| Knowledge
The facts, concepts, principles, and theories to teach. | Practices
The skills, strategies, and applications to teach. | | Knowledge
The facts, concepts, principles, and theories to teach | Practices
The skills, strategies, and applications to teach | |
Cultural and sociolinguistic knowledge
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- Vagahau Niue is the native language of Niue and is considered endangered.
- Niue has regional dialects — Motu in the north and Tafiti in the south.
- Vagahau Niue have different greetings and farewells depending on the context (e.g. formal, informal, time of day) and the different ways to express politeness.
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| - Using basic greetings and farewells for a range of different contexts
- Identifying vowels and consonants including pronunciation
| Formal - fakaalofa lahi atu
- monuina e pogipogi
- oue tulou
- koe kia (to 1 person)
- mua kia (to 2 people)
- mutolu kia (to 3 or more people)
- monuina e aho
Informal - fakalofa atu
- mafola e aho
- koe
- mua
- mutolu
- haia
Thanking - fakaaue lahi
- Fakaaue
- tulou
- liogi fakaaue
- fakamonuina
Apologising Complimenting people | - Certain words and phrases demonstrate politeness in communication by showing respect, consideration for others, and awareness of what is socially appropriate.
- Appropriate terms of respect are used when addressing a mature adult and acknowledging their status or position.
- There are terms of respect when addressing the young and acknowledging lineage.
- A child's name is preceded tama ha followed by the parents' names.
- Matua ko precedes names.
| - Using a range of politeness conventions to greet people appropriately in different social contexts
| Addressing people - Ke he matua ko
- ko Rosa koe ‘tama ha’.
- Ko ia (1 person)
- Ko mua (dual)
- Ko mutolu (plural)
Greetings - Malolō nakai? (How are you?)
- Malolo fakaaue (Good thank you)
Farewells - Ai mavehe (this is not a goodbye)
- To feleveia (we will meet again)
Politeness conventions - fakamolemole
- fakamolemole lahi atu
- fakaaue
- fakaaue lahi atu
- tulou (in response voicing appreciation to a spoken text (lauga/speech)
Body language - saying ‘oue tulou’ when passing people
- sitting down when speaking to people who are seated
- crouching down when speaking to elders (who are seated)
- placing a gift on top of the head to show gratitude.
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| - Vagahau Niue has five vowels sounds (a, e, i, o, u).
- Vagahau Niue has twelve consonant sounds f, g, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v.
- The r has recently been included in the Vagahau Niue alphabet.
- Double vowel sounds (aa, ee, ii, oo, uu) are a long vowel sound or a repeated vowel sound that can change the meaning of a word (e.g. fakaalofa = greetings, fakalofa = pity).
| - Repetitive syllables are used when stressing importance or as a descriptive (e.g. koli — to dance, kolikoli — to feel the joy/the fear/adrenaline, kolikoli as an adjective describes how cute the dance is).
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Cultural and sociolinguistic knowledge
| - Introductions and greetings are also a way to establish relationship and links to broader core values such as family, mahani fakaalofa mo e leveki.
| - Introducing themselves and others and responding to introductions appropriately
- Asking others how they are and responding appropriately when asked
- Communicating about their parents or caregivers
- Using formulaic expressions to communicate clearly in Vagahau Niue
| Introductions - Fakaalofa lahi atu. Ko e higoa haaku ko Lina. Nofo au i Okalana.
- Ko e higoa haaku ko Tala.
- Ko e matua taane haaku ko Isa
- Matua fifine haaku ko Makerita.
- Ko e tugaane haaku ko Hiu
- Ko e mahakitaga haaku ko Ella. (My brother/sister is Ella/Hiu)
Interaction - Fakaalofa lahi atu. Ko e higoa haaku ko Tala. Ko hai e higoa haau?
- Fakaalofa lahi atu ma Tala. Ko e higoa haaku ko Eli
| - In Vagahau Niue, the tehina mo e taokete relationship is a traditional way of understanding roles and responsibilities between older and younger siblings or relatives and is deeply connected to lineage.
- The tehina mo e taokete relationship guides how knowledge, care, and leadership are shared, and plays an important role in interpreting and upholding family connections.
