Being Chinese in Aotearoa

Don't forget to check out this interesting exhibition at the Auckland War Memorial Museum. 

華夏人與長白雲故鄉 Being Chinese in Aotearoa: A photographic journey

Try and keep up the Five Phrases you learnt during Chinese Language Week

Namaste - Happy Diwali to our Indian families today!

Mahi Gadhvi was the key leader for Diwali at Sunnynook this year - check out her designs below!

Anya Prasad showing her sari to the Year Two children

Tanisha Kumar standing proudly in her sari

                               

Yashica Lal celebrating her cultural heritage wearing her sari today

Mahi leading Rangoli design work with a team of Year 5 helpers

Year One students working on another Rangoli design

Five Days Five Phrases Challenge for Chinese Language Week

How did you all do on the Five Days Five Phrases Challenge for New Zealand Chinese Language Week?

Learning the challenge of writing numbers in Mandarin!

Korean Language Week 2017

Our Korean students showed us how to play some traditional games during Korean Language Week - Tuho, Jegichagi, Omok & Yutnori.

Celebrating our new to New Zealand students

Creating a duality map lets students share and compare their home language and culture with the people in a new country.

Meet Dean (R5), Jian (R4), Woorim (R4), Lunya (R20 Yejin (R5) and Heeyeon (R19) posing with their duality maps.

Kia Ora Te Reo Maori

Kia Ora Te Reo Maori - Celebrate Maori Language Week

Download the pronunciation guide for more details

Check out Moana re-released in Maori!

Matewa Media Trust is honoured to produce the very first reo Maori version of a full length Disney animation film. “Moana” lands into NZ theatres today for Maori Language Week. Watch the preview to Moana here.

A young woman uses her navigational talents to set sail for a fabled island. Joining her on the adventure is her hero, the legendary demi-god Maui. 

High five phrases to use this week

Kia kaha e hoa mā! Let’s go team!

Irā! Look at that!

Koia kei a .... .... really nailed it!

Ka wani kē! Awesome! Fabulous!

Ka mau te wehi! That’s outstanding!

Sing a well known waiata to start the day

Tena Koutou

Tena koutou, e hoa ma - Greetings, oh friends

Kua tae mai nei, i tenei ra - Arrived here this day

Nö reira ra, e hoa ma - Therefore, oh friends,

Kia ora ra, koutou katoa - Good health, to you all

Kua rongo hoki ahau - I had heard of course

Kua rongo hoki ahau - I had heard of course

Kua rongo hoki ahau - I had heard of course

Kei te haere mai koutou - That you were all coming

Nö reira ra, e hoa ma - Therefore, oh friends,

Kia ora ra, koutou katoa - Good health, to you all

Download a graphic novel in Maori 

He kohinga purakau

National Poetry Day 25th August

National Poetry Day - read, write, recite, share a poem!

Read our Prime Minister Bill English's son Bart's poem "Ascend": The Tuesday Poem on the Spinoff blog.

Library poetry competition entry:

One day a little girl saw a stray

She told him to go away

But he wanted to stay

On the first of May

The stray zapped everyone with a laser ray

By Isaac Kim Room 6

Window Cleaners

They were there this morning,

high up on an office block.

One was polishing the sun,

another rinsing fleecy clouds,

a third rubbing the blue sky.

If I come back tonight,

will they still be there -

One scrubbing the shooting stars,

another washing the moon,

a third wiping down the Milky Way?

By David Hill

Do you have a favourite poem in another language to post?
The Scott family have sent in this famous poem from the Tang Dynasty that Paige Scott, remembers reciting in school during Spring.

春曉

朝代：唐代

作者：孟浩然

春眠不覺曉，處處聞啼鳥。

夜來風雨聲，花落知多少。

英文翻譯 / English Translation﹕ 

Spring Dawn 

Spring morning arrives unnoticed in my slumber,

Till I hear birds twittering everywhere.

It springs to mind a storm raged through overnight,

Off it blew how many flowers I wonder?

By Meng Hao Ran

The Nasrallah family sent in this Arabic one and Celine and Ghenwa translated it into English for us.

 Mother

Mother, mother

You are my song

Filling my heart with love

You are my anthem

Your celebration is my celebration

The smile of my mother

Is the secret of my being

Like a bird

Filling the home with happiness

The kiss of my mother

Is the light of my day

Opening my eyes at sunrise

She strokes my head

I love my mother

I'm ready to do everything for my mother

By Solaiman Alessa

Click on the link to for a video poem: Sam Who Only Ate Jam - by American poet Kenn Nesbitt

Try writing a concrete poem (sometimes called a shape poem)

Different cultures write poetry in different styles.

Do you know how to write a Japanese Haiku poem?

August 9th is World Indigenous Day 2017

Today is a special day for Maori in Aotearoa (New Zealand)
Tonight was the annual Maori Consultation for the whanau of our Maori students at Sunnynook Primary School.

He kai kei aku ringa

There is food at the end of my hands

Said by a person who can use his basic abilities and resources to create success.

indigenous

ɪnˈdɪdʒɪnəs/

adjective

1. originating or occurring naturally in a particular place; native.

   
   

   "the indigenous peoples of New Zealand are Maori"

   
   

   synonyms:

   native, aboriginal, local;

2. Click to watch a short video on World Indigenous Day

Below are a few images from our Maori Consultation last night including a waiata from our kapa haka performers.

Matariki - the Maori New Year

Matariki - the Māori New Year

Check out how students have been celebrating Matariki this week in the photos below:-

Our kapa haka girls waiting to perform at the Matariki Concert on Tuesday night

Whaea Briar stencilling a moko

Samoan Dance Group in their new puletasi and lavalava

Miss Legge - Samoan Dance Teacher in her lei

Year 2 constructing kites for Matariki

Year 5 Matariki stars under construction

Year 2 sharing fruit platter





Learn more about Matariki on the Ministry for Culture and Heritage website
Click here for Matariki resources

World Refugee Day

On World Refugee Day, held every year on June 20th, we commemorate the strength, courage and perseverance of millions of refugees. This year, World Refugee Day also marks a key moment for the public to show support for families forced to flee.

What is a refugee?
a person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, treated badly because of their cultural background, or natural disaster.

Click on the link to learn about Yusra's story
"I’ve met so many who have lost so much. But they never lose their dreams for their children or their desire to better our world. They ask for little in return – only our support in their time of greatest need" — UN Secretary-General, António Guterres

Round the World @ the International Disco

Check out the variety of colour, costume and culture on display last Friday at the International Disco!