Storytelling

The purposeful art of storytelling is embedded in Pacific cultural ways of being. Through storytelling, history, genealogy, and cultural values and beliefs are meaningfully woven together and demonstrated as they are passed on through generations. These experiences enable tamaiti and āiga to learn about their identity, language, and culture and to share it with others.

Cultural stories empower learners from within and outside the culture to experience the connections to the people, places, and things that represent each unique culture. Listeners and storytellers can connect with characters, experiences, symbols, and artefacts that are portrayed and used in the stories. This can support learners' transition between their home and early childhood worlds, and in turn, provide a sense of connectedness and belonging.

“The use of traditional storytelling, arts, and legends and of humour, proverbs, and metaphoric language can support children from some communities to navigate between familiar and less familiar contexts”. (Te Whāriki, Ministry of Education p.41)

How do we apply it in practice?

We invite you to view the storytelling video and consider how you are supporting Pacific learners to know their identities, languages, and cultures through storytelling.

In the video, you will hear and see how kaiako engage in reciprocal partnerships with Pacific āiga and communities:

Experiences are shared and members of the wider Pacific communities embrace the opportunities to join the early learning services to share their cultural knowledge and support others to learn more about these forms of communication through art.
Āiga and community members bring items to centres, such as shells, flowers, and artefacts that enable learners to experience the authentic use of these materials.

Transcript

Kaiako and tamariki singing and dancing
“Ta ta la la. Chu! Ta ta la la. Ta ta la la. Chu! Ta ta la la.
Ta ta la la. Ta ta la la. Chu!”
Tamariki playing; kaiako reading tamariki a story
Pereise, Otahuhu – Seugagogo A'oga Amata (Akld), voiceover:
The story that I used in our session today with our children was O le Sau'ai o Tuioletafu'e.
Tuioletafu'e is a giant. So Sau'ai is a giant.
Pereise, Otahuhu – Seugagogo A'oga Amata (Akld), speaking to camera:
It's a myth or a legend that has been passed on from generation to generation.
Kaiako reading tamariki a story
Pereise, Otahuhu – Seugagogo A'oga Amata (Akld), voiceover:
I remember listening to it as a child, and the meaning behind the story is the love that siblings have for each other.
And so stories and myths and legends like this will always have a connection…
Pereise, Otahuhu – Seugagogo A'oga Amata (Akld), speaking to camera:
…to us nowadays and how we can still incorporate this story but within everyday life.
Kaiako reading tamariki a story
“Ua fa'aigoa fo'i iā Tui. O le numera sefulu.”
Ava ceremony artefacts; kaiako preparing ceremony
Kylie, Sydenham Community Preschool, voiceover:
Our ava ceremony is built out of our local curriculum so that it's a balance of our community, Te Whāriki and Tapasā and it links to our cultural identity,
Kylie, Sydenham Community Preschool, speaking to camera:
… both here for ourselves, but also to those whānau and the tamariki that come here. So it is part of many cultures.
Tamariki gathered for ava ceremony
Kylie, Sydenham Community Preschool, voiceover:
Although we take it from our knowledge of the Samoan culture, but it actually affects children from Tonga, from Fiji India, they all have similar ceremonies.
We tell a bit of a story. It shares symbolic practice and rituals for what they would typically see back in their Islands.
Kylie, Sydenham Community Preschool, speaking to camera:
