Teachers Resources

Nau mai, haere mai! Welcome to the revitalised Great Te Arawa Stories website.

This section of the site will grow and change through time, as we develop teaching resources. At this stage, it’s a place to learn about the structure of the site and understand how the new features have been designed to support learning.

New and improved features

As you explore the site, you’ll encounter new features that enable curious young minds and educators to access information in a range of ways:

• A bilingual site: Making Great Te Arawa Stories a bilingual website is a priority for the library team. More and more of the site will be in Te reo Māori, as we work on translations.
• Journey through a pā to discover beautiful kōrero: The design of this site takes you through a pā; from the waharoa (gateway) to the wharenui (meeting house), and then past the pātaka (storehouse), a waka (canoe), harakeke (flax), and much more …
• A welcoming soundscape: A karanga (formal welcoming call) can be heard as you travel through the waharoa into the site, and New Zealand birdsong accompanies the rest of your journey.
• Object clicks: As you travel through, click on the beautiful illustrations to learn more about each one.
• A search box: You can search the site using keywords and story titles. You can even limit your results by categories and time-period.
• Browse by timeline: When we gathered feedback on the previous website, teachers loved the timeline. We’ve made a few tweaks to ensure this feature is interactive and user-friendly.
• Browse by curriculum context: Stories in the site can be browsed using the curriculum-context categories: Origin Culture and Identity; Place and Environment; Economic Activity; Government and Organisation.
• An interactive map: We’ve mapped every story so you can discover kōrero connected to specific locations.
• Story tags: To improve discoverability, and link stories with similar themes, each one has been tagged using subject headings. Clicking on these will take you to a list of stories with the same tags.
• Teaching resources: If you want to continue learning, a list of related resources is displayed beside each story. We’ve worked hard to include a wide range of resources: something to read, something to watch and something to listen to.

Like this page, the website will grow and improve as time goes on. We’d love to know how we can make it better. If you have a bright idea, please contact us.

New stories and features will be also added, and we want you to be part of this process. If you have content you’d like to contribute, please use our online form.