Notes

Rotarota are short, strongly rhythmic poems or chants that incorporate repeated sounds, words, and refrains. They can be performed with gestures and movements, for example, with clapping or as skipping rhymes. As well as being a source of pleasure and enjoyment, the rotarota in this collection will provide young learners of te reo Màori with a solid grounding in mastering pronunciation, especially vowel blends, dipthongs, and digraphs. They are good early preparation for later performance of tauparapara, karakia, waiata, and ngeri. The kit He Rotarota includes an audio CD, twelve A3-sized poem cards, and a forty-eight-page teachers’ book in both te reo Màori and English. The book introduces rotarota and explains the context for each rotarota, together with suggestions on how it might be performed. Copymasters for each rotarota are included. The kit can be used by kòhanga reo or schools teaching in the medium of te reo Màori at levels 1 to 4