Annette Stock, a gifted educator from Rotorua, North Island, New Zealand is expected to give one heckofa presentation about rap music. Did I say “rap”? Yes — and here’s a wee hint on why you should tune in for something truly unusual.

“Every age has its poets. Some survive longer than others. Rappers are the authors of many of our youth’s age. Their words are what these students like to hear, their music what they like to listen to. For many, it is the most favoured printed text, especially for struggling young readers.

“Most educators have excluded rap from the classroom, mainly because of prejudices born of early American rap. New Zealand rap has developed more gently— largely influenced by the Polynesian Christian culture that make up many of today’s successful Kiwi rappers. In an effort to understand the world of rap, Annette Stock has developed a successful programme which integrates New Zealand rap into any classroom reading programme.

“An even greater challenge has been to convince teachers (and their bosses) that rap isn’t all bad! Annette has found that after the intial initiation teachers get hooked and enjoy the journey with their students. Recently, Kim Hill of New Zealand Herald and TV One televised Annette and concluded that by using phonoloical awareness and comprehension strategies, this approach improved student capability, comprehension and communication skills.”

(NOTE: We will open the Southern Pacific segment with this stiriing piece of music - the New Zealand national anthem, sung by Kiwis who ancesters were there long, long, long before Captain Cook. Please listen here)

TOPIC FOR GLOBAL LEARN DAY

“I am a speech language and literacy specialist,therapist and teacher, living and working in New Zealand (based in Rotorua). Of particular interest is the way students acquire oral language and literacy skills, from early infancy to adult language. This has lead me to look at students who struggle with literacy at the middle school level and develop a rap programme to accompany general classroom reading. New Zealand rap is diverse, culturally and linguistically appropriate and mostly alive and well outside the classroom. When it crosses the divide and enters the classroom as a reading tool, students respond in an amazing way and a teacher’s journey can develop in unexpected ways.”

NOTABLES: We expect the audience to be enchanted by this rendition of the New Zealand Nation Anthem. A must listen!

References and Websites of New Zealand rap:
1. TheNext

2. NZMusician

3. Image&Narrative

4. Protglob

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This entry was posted on Thursday, August 24th, 2006 at 5:17 pm and is filed under Uncategorized, Southern Pacific Region. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.