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Curated links – New Zealand
The NZ Ministry of Education (MoE)
The NZ Ministry of Education (MoE) website is a source for much of the informational aspects of English language learners in our schools https://www.education.govt.nz
The section for ‘Educational Professionals’ will take you into the detail of ECE and schooling sectors, while ‘funding and financials’ will take you to the specifics for ESOL funding – What is ESOL funding for? What are current funding rates?
Staying updated with ‘notices’ relevant to your English language learners can be achieved through the Ministry of Education ‘Bulletin’ https://www.education.govt.nz/bulletins Tick the option for ESOL, Migrant and Refugee News for English for speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) newsletters. Bookmark this site to check each term (and forward to other school colleagues.)
For example, the newsletter for April 8, 2025 has information about joining in a professional learning community (PLC) of likeminded professionals. These are very successful nationally. Contact: MoE Senior Adviser Yolande Mathlay from the Auckland ESOL team 0800 800 675.
The New Zealand Ministry of Education (MoE) core resources
The English Language Learning Progressions is the document for teachers of culturally and linguistically diverse learners in NZ for information about Stages of language learning and the expectations for achieving competency over time. The original (2009) publication has four booklets – Years 1-4 (Bright Green Cover), Years 5-8 (Blue Cover), an Introduction booklet (Olive Green Cover) with general information (e.g about vocabulary) and a Years 9-13 booklet (purple cover). Most NZ schools have copies of these documents, or download from
In January 2022, the Ministry of Education released an additional supplementary support – the English Language Learning Progressions Pathway (Foundation to Stage 3) and the ELLP pathway Student Agency Record. These documents were developed in response to teachers’ requests and enable a more fine-grained approach to understanding and teaching of learners with English as an additional language. The ELLP pathway document has value as for planning and goal setting as well as tracking student progress. The documents are available to download as a word doc or google doc https://esolonline.tki.org.nz/ESOL-Online/Planning-for-my-students-needs/Professional-support-for-teachers-and-teacher-aides/English-Language-Learning-Progressions-ELLP-Pathway-Foundation-to-Stage-3-and-ELLP-Pathway-Student-Agency-Record
Note that there are video clips to view about supporting ELLs on this page also. Scroll down to view.
Also see my article: Monitoring and tracking progress of bilingual/multilingual students
Supporting English Language Learners in Primary Schools
Supporting English Language Learners in Primary Schools (SELLIPS) is a series of 4 resource booklets that contain teaching guidelines for teachers and teaching assistants new to working in the ESOL field. The resources have been developed for Years 1&2 (green booklet), Years 3&4 (blue booklet), Years 5&6 (red booklet) and Years 7&8 (orange booklet). Each resource reflects the common curriculum and teaching points for the relevant year levels with a focus on scaffolding reading, writing, listening and speaking for Foundation, Stage One and Stage Two students. There is a focus on language functions/purposes such as recounting, persuading, explaining etc.
Focus on English
The Focus on English (online) series is designed to provide English language scaffolds for new learners needing support with curriculum in mathematics, science and social studies. The topics include Conservation, Weather, Measurement, Plants, Shapes and Animals and contain tasks linked to high-frequency vocabulary, technical terms and basic language features of English. It is targeted for ELLs in years 7 to 10, but many teachers have used these resources with discretion with younger learners.
English Language Intensive Programme Primary Resource
The English Language Intensive Programme (ELIP) Primary Resource (online) has guidelines for teachers and teaching assistants for developing an ESOL support programme in a primary school. It has a focus on ELLs at Foundation, Stage One and Stage Two providing language learning outcomes and (model) text examples with teaching points. The texts and topics link well with most school curriculum choices.
Dual language resources
There is a series of dual-text books in five Pacific languages for use in reading programmes in schools.
https://newzealandcurriculum.tahurangi.education.govt.nz/pacific-dual-language-books/5637179826.p
Further texts can be found within the ‘Instructional Series’ link by clicking the filter for ‘resource language’ on the sidebar. https://newzealandcurriculum.tahurangi.education.govt.nz/new-zealand-curriculum-online/learning-content-resources/literacy-inc-instructional-series/5637144635.c
A teachers’ handbook ‘Teacher Support Material. Linguistically and Culturally Responsive Teaching Practice’ is available to support teachers with pedagogy about bilingualism and sustaining home languages and has guidance on how to use these dual texts with groups of learners. https://anzaae.nz/wpcontent/uploads/2024/01/TeacherSupportMaterial_LinguisticallyandCulturallyResponsiveTeachingPractice.pdf
Learning Through Talk
Years 1-3 OR Years 4-8. This is a useful text for a focus on oral language. It is published by the MoE and you might have copies in your school. Also Available through Down the Chair with links at https://esolonline.tki.org.nz/ESOL-Online/Planning-for-my-students-needs/Resources-for-planning/Classroom-resources-and-readings/Oral-language
Te Whāriki
Te Whāriki key messages are also helpful for those staff working in the early years at school.
Success as Pacific
In particular, seek out the Language Enhancing the Achievement of Pasifika (LEAP) resource which provides information to support school leaders and teachers understandings of:
- Pacific communities
- Pacific learners’ and their experiences in school.
Also, the Tapasā framework is designed to guide and support teachers of Pacific learners, to strengthen Pacific cultural knowledge and to offer a deeper understanding of Pacific worldviews. https://newzealandcurriculum.tahurangi.education.govt.nz/tapas-framework/5637194131.p
Our cultural village
This web space has been developed using a template so that teachers and students can build a pool of knowledge and information about the key cultures and languages in their school community. Some example models are provided, but you are encouraged to work with students to write and edit your own curated materials for each country.
Professional links
Ipu Kererū The Blog of the New Zealand Association for Research in Education (NZARE)
https://nzareblog.wordpress.com
This site is worth keeping an eye on for very current research and opinion pieces about literacy matters. For example there are two Feb 2025 blogs by Stuart McNaughton, ‘What a science of learning can and can’t say about teaching foundational literacy’ that are especially relevant. https://nzareblog.wordpress.com/2025/02/13/science-of-learning1/
There are some aspects related to bilingual/multilingual education.
You can receive regular notifications about new posts.
TESOLanz Professional organisations – TESOLanz http://www.tesolanz.org.nz
TESOLANZ is the New Zealand association of ESOL teachers in all areas of education. It offers an opportunity to network with others in the field, professional development, conferences and expos, as well as lobbying for the language needs of migrants and refugees. The TESOLANZ position statement about teaching staff in the Primary and Secondary sectors states:
TESOLANZ believes that specialist teachers with a recognised ESOL qualification should have responsibility for developing, planning and implementing ESOL programmes. Programmes can be enhanced by paraprofessionals who would ideally hold qualifications in working with ELLs. We encourage all schools to support teachers and paraprofessionals to gain ESOL qualifications.
