Study of Maori urged

Press, 14 August 1976, Page 20

Study of Maori urged

The teaching of Maori as the major second language in primary' and intermediate schools has been recommended to the Minister of Education (Mr Gandar) bv a special working party. The working party on second-language learning in New Zealand, set up a year ago by Mr Gandar, also asks for better facilities for pupils whose first language is not English, and a comprehensive review of the teaching of English as a second language. A second language is any language taught in a New Zealand school — other

than English to Englishspeaking children. English would be a second language to children of a migrant Poly. Jnesian family, or a Malaysian lor Chinese family in whose [home English is not normally spoken. Maori could become a substitute for French in primary ;|and intermediate schools, [said a member of the work- . ing party, Miss M. Mullan, principal of St Margaret’s College, yesterday. Pupils beginning French at primary’ and intermediate schools often had to retrace several years work with a class of beginners in their

■first year at secondary (school. Maori as a major seciond language to replace French would avoid this duplication. she said. The working partv recommends that "human and cultural" factors be included with the teaching of the language concerned, and that television, radio, and other news media be used as teach-1 ing aids. It also seeks appropriate Teacher training and provision for language studv by those who had left school. Mr Gandar said he would i (study the recommendations! 'carefully. ,