Pacific Studies 2
PAC2 Course DescriptionTeacher in Charge: Tevita Petersen-Banuve.
PrerequisitesOpen Entry
This course has a focus around Pacific island society and everything that encompasses it. There are vast opportunities to look at topics such as business development, traditional practices, current issues facing the Pacific and many more. Throughout the course students will be challenged to research online for answers but to also have conversations with leaders in their community. This is good practice in terms of acquiring primary information and sourcing information that is current and true. This in turn should give students greater knowledge towards their subject and allow for will greater weighting in their assessments.
Students will have a greater understanding towards traditional practice and the significance of this in Pacific island society.
There are also aspects of tourism that are explored and how over time they have become somewhat of a lifeline for many Pacific island nations. Students will brainstorm how Pacific islanders have adapted to factors such as the Covid-19 pandemic through aspects such as entrepreneurship also.
Students also explore traditional root crops and the significance that they play in everyday Pacific island society. This covers aspects such as the preparation for planting, the weeding and cleaning of the crop to the eventual harvesting and selling of it.
Course Overview
Term 1
In Term 1, students look to follow the same topic as other year levels within the class, this is looking at change and development in the Pacific. At NCEA Level 2, this requires students to complete their work with guidance. Ultimately this will require students to source material from primary sources such as Pacific people in the community that have experience in areas such as business development, entrepreneurship, technology, transport education and a lot more. This topic looks to highlight some of the ways that Pacific islanders have adapted to the modern world and made positive changes for them and their respective communities.
Term 2
In Term 2, students research into aspect of Pacific Society, this encompasses a lot of traditions based around life in a village or it's wider community. After discussion within class, topics often include the emergence of colonisation, religion, life within the village setting, farming and agriculture, protocols, behaviours and the roles men and women. The students will then look to research these and see how they have played a pivotal role in Pacific island society. This will be different for each Pacific island nation, which in turn is great for variety and discussion within the class.
Term 3
The third internal for the year looks at Pacific island indigenous knowledge. This topic looks to unpack traditional practices from different Pacific island nations. Some of these practices will cover aspects such as the chiefly system, navigation, traditional medicine, traditional dance and rituals. This is a great opportunity for students to discover many of the different traditions associated with their particular Pacific island and to gain a greater understanding of where they come from.
During the last few weeks of Term 3, students are going to learn about formal presentation. This is a large aspect of Pacific island tradition, particularly during formal occasions where speakers are delegated to present on behalf of a village, family or community. During this process, students will cover aspects such as tone of voice, body language, eye contact and presence. Once students have practiced these aspects, they will then select a topic which relates to a Pacific island issue and look to present this at the beginning of Term 4 as a five minute presentation.
Term 4
During this term, there are formal presentations occurring. This will be the last of their internal assessments.
Pathway