Occasionally we hear some teachers say that they have ‘done numbers’ with their students.
Whether a student is learning Maori, learning to speak English, Spanish, French – or any language – if they are not constantly using a language, then they will soon forget key principles. Even the basics can be easily forgotten if not used constantly. And the basics – like learning and using numbers – are the most important. Without a fluent knowledge of numbers, such things as phone numbers, important dates and times, street addresses and prices all become a confusing jumble, leading to mistakes.
If a student can not recite or comprehend a collections of numbers without consciously thinking about their meaning, then they have not mastered numbers.
Thankfully there are some simple tools and exercises available to help reinforce number usage and comprehension.
As a language student, one of the best exercises I used for cementing my knowledge of numbers was on the bus home each afternoon. Bored with watching the same scenery every journey, I used the time and passing scenery to speed test numbers in Russian. The exact same method can be used for those learning Maori numbers, Spanish numbers, French numbers, etc. – in fact for revising numbers in any language.
Here’s what it did – it is quite simple:
As I travelled past letter boxes and street signs featuring numbers, I challenged myself to recite – in my head – those numbers before the next one came along. I only had a few seconds to do this before the next one came along. It was fun, made the journey much quicker, and resulted in speeding up number comprehension and use.
You – or your students – can use this movie in the same way using numbers in the language you are learning/teaching. There is just two seconds to recite each set of numbers before the next one. Don’t worry if you can’t get them all, start with a one or two digits in each sequence and build up from there.
Of course it doesn’t do much for developing comprehension of spoken numbers, but again, thankfully we have some great exercises that come with our Te Reo Māori number card games and Russian number card games and a free lesson plan for teaching numbers in Maori to help with this.
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Learning to count in Māori is easy, but using numbers out of sequence – like we do in every day conversation when talking about prices, phone numbers, dates, time, age, etc. – can prove to be challenging for language learners. These card games help learners to master the use of Māori numbers out of sequence.
Created with the help of Māori Language Teacher Miriama Setterington, following the Māori Language Commission guidelines, these cards will help language learners become fluent in using Māori numbers in everyday situations.
The downloadable MP3 sound track will help you with pronunciation and recognition of Māori numbers. It features the voice of Deane Waretini.
Use the game instruction card in each pack, and the activities and game information available as downloads on our website, to play individual or group games – you’ll be amazed how much you learn without even realising it.
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