Aides make school fun again for Island kids

By DITA DE BONI

Eight-year-old Netanili'Iongi finds learning so much more fun since he has been able to understand all that goes on in class.

The Tongan student, who attends Otara's Sir Edmund Hillary Junior School, is among the first wave of students to have dedicated Tongan teacher aides sitting beside them in their classrooms.

"The programme is really good, it's good to work with Tongan people and understand," the young boy says, and his comments are supported by fellow 8-year-old Maile Latukefu and Sione Alofi, 7, who like the individual help they receive and the chance to learn in their mother tongue.

Increasingly, literacy in a child's first language is seen as the key to keeping them interested in school and is also credited with giving children better English language skills, according to some educators.

The concept has been embraced by Auckland's Tongan Youth Trust, which has funding from the Manukau City Council to help Tongan students in schools throughout the area this year.

Trust co-ordinator Ikilifi Pope says the debut programme is a half step towards a vision of completely bilingual education for Tongan primary students in schools where there is a critical mass.

"Teachers just don't have the time to deal individually with students who don't understand lessons, and so literacy levels fall behind," Mr Pope says.

"In some cases, the students are not supported well at home either, their parents are working very hard on different shifts and they think education is only the role of the teacher."

The trust uses the council's $25,000 to runs its teacher aide programme for between 50 and 64 students in schools in Otara, Papatoetoe and Mangere. But it says about 300 to 400 students could use its services if it had more funding.

Bilingual education initiatives received a profile boost last month when the primary school teacher union, the NZEI, said it would lobby the Government for a bilingual education for all Pasifika students in the country.

The union also says Maori immersion education - kohanga reo and kura kaupapa - need more resources and staff.

Mr Pope said bilingual education was a good idea, as students literate in their own language were likely to be better at English.

At Sir Edmund Hillary Junior School, there are Samoan and Maori bilingual units and a Cook Island teacher aide, as well as the Tongan teacher aides.

Principal Jane Cavanagh-Eyre said the English as a Second Language students were tracked carefully and that the results were positive for those in bilingual study.

"It is important that parents have choice ... However, our bilingual programmes are vital in this area because we have such substantial numbers of students from different cultures."

Getting parents onboard is one of the challenges for the host of Pasifika literacy programmes operating in South Auckland.

Ikilifi Pope is critical of some of the Government-sponsored programmes that try to get parents to come into schools, because they usually have poor attendance.

He also says churches in Pacific Island communities have more of a role to play in promoting literacy and thinks a Government-church partnership encouraging literacy would be valuable.

Brian Annan, projects manager for the Ministry of Education, admits that some former initiatives in the area involving parents have not worked, but says schools in South Auckland are now concentrating successfully on those that do.

Those initiatives have come out of the SEMO (Strengthening Education in Mangere and Otara) project.

They focus on community relationships and a successful transition from early childhood to primary school for Maori and Pasifika students.

Mr Annan said it was not known whether a totally bilingual education was the best use of resources, but the ministry was monitoring such programmes.

But there were proven things schools could do to help Pasifika parents get involved.

"One thing is for sure - [Pasifika] parents do want to be involved in their child's education," he said.

"One thing that is done differently is that teachers now tell parents exactly how their children are doing at school, good or bad. Before there was a bit of ego-boosting going on, and Pasifika parents would believe the teachers."

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