Learning Cook Islands Maori in a Fun Way

Introduction

Do you know how we learn a new language? Well, there's a cool way called "Comprehensible Input" that helps us learn languages better. It's like when you hear or read something a little tricky, but still understand most of it. Let's look at how this helps us learn our reo Kuki Airani !

Understanding Comprehensible Input

What is Comprehensible Input?

Comprehensible Input means listening to or reading things in a new language that we can mostly understand, even if there are a few new words we dont get. It's like when you watch a cartoon in another language and understand the story without knowing all the words. The cartoon is the input vehicle. The story is the understanding part.

Comprehension means “to understand something." To “get it!” Get the meaning…

Why is Comprehensible Input Helpful?

It helps us learn new words and how to talk in another language by hearing or reading stories, songs, or games that aren't too hard but also not too easy. Its a natural way of how you learnt to speak english, from 1yr to 5. You didn't need textbooks or grammar rules or even readers. You simply picked things up by understanding the messages and meanings of those messages. First, by way of your parents, your brothers and sisters; and perhaps secondly, by way of television, social interaction, and even the internet. We've all seen 2-3-year-old toddlers who seem to know which buttons to press on a smartphone or laptop. Comprehended input. They get it.

Heres a few examples of the comprehensive input way in terms of learning the reo:

Insert video: Steven Krashen style ears, mouth and eyes.

Insert video: One of mums TPRS story lessons which shows students learning and the full picture illustrations.

Did you get it??

Good Things and Challenges of Comprehensible Input

Why is it Good for Learning?

Comprehensible Input helps us learn languages naturally, like how we picked up our first language from toddlers to our teens. We learned words, then sentences, and picked up bigger language structures as we grew from pre-school to school age to teens, etc. We picked up English by the meanings and messages that we understood. For example when i was 4, my mum use to always say “shut up!” to me and my brother. I comprehended that when her eyes and voice (inputs) looked a bit pissed off. I got it.

When we teach in the Comprehensive Input way, we do the same with gestures and props, in a very slow and deliberate pattern. We do this in a repetitive manner so that the language sinks into your subconscious and we build strong and accurate sentence structures in you.

Doing it this way helps you feel certain in your speech, builds confidence, and you will be less worried about making mistakes. The in-class sessions build strong and robust speaking interactions between teacher and students. We provide rich and accurate lesson plans that are built one on top of the other. They call this scaffolding.

Furthermore, we teach with stories. Stories are interesting, easy for learners to engage with, and even easier to remember. There is no need to study boring textbooks and memorizing lots of confusing grammar rules. You never learned grammar from the day you were born to the day you started school! But you were unstoppable in talking and communicating with friends and cousins! And this was well before you started school!

The same principles apply when learning a second language. Drop the books, and use the natural language methods that you did before going to school. Listen, imitate, repeat, answer, listen, speak, repeat, answer, speak... without a pen or paper.

So what are the challenges?

Why is this not standard practise in schools and universities ?

I will cover this more extensively in my next blog. But for now, you should know that when you learn a language, you dont learn it like maths ,economics, science etc. Those types of subjects are formula-based, which means there is a standard stock system or mechanical formula to arrive at a solution. But languages are not formulaic. You dont learn them. You acquire languages, or pick the language up, over time. Usually in years.

When you put pressure on learners to learn a language so as to comply to school-performance systems and what-not, it is not a natural language acquisition process as you did when you were a kid. Its a forced input process mainly to pass an exam but not necessarily to lay it firmly down into the subconscious, like your first language. The main thing to note is all languages are acquired over time by many different inputs. Comprehensively.

If we were to put a formula to it, it would be this: Picking up a second language Takes Time. The Teacher must exercise patience, more patience, and make the learning interesting, repetitive, interaction between teacher and students , and fun.

The reason why most students dont speak our language is because they are given too much, too fast in too little time. Nothing sticks. That's not how we learned as kids.

Learning Languages with Comprehensible Input

So, How Do We Start Learning?

We learn languages best by hearing stories, songs, or things we like in our Cook Islands language. It helps us learn without feeling like we're studying too hard.

Fun Ways to Learn on Zoom

In the Cook Islands Language Academy we teach using cool things like pictures, slides, and fun stories to teach the Cook Islands language. Our curriculum goes from Novice 1 to Intermediate 2 level. At intermediate 2, you can speak fluently with a native speaking Cook Islander. This is the result that most English-speaking Cook Islanders want to get to.

Conclusion

Learning the Cook Islands language with Comprehensible Input is like an adventure where we explore new words and stories in our tupuna language. It's fun because we learn by listening to things we understand, making it easier to talk and understand other speakers of the reo. So, let's go and start exploring our rich language together! Ei mua .