Aotearoa New Zealand History and You
Inspire students to seek a deeper knowledge and understanding of the history of Aotearoa with the Aotearoa New Zealand History and You series. Through thoughtful content and engaging activites, students will explore the arrival of the first people to the land of the long white cloud and their place as tangata whenua. The journey continues through to the current era.
These primary school resources support the teaching of Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories, including Te Takanga o Te Wā. They take into account the perspectives and role of Māori and Pākeha in shaping Aoteaora history. The carefully chosen and designed activities explore a range of key ideas, as well as how to put those ideas into action.
Ages: 5-12 years
About the Authors
Marie Langley
Marie Langley’s experience in education includes 19 years teaching in secondary and area (Years 1 to 13) schools, 10 years as head of an English department, and seven years as a deputy principal. Her published works include a thesis for a Master of Teaching and Learning degree, magazine articles, short stories, poetry, picture books, a junior novel and numerous educational resource texts. She currently lives and works in Golden Bay in the top north-west corner of the South Island of New Zealand.
Vaughan Rapatahana
Vaughan Rapatahana (Te Ätiawa) commutes between homes in Hong Kong, Philippines, and Aotearoa New Zealand. He is widely published across several genre in both his main languages, te reo Mäori and English and his work has been translated into Bahasa Malaysia, Italian, French, Mandarin, Romanian, Spanish.
He earned a Ph. D from the University of Auckland with a thesis about Colin Wilson and writes extensively about Wilson. Rapatahana is a critic of the agencies of English language proliferation and the consequent decimation of indigenous tongues, inaugurating and co-editing English language as Hydra and Why English? Confronting the Hydra (Multilingual Matters, Bristol, UK, 2012 and 2016).
He is also a poet, with eight collections published in Hong Kong SAR; Macau; Philippines; USA; England; France, India, and Aotearoa New Zealand. Atonement (UST Press, Manila) was nominated for a National Book Award in Philippines (2016); he won the inaugural Proverse Poetry Prize the same year; and was included in Best New Zealand Poems (2017).
In July 2018, he participated in the Hauterives Literary Festival in France. In September 2019, he participated in the World Poetry Recital Night, in Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia. In October 2019, he participated in the Poetry International Festival at The Southbank Centre, London. He also appeared at the Medellin Poetry Festival in Colombia during August 2021,
Rapatahana is one of the few World authors who consistently writes in and is published in te reo Mäori (the Mäori language). It is his mission to continue to do so and to push for a far wider recognition of the need to write and to be published in this tongue.
New Zealand Book Council Writers File is https://www.bookcouncil.org.nz/writer/rapatahana-vaugh