Guidelines for Tongan Language Programmes

Autir/Publisher: Ministry of Education
Publication date: 2000
Number of pages: 88
ISBN 0 478 23852 5Pacific countries, there is a long history of mutual respect and co-operation. The Kingdom of Tonga is a country with which New Zealand has many common interests – including an interest in providing the best possible education for students in New Zealand who are themselves Tongan or who wish to learn the Tongan language. The New Zealand Department of Education first published in Tongan in 1983, when Ko e Ngaahi Talanoa mei he Pasifiki was produced. In 1990, the new Ministry of Education began to publish resource materials in Tongan regularly for New Zealand early childhood centres and schools. The New Zealand Ministry of Education currently publishes five books and an audio cassette in Tongan every year. There are sound reasons for the Ministry’s programme of publishing in Tongan for early childhood centres and schools in New Zealand. Students of Tongan ancestry currently form one of the fastest growing groups in the New Zealand education system. Early childhood centres and schools in New Zealand with students of Tongan ancestry need to work closely with their local Tongan communities to develop Tongan
language programmes where appropriate.