Standing with the Ancestors: Fifty Years of Polyfest by Edith Amituanai and Susan Paris is a rich non-fiction text that celebrates Pacific youth, culture, and identity through the lens of Auckland’s Polyfest. Centred on students from Manurewa High School, the text explores how performing arts, language, and collective commitment connect young people to their ancestors, communities, and cultural values.

Through personal stories, historical context, and contemporary voices, students examine how culture is learned, lived, and passed on through dancing, singing, rehearsals, and festival performance. The text supports deep discussion about identity, leadership, belonging, and the role of schools and communities in sustaining Pacific cultures in Aotearoa New Zealand.

 

This Interactive Comprehension Check has been carefully designed to consolidate and deepen students’ understanding of Standing with the Ancestors.

Rather than simply revisiting surface details, the questions intentionally target inference, author purpose, vocabulary in context, and deeper thinking. This resource supports meaningful retrieval practice while maintaining academic rigour and clarity.

The Check can be used:

• As an end-of-text consolidation activity
• As revision prior to assessment
• As a retrieval task in subsequent weeks
• As an engaging formative check for understanding

Each question aligns with key literacy skills, supporting students to think critically, justify ideas, and revisit important language and themes.

 

This pack includes:

• Private access link to the interactive quiz
• Lesson overview slides with learning intention and success criteria
• Reflection / extension task to deepen thinking

This resource is designed to support purposeful teaching, structured discussion, and confident assessment — while reducing preparation time.

Curriculum Phase: Phase 3

Year Level: Year 7

English – Reading: comprehension of narrative non-fiction, inference, author’s craft, use of language and structure, themes, making connections

Social Sciences: identity, culture, community participation, continuity and change, cause and consequence, Pacific histories in Aotearoa New Zealand

Health and Physical Education: wellbeing, belonging, participation, collective identity, cultural expression

Text Type: Narrative non-fiction

 

Key words include: ancestors, Aotearoa New Zealand, Auckland, belonging, culture, community, dancing, diversity, education, festivals, identity, leadership, Manurewa High School, Pacific, Pacific cultures, Pacific youth, performing arts, Polyfest, rehearsals, schools, singing, social connection, student voice, teamwork, Tonga, Tongan culture, Tongan language, Tongans, tradition, youth