And we replicate that with our tamariki. So we say, “O le ava”.
Tamariki gathered for ava ceremony
Kylie, Sydenham Community Preschool, voiceover:
And we use their name and we say, here is our offering of welcome to you, and then they say “Fa'afetai ava” as they've had their drink and return it back to us.
Kaiako reading tamariki a story
Valesa, Kew Pacific Preschool, voiceover:
The story that we… that I shared with our children this morning was a Fijian myth and legend. We have a couple of Fijian tamariki here who connect on a… on a really deep level to that story.
Valesa, Kew Pacific Preschool, speaking to camera:
And they understand who the characters are.
Kaiako reading tamariki a story
Valesa, Kew Pacific Preschool, voiceover:
And they can make relations to those characters through the way we tell those stories. And they can also make relations to their peers through that story as well, where they almost become those characters or want to become those characters. One of our children, who is a descendant from Kandavu.
Valesa, Kew Pacific Preschool, speaking to camera:
And so she made those connections throughout the story. So she shared her voice with me…
Kaiako reading tamariki a story
Valesa, Kew Pacific Preschool, voiceover:
… as I was telling her the story. I think it's really important. It's actually, yeah, it's an invaluable way of teaching.
Kaiako reading tamariki a story
“…in the Islands to make sure all the beaches were safe for people like us to go swimming in the ocean. And so that's what he did. He went and he told Macalava, let’s make this island safe for our people – for the Fijian people – to go swim in the sea and go fishing. And get all their shellfish…”
Kaiako, Nukutukulea Aoga Niue, speaking to camera:
I don't think telling a story, they would capture it, but through songs they capture it a lot more. It's more meaningful to them, coming through music and actions, you know? So it's important when you think of legend, you think of that age group…
Kaiako and tamariki singing
Kaiako, Nukutukulea Aoga Niue, voiceover:
…that you are telling that story too.
“Fakaalofa atu, Fakaalofa atu. Malolo nakaia koe. Malolo na kaia koe. Malolo fakaaue. Malolo fakaaue.”
Kaiako, Nukutukulea Aoga Niue, speaking to camera:
Through songs, that's storytelling. All the songs we have implemented today and previous, before, it all tells a story. It all tells a…
Kaiako and tamariki singing
Kaiako, Nukutukulea Aoga Niue, speaking to camera:
…history about who we are. The words make connection to the actions and that’s unique, something for us, like a storytelling.
Kaiako and tamariki singing
“…Totou – Totou tohi tapu. Li oni kei te loto. Te faga ke Iesu kehe lagi.”
Kylie, Sydenham Community Preschool, voiceover:
The strands of Te Whāriki are woven through the storytelling that we do through using communication.
Tamariki in traditional dress playing with toys
So the children are using symbols, pictures. They are using prior knowledge and also learning cultural knowledge. Stories from their own and other cultures as they join together and then re-enact and share what knowledge that they've learnt.
Nic, Punavai o le Atamai Preschool, speaking to camera:
Our curriculum and our teaching is based on Pasifika pedagogies.
Tamariki and kaiako painting
Nic, Punavai o le Atamai Preschool, voiceover:
Children are always included. No one's excluded regardless of age or experience.
Tamariki and kaiako with kava bowl
Kylie, Sydenham Community Preschool, voiceover:
You see it with the storytelling, with the tuakana–teina and using our older tamariki to reshare the stories…
Kylie, Sydenham Community Preschool, speaking to camera:
… with the younger tamariki and how it's not limited. Like, we have…

