Rich Question
Political leaders and other New Zealanders often refer to New Zealand’s “national identity”, but does such a thing really exist? Does New Zealand have a singular identity? Would it not be more accurate for them to refer to “New Zealand identities?
Main Achievement Objective
Students will gain knowledge, skills and experience to understand that people move between places and how this has consequences for the people and the places (level 5)
Or/
Students will gain knowledge, skills and experience to understand that the movement of people affects cultural diversity and interaction in New Zealand (Level 4)
Key Concepts
- identity
- cultural expression
- migration
- culture
- push and pull factors
- social change
- biculturalism
- multiculturalism
Conceptual Understandings
- People move between places to meet their needs
- Migration has resulted in New Zealand becoming a diverse nation
- The experience of migration affects people differently
- Migration has consequences for both the place that people leave and the place they move to.
- Migration of different groups has created a diverse New Zealand identity
Exploring the achievement objective through key aspects of learning:
Ideas about Society: Explains why people move between places
Personal and Social Significance: Explains how moving between places affects individuals, groups and communities.
Participation in Society: Explains how people (students themselves and/or others) experience the process of moving between places.
How conceptual understandings can be explored through social inquiry:
Exploring values and perspectives
Ask students to critique the Film Archive DVDs. Teachers can show a selection of clips. Particularly good sections to show would be: Economic Identity, Memory and Reality, Society - Continuity and Change, Culture and Identity and Place and Environment. Ask students to reflect on these questions:
- What symbols of identity are there?
- Do they think these clips reflect New Zealand’s identity today? What about in the past?
- Does it reflect students’ own perceptions of what it means to be a New Zealander?
- What ideas of New Zealand identities are missing from the clips?
- Who is missing from the clips?
Students need to explore the key concept of identity. By identity we can mean personal and cultural as well as national identity. There are a number of activities that can be used to allow students to access this difficult concept. A few are listed below:
- Students can present their personal identity through a Me Box.
- A vocabulary list. A number of literacy strategies could be used here.
- In a group students draw a picture of what they believe is a typical New Zealander. They could then use the Storm and Sort tool to present their ideas.
- Students could think about how people from overseas identify a New Zealander when they meet one.
- Survey their fellow classmates, family or local community about their perceptions of identity.
- Students could complete an assignment on their own Personal and National Identity.
- Students could discuss how they change their behaviour when they go overseas.
Finding out information
Cultural and national identities change through time and alter the cultural landscape. One way this happens is through the movement of people from one country to another. Food is a key element of national identity and it is one way students could explore how the movement of people affects communities and their identity. There are a number of suggestions below about how such information can be gathered. This topic lends itself brilliantly to schools exploring the influence of particular groups in their community.
Getting Started:
- Using the Yellow Pages students can create a list of where all the different ethnic restaurants in their local area come from. These can then be mapped.
- Ask students to generate a list of what they believe are typical New Zealand foods and find out the origin of these foods eg fish and chips is a British food cooked mainly by Chinese and Greeks in New Zealand.
- Students keep a food diary for a week. They can then try and identify the ethnic groups that introduced each food type or style to New Zealand.
- The teacher can bring in samples of different ethnic food and ask students to taste and attempt to locate its country of origin.
- Students can analyse old cooking books to look at a typical diet of New Zealanders at the time the book was compiled.
- Students can ask grandparents or parents about how the New Zealand diet has changed.
Some resources to explore the impact of migration on the diet of New Zealanders:
- A Taste of Home. This television series celebrates the best of the newest of New Zealand cuisine, brought to our shores by recently adopted kiwis from all over the globe eg Korea, Russia, India, France, Brazil, Northern Africa & the Middle.
- Here to Stay is a television series now available on DVD. http://www.arovideo.co.nz/film.php?FilmID=12273
Synopsis:
The great Kiwi tribe is a tremendous mix of cultures, each bringing their own unique personality and character to the national blend. The settlers have brought us much of what we hold dear from Earl Grey to olive oil, sheep dogs to fish and chips, scones to war heroes. In Here To Stay, six well known kiwis explore the idealism, sense of humour and 'can do' attitude their own pioneering people have brought to these shores. Was there a laugh, a song or a national obsession to be had from the Germans, Chinese, English, Scots, Dalmatians or the Irish? Traveling the country in search of their own ethnic roots, comedian Ewen Gilmour, entertainer Jackie Clark, rugby legend Frano Botica, reporter/director Bernadine Lim, and actors Michael Hurst and Theresa Healey, take a revealing and entertaining look at what it means to be a Kiwi. Follow this link for a potential worksheet.
- Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand http://www.teara.govt.nz/NewZealanders/NewZealandPeoples/en
- NZ History.net http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/culture/no-pavlova-please/food-and-drink
- http://www.tki.org.nz/r/socialscience/curriculum/SSOL/melting_pot/index_e.php
- http://www.filmarchive.org.nz/education/online-resources/Immigration/index.php
Considering decisions
- Students could go back to the rich question posed. How are they going to answer it? How will they communicate their answer and to whom?
- Students could be asked to reflect on the DVD they were initially shown about New Zealand identity. Does it reflect accurately New Zealand in 2008? In groups, students could discuss how they would decide what clips need to be added or taken away from the DVD to best reflect New Zealand’s identity in 2008.
- What will New Zealand look like in 2020? Students could plan a DVD for the year 2020 and work through in a group how they would decide what footage would be needed to best reflect New Zealand’s identity in 2020.
Reflection and evaluation
- Students should reflect on the learning that has taken place, what further learning is needed as well as what their next steps could be.
Effective social inquiry is taking or the consideration of taking social action
Useful websites about the New Zealand Curriculum 2007
