold experiences which will encourage interaction between mokopuna. Acknowledge their use of positive communication with others.

Model short phrases that mokopuna can use to enter and exit play, e.g. “You can ask him – ‘Can I play too?’”, “You can tell her – I don’t want to play any more”.

Provide resources that invite mokopuna to communicate their ideas and stories in non-spoken ways through drama, puppetry, dance, and visual arts.

Encourage mokopuna to ‘read’ non-spoken communication in images and through games such as charades.

Talk about the ways we communicate feelings through actions such as touch, expression, and distance.

Take time to explain new words to extend vocabulary and comprehension. Encourage mokopuna to explain the meaning of words that they have encountered.

Play word games regularly such as “I spy” and word bingo.

When selecting books, include those that are likely to introduce new vocabulary to mokopuna.

Talk with children about connections between new and past experiences, e.g. “Do you remember when …”, “This reminds me of the time …”.

Provide a mix of excursions to familiar and new places. Have reciprocal conversations with children about these experiences before, during and after the excursion.

Use a range of book and story genres, to introduce new topics, assist children to develop and modify their working theories, and extend vocabulary.

Use longer sentences with children as their receptive and expressive language increases.

Use recasting to model correct grammatical structures, e.g. child says “him runned away”, adult responds “Yes, he ran away.”

Share a wider range of longer poems, waiata and stories with rich language, that you are familiar with and enjoy.

Create opportunities for mokopuna to use te reo Māori in a range of contexts including participation in familiar waiata, welcoming visitors, and other tikanga practices.

Expand the vocabulary you model by building new kupu into familiar phrases.

Provide frequent opportunities for mokopuna to participate in kēmu reo (language games), kēmu papa (board games) and stories in te reo Māori.

Take opportunities to engage in more sustained conversations with children about things that interest them. Use tentative language such as “I wonder”, “perhaps”, “maybe”, leaving space for children to think and respond.

Model phrases and sentences which children can use with others to sustain positive conversations, e.g. “I like blue, what do you like?”, “How about we try …”.

Encourage the frequent use of games, and experiences that rely on social communication between children such as ball games, group art or construction, interactive circle games, gardening.

Draw on the languages used at the centre and children’s home languages to support interaction and comprehension. In particular, use words or phrases from children's home languages where meanings do not translate easily, taking time to learn correct pronunciation.

Seek out culturally familiar resources for children to express feelings and ideas through movement, gesture, and mime.

Encourage children to communicate using images, shapes, visual arts, music, costumes and more.

Discuss with children how, for example, images in picture books, hand movements in waiata-ā-ringa, or props in drama help communicate a message or story.

Draw attention to synonyms and structures such as word stems, prefixes, suffixes. Talk about how words are related and how meaning changes, e.g. ‘do’ (stem), ‘doing’, ‘undo’, ‘redo’.

Model the use of increasingly sophisticated words, paying particular attention to using descriptive and accurate terms in conversations with children.

Read a wide range of genres, drawing attention to new words and explaining their meaning.

Encourage children’s understanding of how words and meaning may change across languages.

Encourage mokopuna to search for information about things that interest them in books and on digital devices.

Encourage mokopuna to create books and stories about new and familiar experiences. Include images to prompt discussion and expand vocabulary.

Prompt mokopuna to recall experiences from their past as well as those more recent.

Create opportunities for vocabulary learning, including technical and specialist terms, during experiences, excursions, or centre visits.

Encourage early metalinguistic awareness (ability to reflect on and evaluate language) through conversations with mokopuna about how language works and how it can be used constructively and creatively.

Use wondering, open questions and space to encourage fuller responses with more complex sentence structures.

Share and discuss with mokopuna stories that include similes, e.g. ‘He was as quiet as a mouse’, and rich descriptions, e.g. ‘She had a long, shaggy mane of hair.’

Share whakataukī with meanings that extend beyond the individual words.

Encourage mokopuna to confidently use te reo Māori and support peers and adults to use te reo.

Sensitively encourage mokopuna who are confident in te reo Māori to take leading roles in welcoming visitors, reciting karakia kai and pepeha.

Draw mokopuna attention to and discuss elements of structure and grammar in te reo (metalinguistics), e.g. how a macron changes pronunciation or how ‘whare’ and ‘kai’ come together to make ‘wharekai’ - a dining space.

Invite mokopuna to explore their ideas, hypothesise working theories and reflect, with time to think and respond.

Use strategies such as re-capping, clarifying ideas, wondering, suggesting, and offering your experiences and alternative views to support sustained shared conversations.

Model ways to describe situations and feelings, resolve conflict, share roles and responsibilities, and hear others' perspectives.

Draw on languages used in the centre and at home to support communications with mokopuna, using increasingly complex explanations.