Cloze
Using the pictures from the reomation Kei te tākaro ngā tamariki (The children are playing), design a cloze task with picture clues where the students have to fill in the gaps in the text. The pictures are on resource sheet 5.6 and the text is in the transcript online.
For example, the text might read as follows:
| Maori vocabulary | English translation |
|---|---|
| Kei te huna a Kahuiti i (muri) i te (kōhatu). | Kahuiti hides (behind) the (rock). |
| Auē! He (taniwha). | Oh gosh! A (monster). |
| Kei te whai (te) taniwha i (ngā) tamariki. | (The) monster chases (the) children. |
| Kei te (tākaro) te (taniwha) rāua ko Kahuiti. | Kahuiti and the (monster) (play). |
More information about designing a cloze task and about how to make them more, or less, challenging is also available. For example, you could remove picture clues.
Once your students are experienced with the cloze technique and have enough language, they can start making up their own cloze tasks for their peers to complete.
A cloze task is a useful way to focus on a particular aspect of the grammar of te reo Māori as well as being good for building your students’ prediction skills, but don’t present them as grammar lessons per se. A cloze task will encourage your students to make intelligent guesses using context cues.