Tamariki and doll with shell
Kylie, Sydenham Community Preschool, voiceover:
In our story of Masina, in the book, you can see the photos. It shares that one of our newly transitioned infants and toddlers is mimicking,
Tamariki holding shell to ear
… with her play with her baby doll, the shell to the ear. So she's learnt that. So she can now go off and be the teacher and share that story, even though she's two.
Tamariki playing
We actually take the children's lead. We see areas of play. What they're doing,
Kylie, Sydenham Community Preschool, speaking to camera:
… how we can inspire them, use provocations. So, for instance, we might …
Tamariki using clay and shells
Kylie, Sydenham Community Preschool, voiceover:
…take our shells, we might add them into the clay, and then you start to hear snippets of the storytelling come out through the clay work.
Tamariki getting dressed in lavalava; preparing for ava ceremony
The ava ceremony is shown through the lavalava that we wear. It is shown through the kava bowl that has come back from the Islands for us. It is done through where we sit on a special mat. We remove our shoes. It’s all part of the process of the ritual that our children are part of.
Tamariki and kaiako weaving
Pereise, Otahuhu – Seugagogo A'oga Amata (Akld), voiceover:
I believe that children use our cultural resources to tell their own stories –
Tamariki grating coconut
… by using them and sharing how they've seen it being used within the home environment. They're able to make that connection from the home environment to the…
Pereise, Otahuhu – Seugagogo A'oga Amata (Akld), speaking to camera:
… school environment through these resources, which is really nice because sometimes we don't have to teach them or tell them, they already know. So it's their own knowledge that they come with into the centre.
Tamariki grating coconut
Kylie, Sydenham Community Preschool, voiceover:
So the way in which we can make Pacific cultural connections through art is actually by those conversations with whānau.
Kaiako and tamariki designing tapa
And like as we've learnt with the tapa cloths, a symbol can mean one thing to one storyteller and something to somebody else.
Kylie, Sydenham Community Preschool, speaking to camera:
So it's giving the ownership of that story and sharing the story as it's known by the whānau that we are engaged with. So keeping that connection. It comes down to conversation,
Tamariki designing saipo
Kylie, Sydenham Community Preschool, voiceover:
… respect and understanding, shared understanding.
Pasifika artefacts; tamariki in dance skirts
George, Berhampore, voiceover:
So our Cook Island arts brings everyone together. And our teachers are part of our Cook Islands communities. So we're passing on that knowledge to our children. We have our whānau join the children and they're…
George, Berhampore – Te Punanga O Te Reo Kuki Airani, speaking to camera:
…working alongside with their children. Like, through pattern-making,
Kaiako sewing dance skirts
George, Berhampore – Te Punanga O Te Reo Kuki Airani, voiceover:
… like rolling, screen printing, tīvaevae, dancing, uh ‘ei -making. Um, so yeah, learning like stories, hearing stories, but as well as them, sharing their culture with us.
Kaiako and tamariki sewing
Awesome listening!
Valesa, Kew Pacific Preschool, voiceover:
One of the things that I'm very passionate about is…
Valesa, Kew Pacific Preschool, speaking to camera:
…making links from our families within our service and creating those foundations so that our tamariki have a true sense…
Tamariki playing; kaiako telling tamariki a story
Valesa, Kew Pacific Preschool, voiceover:
…of belonging and wellbeing within our service. So storytelling can really bring about those foundations through an authentic and meaningful way.
Kylie, Sydenham Community Preschool, speaking to camera:
We share tamariki art learning through using their kotahitanga journals, their profile books. And we post them up onto our Seesaw application.
Pasifika wall art displays
Kylie, Sydenham Community Preschool, voiceover:
And for whānau coming in, we make wall displays where we label the artists, we share what they've done.
Kylie, Sydenham Community Preschool, speaking to camera:
And we really highlight their work. So you might see the teachers titivation around the arts side of it, but their work is really highlighted in the middle.
Tamariki and kaiako
Kylie, Sydenham Community Preschool, voiceover:
It's a celebration of what they've achieved.
Kaiako telling tamariki a story
Sarah, Casa Nova Kindergarten, voiceover:
In order to learn, children need to feel empowered and they need to have self-belief and know their own culture, celebrate their own culture, love their own culture and who they are.
Sarah, Casa Nova Kindergarten, speaking to camera:
And so it's really, really important that we're diverse and equitable, and meeting the needs of all children.
Kaiako and tamariki sitting together singing
Valesa, Kew Pacific Preschool, voiceover:
For me, storytelling is a pivotal part of early childhood education, and it brings…it brings through to our services,
Valesa, Kew Pacific Preschool, speaking to camera:
… the language, culture and identity…
Kaiako and tamariki sitting together singing
Valesa, Kew Pacific Preschool, voiceover:
… of our tamariki.