- Families have important roles in guiding, supporting, and maintaining family well-being as a collective group.
- Terms of endearment acknowledge a deep emotional connection between older and young family members.
| - Communicating about the relationship between people, including grandparents and siblings
- Communicating using pronouns when speaking to others to allow references to family members and people in general without restating names
| Introducing Family - Possessive pronouns:
- Haaku (mine, my)
- Ha maua (ours dual)
- Ha mautolu (ours plural)
- Third person/party pronouns
- Haau (yours to 1 person)
- Ha mua (yours to 2 people)
- Ha mutolu (yours to 3 or more people).
Terms of endearment: - Ma mea
- Ma moka
- Siblings of same gender:
- tehina (younger sister/brother)
- taokete (older sister/brother)
- Siblings of different gender:
- tugaane (brother)
- tehina/taokete (same gender sister)
- mahakitaga (sister of a boy child)
- matakainaga (cousin)
Pronoun examples - Ko hai e tau tupuna haau? (Who are your grandparents?)
- Ko ia ko Mokaofa. (one person)
- Ko laua ko Kala mo Peseta (two people)
- Nonofo a lautolu i Hakupu (three people)
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| Sentence structure - In Vagahau Niue, the typical sentence structure follows the verb–subject–object (VSO) word order.
- In Vaghau Niue, questions often begin with Ko hai... (who).
| Singular and Plural Verbs - Fano (singular) – o (plural) - go
- Nofo (singular) – nonofo (plural) - sit
- Hau (singular) – o mai (plural) - come
- Fano ma Misi ke nofo.
- Fano is a singular 3rd person verb.
- O ma Misi mo Eli ke nonofo, with o being a collective noun.
- Fano ma Misi ke nofo. Fano is a singular 3rd person verb.
- ma Misi mo Eli ke nonofo.
- 1st person possessive pronoun – ko au/haaku (e.g. Ko e matua taane haaku ko Isa.)
- responses will have names and relationships follow a set pattern, such as:
- Ko e matua fifine haaku ko Evenigi.)
- Ko e matua taane haaku ko Hanofu
- Ko e tugaane haaku ko....
- Ko e mahakitaga haaku ko...
- Ko e tama taane haaku ko…
- Ko e tama fifine haaku ko...
| - Pronouns indicate grammatical person (first, second, or third) and number (singular, dual or plural):
- the pronoun ia when speaking to or about a single person
- the pronoun laua is used when speaking to or about 2 people.
- the pronoun lautolu is used when speaking to or about 3 or more people.
- Third person/party pronouns are used to indicate ownership. They replace nouns to avoid repetition and clarify possession.
- Ko ia / Ko laua / Ko lautolu are pronouns used for identifying people.
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Cultural and sociolinguistic knowledge
| - For tagata Niue, descriptions of people are heavily reliant on appearance in association with status, stature and family. A female child of a respectful village elder may be described as mata fuluola (pretty), whereas a child of a common village folk may be described as mata mitaki (good looking).
| - Giving physical descriptions of people and objects
| Appearance - mata fuluola
- mata mitaki
- mata fiafia
- ulu leleva
- mata fuluola
- tokoluga
- loa
- tote
- lahi
Actions - poi mafiti
- manava loa
- Vave
- fakaave
- fakaenene
- fakaave — to complete a task quickly/hurriedly
- fakaeneene
- fakahautoka
| - A common practice of a tagata Niue is to see beyond physical appearance.
- Descriptions of actions are often ideas and concepts that are emotively driven.
- Learners can describe people using abstract verbs (these are not concrete verbs).
- Non-verbal cues — kalaga to draw attention before leading the takalo to signal a formal beginning to delivering a fakamatalaaga.
| - Exploring ways to describe people and the way they behave towards others
| - People are described in terms of their character or demeanor:
- Mahani totonu — gentle/kind
- loto fakatokolalo — humble
- toa malolō — warrior
- lotomatala — clever/astute
- tututonu — righteous
- fulukovi — possessive
- matetula — quiet/reserved
- tokoluga — lofty status
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| - In Vagahau Niue, simple sentences are used to describe physical characteristics.
