Gain Kiwi-Panda English Language Certificate Online

An English language online course for beginners. This course will develop your listening and speaking skills in English by watching our short video tutorials and cartoon  animations. Our course is aimed at new learners of the English language, who have no prior knowledge of English and need to master their speaking skills in an indigenous New Zealand context.

The Kiwi-Panda English language app covers areas such as basic pronunciation, family genealogy, nominal sentences, counting, telling the time, verbal sentences, direct object markers, possessives, location, tenses, and negation. Students will learn to engage in simple conversations in English.

The focus of this app is to develop a sound grammatical knowledge of English and basic sentence structures through our proven teaching methods and our state-of-the-art  Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology. As the learner progresses through each module, the language patterns and vocabulary become more complicated. The app uses real-life situations in a contemporary, indigenous New Zealand context, in the twenty-first century.

Course Outline

Level 1:

• Module 1: The Nature of the English Language. Introducing basic phonology, pronunciation of words, place names in New Zealand, basic greetings, introductions, and farewells.

• Module 2: Family Genealogy. Introducing family and identity in a New Zealand Māori context.
• Module 3: Nominal Sentences. How to describe people, places, and objects in a New Zealand Māori context.
• Module 4: Counting and Time. Introducing counting, time and how to buy things in English.

Level 2:

• Module 5: Introducing verbal sentences in English.
• Module 6: Extending verbal sentences in English by adding the object marker.
• Module 7: Introducing personal pronouns in English (My, your, his etc) 
• Module 8: Location and Locatives. How to describe where something is in English.

Level 3:

• Module 9: Tenses. Introducing past, present, and future tenses in English.
• Module 10: Introducing negation. How to use negative phrases in English.
• Module 11: Idioms. Introducing Kiwi-English sayings.
• Module 12: Māori Storytelling. Maui searches for his parents and the adventures of Kupe and Niwa the Spirit Guide.

Level 4:

• Module 13: The connections to wider Polynesia. In this module, we explore the English literature about the origins of the Māori people and their connections to wider Polynesia and as far as Taiwan and Southeast Asia.
• Module 14: Māori customs and the rituals of encounter. In this module, we delve into the rich tapestry of Māori customs and the intriguing rituals of encounter for visiting a marae or Māori village.
• Module 15: The symbolism of the Māori meeting house at Auckland University.
• Module 16: Māori Performing Arts. In this final module, we explore the fascinating world of Māori performing arts, “kapa haka” and Māori oral literature in English.

Once you have watched the video tutorials and the cartoons, you will then  attempt our traffic light quiz. There are three simple steps to record  yourself on the app:  

1. You will listen to the tutor saying the sentence. For example: “How are you?”
2. You will say the sentence, imitating the accent and intonation of the tutor while recording yourself on the app. Press the record button on the microphone icon, wait a second, then say  your sentence and then press the microphone icon again once  you have finished your recording.  

3. After a couple of seconds, the app will automatically measure the accuracy of every vowel, consonant, and word in your pronunciation of the English language phrase or sentence, through our traffic light quiz.  

1. A green light will appear over each word in the sentence if you say it correctly.  

1. An orange light will appear over each word in the sentence if you almost say it correct.  

1. A red light will appear over each word in the sentence if you say it incorrectly.  

You must complete an assessment or quiz at the end of each module to  proceed to the next module. After completing all 16 modules, you will  receive the Kiwi-Panda English Language Certificate – Levels 1-4.  

You should be able to begin confidently speaking basic conversational English within 3-12 months.

Delivered by Dr. Rāpata Wiri, a Māori language expert with over twenty five years of experience. He has taught Māori language, culture, history and society in universities in New Zealand and Hawaii for decades.

Dr Wiri has also worked as an historian and researcher for iwi on Treaty of Waitangi claims. In 2019 he established the online language platforms to ensure accessibility for a broader demographic.