Waitangi Day, New Zealand’s National Day

In this A2 article your students will learn about the population of New Zealand and its national day, Waitangi Day on 6 February. You can decide to work on it either at the beginning of February to match the celebrations or as part of a unit devoted to national days in English-speaking countries. Although this will obviously not be a starting point for a discussion of imperialism given the age and general knowledge of the students, the article allows for a few hints to avoid showing an idyllic vision of the Maoris' situation.

Vocabulary and grammar

• geography and population related vocabulary
• some Maori words
• the superlative
• present simple and past simple

Pronunciation

• vowel sounds: /i:/ /ı/ /aı/ /eı/ /aıə/
• word stress: national, February, capital, important, election, Australia, respected...