- Intensifiers/adjectives, such as leleva (long), tokoluga (tall) are used to emphasise the adjective in a sentence.
- Adverbs are used for observable actions such as, mafiti (quick/fast), eto (slow), tomui (late).
- Vocabulary such as poi mafiti and vave describe actions and movements using appropriate Vagahau Niue verbs.
- Intensifiers are used to strengthen the meaning of an action, for example:
- faka as a prefix serves as an intensifier e.g. fakaeneene — to complete something slowly/gently.
| - Learners can use abstract nouns to describe behaviours and personality traits.
- The term loto serves as an unattached prefix to denote that the meaning of the interpretation is deep, as seen in loto fakalofa, loto fakatokolalo, loto matala.
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| - Numbers follow a consistent structure made up of number bases, place value, and patterns.
- Base numbers (1-10) are used to build larger numbers using patterns and place value knowledge.
- The particle ma is used before numbers 2-9 and is not required when a number starts with hogofulu, uafulu and tolugofulu.
| - Communicating about their age, and the age of others
| Base numbers - 1–10 — taha, ua, tolu, fa, lima, ono, fitu, valu, hiva, hogofulu.
- 11–19 — Hogofulu ma (base number), for example hogofulu ma taha.
- multiples of 10 (20, 30 etc) - Hogofulu, uafulu, tolugofulu. Fagofulu etc.
- note: students do not need knowledge of numbers beyond 31 for this phase.
Age - Hūhū fiha e tau hau?
- Tali: Hogofulu ma lima e tau haaku
- Hogo fulu ma lima e tau moui haaku.
| - Talking about dates and birthdates in Vagahau Niue uses aho (days), mahina (months), numbers, and other time-related phrases.
- The term aho fanau (birthdate/birthday) is used in statements and common questions.
- Communicating using interrogative expressions (a fē — when, fiha — how many).
| - Communicating about dates and birthdates
| Days and dates - aho
- mahina
- Aho Fanau
- Ko e aho fanau haaku he aho 12 ia Oketopa 2003.
Questions - A fē e aho fanau haau ma Hana?
- Taute ki fe e aho fanau he matua?
- Ko e fiha a ia e tau haau?
- Tu a fe e 5 tau ha Ella?
- Taute a fē e fiafia aho fanau ha Tene?
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Cultural and sociolinguistic knowledge
| - Communicating about significant places requires use of personal pronouns such as haaku, haau, au, koe, laua.
| - Communicating about significant places, such as:
- their village or place of family origin
- where they live
- the village and/or place of origin of others
| Village or place of family origin - Huhū: Ko fe ne hau ai a koe?
- Tali: Hau au i Hamilton.
- Huhū: Ō mai i fē e tau mamatua haau?
- Tali: Ō mai e tau mamatua haaku i Hakupu Niue Island.
Current home - Huhū: Nofo a koe i fe he mogo nei?
- Tali: Nofo au mo e tau mamatua haaku i Mangere.
| - There are appropriate vocabulary and sentence structures to describe the villages or places of origin of multiple family members.
- The respectful term for resident is kaina (abstract noun) and Fale refers to the house.
- Vocabulary develops from root words, for example:
- Nofo — nonofo (plural signals that more than one person lives there), nofoaga (describes where one resides).
| - Using habitation vocabulary
| - Kaina nofo
- Kaina evaeva
- Matakavi
- Kavi kaina
- Tuuta kaina
- Monuina e nofoaga he haaku magafaoa.
- Mangere e nofoaga he matua haaku.
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Cultural and sociolinguistic knowledge
| - Days and months carry significance for specific events, for example:
- Aho Tapu Fanau (White Sunday) is the day where the young are set up to shine and encouraged to strengthen their public speaking skills, leadership skills and oracy development.
| - Communicating about the days of the week, months, and seasons
| Days - Aho Tapu, Aho Gofua, Aho Ua, Aho Lotu, Aho Tuloto, Aho Falaile, Aho Faiumu
Months - Ianuali, Fepuali, Mati, 'Apelila, Mē, Iuni, Iulai, 'Aokuso, Sepetema. 'Oketopa, Novema, Tesema
Days — time phrases - aho — day
- i ne afi — yesterday
- a pogi — tomorrow
- i ne pogipogi — this morning
- a magaaho — later on today, this afternoon, tonight
- mogo afiafi — evening
- mogo pogipogi — morning
Time - Hafa e 4
- Ta e hola 5
- 5 he mole e hola 7
- Hake tai ke ta e hola 8.
| - Vagahau Niue has words and phrases to express the weather.
