So much of our mahi as educators involves connecting. Making connections with students, connecting the dots for students and helping them make their own connection with whatever material we’re working on.

I take my job as a connector very seriously! I believe its my job first and foremost to connect with my students, whether thats through a ‘kei te pehea koe?’(How are you?), a ‘Nō hea koe?’ (Where are you from?) A kemu/game or a “what have you been up to since I last saw you? If I feel ‘plugged in’ to the students of my lesson in this way, I know its going to be a good one.

A great teacher of mine, the wonderful Miranda Harcourt is an expert connector. She draws from anything and everything to get her point across- to connect dots for her students in a meaningful and useable way. One tactic Miranda taught me is called “Make it true for you”

In short, this is an acting technique that helps actors connect with the characters they’re playing. If in a scene I’m talking about my daughter and-  I don’t actually have a daughter – Miranda encourages us to ‘make it true for you’. Instead of just saying words about a daughter that isn’t real, I can bring to mind my niece as I say the lines.

This might not seem like a big deal, but as a performer this little tool can light up your performance with nuance and (the whole goal of acting!) truth!

As with many things I learn as an actor, this has come in handy when I teach.

When I was at school, we’d learn a waiata, sing it all the time and have only a vague sense of what the song was about. And even if I did know what the words meant, I’d rarely be able to tell you what the song as a whole was talking about.

As I teach a song, I like to make many tiny connections with words and phrases for the kids, building a tapestry of associations for them so the waiata becomes a meaningful container of knowledge (which, at best our songs are; methods of passing down information, stories, values…)

An example of this is in the song “Ka Pīoioi”. In a nutshell this song tells the story of someone returning home to see their family after many years. Instead of staggering through and merely translating the song, I like to tell it like a story, sing it through, talk about the story with the kids and utilise ‘Make it true for you’ with questions such as:

What kind of emotions would you feel if that was you returning home?

What might you see as you step off the plane, who’s there waiting for you?

What’s the first thing you would do when you saw your brother or sister for the first time?

Inevitably, there will be responses that match the story of the song:

I’d laugh… I’d cry…I’d dance… I’d see the wind blowing all around my family on the airport tarmac!

E katakata ana mai ra = There they are laughing

Pupuhi ai e te hau kapohia aku roimata = The blowing wind dries my tears

The kids have put themselves in the story or related certain words and phrases to their own life experience, making their connection to the waiata far richer. I find they’re more likely to retain information and their level of ownership over the Te Reo within the song goes through the roof. Suddenly thats not just some random song we sing sometimes. It’s their story, it’s my story, it’s our story!

What’s your favourite strategies for making things stick for your students?

Mauri ora,

Justin