ESOL Junior Immersion Trip to the Auckland Maritime Museum
Posted on July 03, 2017
Fifty ESOL students and their teachers visited the Auckland Maritime Museum, in central Auckland on June 30th as a finale to a short study they have been doing on migration and the reasons why this occurs.
Students attended a brief class lesson where they learnt about how Maori used coconuts as drinking receptacles and how they used coconut fibre to make rope for lashing the wood together when building their sailing vessels (no nails were used in this process). They also practised ‘lashing’ with two pieces of wood and a piece of twine. The students toured the museum and observed the different sailing boats and how they have improved over the years.
After a short animated movie depicting the journey Maori faced many centuries ago when they migrated to New Zealand, the students sailed on a Maori waka Aotearoa One which is a modern form of a traditional waka.
The weather was perfect as they sailed around the Waitemata Harbour and under the Auckland Harbour Bridge.
Many thanks to all those who made it a memorable experience.