- Some statements express weather conditions, like afua e aho, uha, havili.
- Weather can be described and compared across places (e.g. afua a Alofi ka e uha a Lakepa).
- ka e and ai tuga are used to show similarities and differences in weather.
| - Communicating about time and seasons
- Comparing and contrasting the weather and seasons
| Time-related vocabulary - vahā
- tulā
- agahala
- tau mateafu
- tau tupu
- mogo fē
- aho
- hola fiha
- matahola
Weather-related vocabulary - matagi hauhau
- laā
- mokomoko
- vevela
- velavela
- makalili
- matagi tokelau
- matagi toga
- afua
- nininini uha
- Kua laā a Magele ka e nininini e uha i Manukau.
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| - Days and months are proper nouns and can function as subjects, objects, or modifiers in sentences.
- Months of the year in Vagahau Niue are loanwords from English.
- When talking about days, i ne is a past tense marker that indicates the time of the day that had passed, for example i ne po (last night) or i ne afi (yesterday).
- a is a future tense marker, for example a pogi (tomorrow) or a magaaho (later on today).
- Time phrases can indicate before (hake) and after (mole tai).
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| - Communicating about where things are located is a key part of language learning and everyday conversation.
- Vagahau Niue uses particles or suffixes to indicate location.
- Locative expressions often combine locative particles (like i) with place nouns.
- The word i as a prepositional phrase, used for in, inside, outside.
- There are indicators such as i and he to show location and positions.
| - Communicating about where things are located
| Present location - tuaga fale
- haia i
- tapa fale
Locative indicators - i luga he laulau.
- he lalo nofoa
- Locative nouns
- I loto he fale (inside)
- I fafo (outside)
Singular demonstratives Location indicators - haē (for objects within the speakers reach)
- hanā (for objects a bit further away from the speakers reach)
- hai ko (to refer to an object at a distance)
- haia i (indicates that the object is further away).
| - Communicating about the things they like and dislike helps learners express personal preferences, build relationships, and participate in meaningful conversations.
- Appropriate vocabulary and sentence structures are key to sharing opinions clearly in both informal and formal contexts.
| - Communicating about ownership
- Communicating about the things they like and dislike
- Justifying likes and dislikes where appropriate
| Communication about ownership - Ko e motoka haaku.
- Ko e fale ha lautolu.
Communicating — likes and dislikes - Fiafia au ke kai talo.
- He/she likes playing soccer
- Nakai fiafia a mautolu ke nofo i loto fale.
Justification - Fiafia au ke kai talo ha ko e momona mo e mitaki.
- Fiafia a ia ke ta soka ha ko e fiafia a ia ke gahua fakataha mo e falu.
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| - Learning simple classroom language helps them to understand and use Vagahau Niue in everyday routines, building confidence and familiarity through regular use.
- There are simple command sentences used in the classroom.
| - Understanding and using a range of simple classroom language
| Classroom language - Fakamolemole, fanogonogo mai — Please listen.
- Fakakite mai e lima — Raise your hand.
- Ha atu e tohi — Show your book.
Encouragement and feedback - Fakamalolō kehekehe! — Keep it up!
- Ko e lelei a koe! — You’re doing well!
| - The repetition of syllables is a common morphological process, which can involve the entire word or just the first or last syllable(s), and serves various purposes:
- indicating plural verb forms
- repeated actions
- intensifying meanings.
| - Communicating about objects in the learning environment
| - pa holo lima (noun — sink), holoholo e tau lima (verb — wash hands)
- Pepa tohi (noun - book box), tohitohi (verb - write)
- laulau he faiaoga (teacher’s table), nifo (scissors), mepe (map), pili (glue)
- telefoni (telephone), fakatino (picture), tau moa (crayons), sioka (chalk)
- vahega — class
Repetition of syllables - Tohitohi
- Valivali
- tohotoho
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