Sistemas de Gestión de Seguridad (SGSI): ISO 27001 E ISO 1

Te Ātaarangi can simply and aptly be regarded as a movement that began with Kāterina Mataira and Ngoingoi Pēwhairangi in response to five particular factors: (i) Benton’s (1977; 1979) research which revealed the dire situation of the state of the Māori language (see also Chapter One for a discussion); (ii) Mataira’s personal experiences as a Silent Way (see Section 2.4.1.1 above) learner in Fiji (Mataira, 1980,

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p. 20-21); (iii) the relatively little teacher training and resources required to use the Silent Way method; (iv) native speakers who were available to teach te reo as an additional language; and (v) research conducted by Mataira (1980) which revealed the effectiveness of the Silent Way method compared to eclectic approaches70 in teaching

te reo.

It has been estimated that more than 50,000 learners (Te Ataarangi, n.d.) have had experiences in learning te reo Māori through Te Ātaarangi. All learners begin by being introduced to its five rules in Māori and English; thereafter, English is no longer used71 _{(Te Ataarangi Incorporated Society, 1982, p. 9):}

1) Kaua e kōrero

Pākehā!  [Do not speak English!]; _{ “Only [speak] Māori” (Browne, 2005, p. 39).} 2) Kaua e poka tikanga!  [Respect others’ cultures!];

 “Do not interrupt proceedings or disrupt another’s learning” (Pēwhairangi, 1981 cited in Ka’ai, 2008, p. 66);

 Respect “others [sic] personal beliefs” (Browne, 2005, p. 39);

 “Don’t go against the tikanga (set down by the kaiwhakaako)” (Hond, 2013, p. 238).

3) Kaua e akiaki tētahi ki

tētahi!  [Do not prompt others!]; _{ Do “not [urge] others on” (Browne, 2005, p. 39);}

 “Don’t give verbal prompts to others” (Hond, 2013, p. 238).

4) Kia ahu atu te pātai ki a koe, kātahi anō koe ka āhei ki te whakahoki

 [When a question is asked of you, then you are allowed to respond];

 “Do not speak out of turn. Respond only when a question or statement is directed at you” (Pēwhairangi, 1981 cited in Ka’ai, 2008, p. 66);  “[Allow] others the space to participate equally in

the learning process” (Browne, 2005, p. 39).

5) Kia ngākau māhaki

tētahi ki tētahi!  [Be humble to each other!]; _{ “Be of kindly disposition one with the other and}

have respect for each other’s efforts to learn” (Pēwhairangi, 1981 cited in Ka’ai, 2008, p. 66);  “[Have] empathy and [support] classmates”

(Browne, 2005, p. 39);

 “Have a sense of empathy for others” (Hond, 2013, p. 238).

70 _{These eclectic approaches included typical Grammar-Translation, Direct method and Audio-lingual}

procedures (Mataira, 1980, p. 41)

71 _{The researcher’s English translations appear in parentheses; others’ translations, where they may}

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The first of these rules epitomises the strong beliefs Mataira (1980) held in regard to the following factors: (i) the likelihood that native speaker teachers would have “greater confidence” in using direct methods (p. 18); (ii) comments72 _{made by Māori}

language students who were dissatisfied with the focus of literacy skills as opposed to aural/oral skills (p. 3); and (iii) compelling points she makes about the effectiveness of direct methods by drawing on her own experiences as a learner:

[M]y experience with the Silent Way in action has made me aware that the experience of acquiring the first language can be called upon in acquiring the second. In short, when an input of new language is presented through the target language in a meaningful context, and that context is devoid of conflicting or distracting elements, the learner is called upon to use all his [sic] senses of sight, touch, hearing, speech and cognition to work upon the input in order to extract meaning. (p. 28)

Rules 2, 3 and 4 seem to embody principles laid down by Gattegno (see Section 2.4.1.1 above), while the fifth rule appears to be distinct, but not unique, to Māori culture. Although Te Ātaarangi credits the Silent Way method for much of its development, Mataira (1980) admits that the work she did that corresponds to Silent Way principles “can only be viewed as [her] best interpretation of [Gattegno’s] work” (p. 24). These principles, however, are essentially “Māori in form and spirit” (Te Ataarangi, 2011a, p. 42), which is made apparent based on a description, as noted by Mataira, of the work she did in collaboration with Ngoingoi Pēwhairangi (cited in Ka’ai, 2008, p. xix): “In that first week of working with Ngoi, we created a language learning system that was a combination of the coloured rods and Ngoi’s own style of incorporating waiata, haka, drama and role-playing in language learning”. Thus, in terms of tikanga

Māori, Te Ātaarangi is revered for the protocols it follows (see Kire, 2011), the sense

72 _{Comments from students as presented in Mataira (1980, p. 3): “I can’t call myself a Maori if I can’t}

speak Maori”; “I passed School Certificate and University Entrance Maori but I still can’t speak it”; “We spend all of our time doing exercises from the textbook. We hardly ever talk”; “…when someone talks to me in Maori…I can’t talk back…”; “…what’s worse is when a pakeha [sic] talks to you in Maori and you can’t answer back”; “the pakehas [sic] in our class get better marks than me in exams – why’s that?”.

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of wairua (spirit) it fosters in its students (see Browne, 2005), its inclusiveness of peoples other than Māori (Ka’ai, 2008, pp. 67-68), in addition to its prominent focus on learners’ speaking skills (see, for example, Chrisp, 2005, p. 163).

Despite the published literature reporting on the effectiveness of the Te Ātaarangi method (see, for example, Browne, 2005; Hond, 2013, Ka’ai, 2008; Kire, 2011), Mataira made the following observation (1980):

I must however make it quite clear that I do not consider the Silent Way as the ‘one pearl of great price’. It is probable that other approaches to language learning could be equally effective – perhaps even more so. For the reasons already intimated, however, the ‘Silent Way’ strikes me as the most appropriate at this time for the circumstances73 herein described. At a later stage my hope is that other approaches might be investigated and tested for our purposes. As more information comes to hand I fully intend to explore the possibilities of Suggestopedia, for example. (p. 19)

This comment appears to act as a warning, which is also reflected in a cautionary note from another Silent Way advocate: “The major problem of Silent Way arises when converts become so enraptured with this new panacea that other methods of teaching are ignored or neglected” (Varvel, 1979, p. 494).

Characteristics of the Te Ātaarangi method: Most aspects of the Silent Way method feature in this Māori cultural adaptation, such as the exclusive use of the L2 like the Direct Method, use of mahi rākau (Cuisenaire rods), focus on the development of learners’ autonomy (connected to ‘inner criteria’ and self-awareness) through problem-solving, discovery learning, self-correction and teacher silence; learner- centred and cooperative/collaborative (not competitive) classrooms; repetition of sentences/phrases like the Audio-lingual method.

73 _{Mataira’s (1980) comment is in response to those teachers/tutors who would be taking on the roles}

of teaching te reo by using the Silent Way method: “it is my view that for bilinguals whose dominant language is Maori, there is likely to be greater confidence if the teaching medium is Maori” (p. 18).

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