Lesson: Identifying Birds of Aotearoa New Zealand (B1 - B2)

This fun and engaging lesson helps English learners in New Zealand learn about basic te reo Māori pronunciation while exploring some of Aotearoa’s native birds. Students will learn the birds’ names in te reo Māori through a listening activity that describes how to identify them by comparing their features to everyday things, such as how a kererū looks like it’s wearing a white singlet. 

In addition, learners will also practice using the phrases ‘look like’ and ‘sound like’, and understand how these differ from using ‘look’ and ‘sound’ with adjectives. Towards the end of the lesson, learners will combine their new skills in a writing task, where they will select a native New Zealand bird and make fun comparative descriptions with the phrase ‘look like’.

This lesson combines language learning with cultural knowledge in a fun, memorable way.

Note that the listening component uses videos from Bird Nerdity’s Instagram page - thank you for making such amazing content!

This lesson can be delivered in a face-to-face classroom or online. While the lesson plan is aimed toward teaching a group lesson, it can easily be adapted to a one-to-one learning session.