Ideas for your service

Through the art of storytelling, and the use of culturally appropriate resources, stories and legends, tamariki and kaiako can engage with learning in meaningful and holistic ways throughout their everyday life experiences.

Storytelling might be in the form of an oral or written story. Alternatively, stories are told through music, dance, and visual arts. A story can explain a historical event or help to explain social or cultural practices and knowledge.

A significant feature relating to the transferring of cultural knowledge through storytelling is the concept of tei laititi-tei matua, similar to the Cook Island Māori concept of tuakana-teina, where older tamaiti take on the role of teaching younger tamaiti. It is critical that kaiako honour the personal cultural knowledge and experiences that Pacific tamaiti bring with them to the early childhood service and provide opportunities for tamaiti to use this knowledge to strengthen their sense of their identities, languages, cultures, belonging, and wellbeing.

In what ways do you empower tamaiti in their mana and in their connectedness with their own identities, languages, and cultures as confident and competent learners, through storytelling?

Think of ways that you can connect with cultural knowledge and stories through the games and physical learning experiences that tamaiti engage in. Find games or activities that involve chants, songs, or opportunities for tamaiti to be playful with words and sounds from their own languages.
When Pacific tamaiti are involved in their play experiences, ensure there are appropriate resources available that enable them to tell their stories and legends about what they know from their cultures. This might be a well-known story, or it could be during spontaneous imaginary role-play experiences relating to what they are re-enacting from their home life, like going to church or a cultural celebration.
Let the children listen to and tell stories in Pacific languages.
The PELP Pacific dual language books series are available as physical books, but also have audio tracks so that tamaiti can listen to the stories read aloud. Ask family members to come and read aloud, or record a story on their phone at home and send it to you. In some cultural contexts, a whāriki (woven mat) is placed on the floor and people sit around it as their stories are shared. Make story time more of a Pacific ritual by removing your shoes and sitting on the whāriki, or create an area outside.
Pacific tamaiti can be encouraged to explore their creative ideas and build structures, such as villages, canoes, or fale, to tell or listen to stories about island life, cooking food, growing vegetables, and catching fish or crabs. Although this may not be their direct experience, it can easily be linked to experiences in their lives here in Aotearoa. Island-born kaiako may take on the role to share stories, or children may use these structures to re-enact traditional stories as seen in the video with “Masina and the magic seashell”.
Encourage tamaiti to share their stories with peers and kaiako. The use of props can encourage and support storytelling and be useful for children who are still developing their vocabulary and learning to express themselves. Video them telling their story so that it can be watched repeatedly, added to, and shared digitally with family and friends.
Support all Pacific tamaiti to tell their stories about their cultural experiences within their family context with you and with their peers. Create opportunities for children to practice their stories independently, and help them create pictures or use props to help tell the story. Give them the opportunity to sit in a special place or on a special chair. In the Pacific, storytellers command attention, so encourage the audience to be listening and paying close attention while the story is told.
Engage with your Pacific parents and community to understand what resources are culturally important to them, and what they would like to see, feel, and hear in the service. Watch the video to see kaiako talk about how they approach their Pacific families about what resources they may like to share. Equip your service with as many culturally relevant books, stories, puppets, board stories, and poems as you can, for tamaiti to identify and connect with. In Pacific cultures, stories are for everyone, so include younger tamaiti to listen to the stories of older tamaiti. Engage with parents to understand how they would like to or are able to access their children’s creations. What are some face-to-face opportunities and innovative ways to celebrate children's creativity? You could try publishing stories into books using photos or drawings, or make a scene out of felt for retelling.
When supporting pepe (babies) to settle or when they seek comfort, engage with parents to understand what is familiar to infants and toddlers, what they see, hear, and feel in their worlds. This might be familiar words, stories, lullabies or pese (songs), or a Pacific custom like massage. Teach toddlers stories or songs with actions, and give them elements of the story, such as dolls, shells, or flowers, with their playdough, clay, or sand activities.
An important part of speaking in many Pacific cultures is oratory. More speech-making than storytelling, oratory often uses more formal language and involves ritual and repetition. Being an orator requires leadership and mana. In the video, tamaiti and kaiako perform an ava ceremony to welcome new community members. Tamaiti experience the ritual through formal language, repetitive gestures, special clothes, and artefacts, and particular ways of behaving. You could work with your community to understand and replicate this welcoming ritual in your service, or think of something smaller to start off with, like one tamaiti choosing and saying karakia kai, making a speech about their family, or reciting a short poem.

Useful Pacific resources for storytelling are lavalava, hats, ula (lei), flowers, shells, small dolls, animals or puppets, drums, coconut shells, or other musical instruments. These artefacts are what they can draw on to share stories with you and their peers about aspects of their culture that enable them to feel pride and to be connected to their own identities, languages and cultures. For more ideas, engage with whānau and community members about other useful resources that could support storytelling.

Reflective questions

In your service:

How do you support Pacific tamaiti to create their own stories?
How do you have conversations with tamaiti and revisit their stories and learning experiences?
What opportunities do you provide for tamaiti and their āiga to share intergenerational stories with you?
How do you connect with the wider Pacific communities to hear their stories and see cultural values in action?
How can you learn about the cultural messages within these stories?
How could you use what you have learnt here to help drive your local curriculum planning?
How could you discover the aspirations parents and families have for their tamaiti in the arts?
What did you see in the storytelling video that you think you could implement in your service now?

These reflective questions and provocations remind us of the holistic ways that the four key Pacific art areas are interconnected and woven together.

Knowing your tamaiti and their families and community well, and allowing them to explore their languages, cultures and identities through storytelling, gives them the tools to explore their connections to the past as well as where they are right now.

Each Pacific heritage has its own unique way of looking at the world - explaining that world through storytelling is common to all Pacific cultures. The telling and retelling of these stories over time have helped to keep languages, cultures, and identities alive.

Hufanga he talamalu he fonua

Taking refuge in the sacred narratives of the past

Tongan proverb