Show video transcript

Title slide: Being Fijian

Avish Sharma, Student Leader, Manurewa High School, Auckland, facing camera

I'm from a town called Tavua in Fiji and that's where I was born and raised and moved to New Zealand and yep that's me.

Salote Qalulu, Student Leader, Manurewa High School, Auckland, facing camera

I'm also from Fiji and I live in the city so that’s Suva and I was born and also raised there, but I came to New Zealand in 2005 and I've been schooling here ever since then.

I think the importance of knowing my cultural identity and like knowing it just overall is that we can like relate to other Pasifika people. We've got, like similar beliefs and we do things in similar ways but they're different in our own culture and in our own ways as well.

Avish Sharma, Student Leader, Manurewa High School, Auckland, facing camera

The thing I'm proud about my culture is the food. Food's very nice and the cultural dances as well like the meke and stuff, beautiful. The music especially the reggae ones, man, those are nice.

Students performing

And the thing I mostly like about being in Fiji is picking mangoes off the trees but in New Zealand you can’t do that, there’s no mango tree here.

Salote Qalulu, Student Leader, Manurewa High School, Auckland, facing camera

You know we’re just very friendly. And we like to smile a lot and make sure that you’re like comfortable with us and that you’re having a good time, ‘cause we like enjoying other people's company and just being able to have a good laugh and you know just overall enjoy the days together

This video is about being Fijian. It talks about cultural identity and how Fiji customs and traditions are similar to other Pacific Islands. The Fijian learners in the video speak of their pride in their culture, food, and traditional dance. They describe a different way of life to that here in New Zealand; they describe the music and the things they do in Fiji such as picking mangoes off the trees, the clothes, and tapa design. Fijians are renowned for their smiling faces, friendliness and hospitality.

Relevant ethnicities
  • Fiji
Relevant turu
  • Turu 1

Reflections for individual teachers

As you watch this video, think about the Fijian learners in your classroom and reflect on your own identity.

  • Ask your Fijian learners if they see any part of themselves reflected in the school environment and the classrooms as they walk through the school gate.
  • Through a range of Pacific contexts, how do you explore your understanding of Fijian culture? How can you develop what you know and learn about Fiji and your cultural capability?
  • How do you provide a safe space for Fijian learners to be seen, valued, cared for and respected? It is important that you think of your response to other Melanesian learners as opportunities to learn from varied experiences and perspectives.
  • How do you build cultural narratives into the curriculum?

 

Reflections for staff or departments

As you watch this video as a staff member or member of a department team, think about how your school is meeting the needs of your Fijian learners.

  • How is your school building on the teachers’ knowledge of Fiji culture to meet the needs of your Fijian learners?
  • How is your school creating a learning environment that enables teaching staff to draw on student cultural experiences to enrich the curriculum?

Ask your staff to walk around the school and classroom environments, to see if they can find and identify Fiji artifacts, displays of Fijian language and culture and any other resources there are to relate to part of each Fijian learner in your school.