Reading Across Cultures

A professional guide for NZ English teachers working with Māori and Pacific 

poetry at Years 11–13.

Reading Across Culture offers a clear, practical framework for teaching poetry 

across cultures with confidence and care. Drawn from three decades of teaching 

practice at the University of Auckland, the guide gives you:

- Eight principles for culturally curious reading

- A five-step reading protocol you can use in any classroom

- An NCEA Assessment Connections appendix mapping the principles and protocol 

 across achievement standards at every level

- Reflections on what gives a poem mana

- "From three decades of practice" — teaching wisdom in the margins

Whether you're approaching Māori and Pacific poetry for the first time or 

deepening work you've been doing for years, this guide gives you tools, 

language, and the courage to teach well.

Written and illustrated by Professor Selina Tusitala Marsh — Professor of Pacific Literature, University of Auckland; NZ Poet Laureate 2017–2019; Inaugural Commonwealth Poet Laureate 2025–2027; award-winning author-illustrator of Mophead. Cover artwork and tatau-inspired section markers are original works by the author.

42 pages. Designed, ready to use. PDF, fully searchable. Instant download after purchase.

You will get a PDF (535KB) file