We have made several changes here at Akoola to the way the Tongan alphabet and the glottal-stopped vowel combination has been incorrectly taught for years. We explain these changes in our first couple of videos especially video number 1 – 5. We also utilise the Tonganisation device in which English words are borrowed and adopted as new Tongan words, terms and vocabulary.
Tongan and English bilingual teaching is at the core of the Akoola courses since our target audience are parents in New Zealand who want to teach their children the Tongan language. We urge parents to use as many Tonganised English words, terms and vocabulary as possible to help them when teaching their children. These will help children who have grown up in New Zealand familiarise themselves with the Tongan language better and quicker. Always remember we have our mother tongue, which is our Tongan language, and we also have our second language, which is an official language we used which is the English.
We attempt to explain and illustrate the content of these lessons using simple language and methods that anybody can easily understand. We strongly believe that making these lessons available on the internet could quickly spread the teaching of the Tongan language nationwide. This will be advantageous to our Tongan international community since there is often either a shortage or a complete lack of Tongan language teaching schools in New Zealand or wherever they live overseas.