Teaching Practices

In this essay Te Ao Maori, Te Reo Maori, Tikanga Maori and Treaty of Waitangi will be examined. The relevance of these to the teaching practices will be reflected upon. Few appropriate strategies will be discussed to support the implementation of a bicultural curriculum in early childhood education.

According to Irwin (1984) for Maori, the creating myths form an important part of their world view, “conveying myth messages that people practice as ideals and norms in their lives “(p.1). The Maori creation myths begin with three stages te kore, te po and tea ao Marama.

In the beginning there was Te Kore, the nothingness. Then came the te po the night , it was this night that the seven gods began crawling in the narrow space between their parents bodies, who were Rangi (sky father) and Papa (Earth mother). One day Tane –mahuta god of forest, began separating his parents apart so that there was enough room for them to move around in. So when Tane became successful in separating his parents, the world of light – te ao marama was created .

The sun used to move across the sky quite rapidly and it used to be hard for the people to finish their daily chores such as cooking, hunting due to the insufficient time of the sun in the sky. So, Maui the demi – god decided one day that he needs to slow down the sun. As stated by Reed (2007) “Maui battered the sun until he was weakened (p.28). Ultimately, the people were able to finish their chores as sunlight was there for more hours.

Te Ao Maori has played a significant role in my teaching practice, because the creation of the Maori myths is similar to showing the children how to grow a seed into a plant, the different growing stages of the plant depict the Maori strategy of growing of ...

... middle of paper ...

... some aspects of treaty and the government has tried to settle the claims and set of tribunals to look into this aspect. Foreshore rights are one of the contributions issues. Government feels the treaty is an important part of New Zealand history and culture. (State Services Commision , 2004).

Te Ao Maori, Te Reo Maori, Tikanga Maori and Treaty of Waitangi are an valuable asset of New Zealand and they are protected under the Treaty of Waitangi. Te Ao Maori explains us the creating of myths and legends through the Maori perspective and also that Te Reo Maori (Maori language) is a living treasure (taonga) of New Zealand. Tikanga Maori tells us the importance of the values and beliefs in Maori culture. Treaty of Waitangi holds a special value in the history of New Zealand. Therefore, all the Maori perspective add a significance in the wealth of knowledge.