Saturday Morning for Saturday 1 July 2023

8.10 Emily Hanford: are we teaching reading all wrong?

There's been a war raging in education over how to teach reading to kids for many years, and it shows no signs of abating.

On one side are those who believe in whole language learning, that is, guessing words through contextual and visual clues. This method underpins 'reading recovery’ therapy, which was developed by New Zealander Dame Marie Clay to boost the learning of those who fall behind. 

On the other side are fans of phonics, who think sounding out words is the way to go.  

Here in Aotearoa we currently teach a mix of both.

Late last year, prompted by reports showing our literacy rates were falling, the Government announced plans to overhaul the teaching of reading. 

Emily Hanford is a senior correspondent and producer with American Public Media. Her podcast series Sold a Story examines America's experience with whole language learning, which she thinks has failed.

Hanford will be in Auckland and Christchurch in late August to speak at a Literacy Symposium. 

9.05 Justin Gregg: when orca teach themselves to attack

In a so-called "orca uprising" killer whales have been attacking boats in Iberian waters, off Spain and Portugal. They're possibly teaching other orcas to do the same. But why? And how will it all end? Justin Gregg is Vice President of the Dolphin Communication Project.  He attempts some answers to these questions.

9.35 Gerard Hindmarsh on Rarotonga’s legendary publican "Trader Jack" Cooper 

There's a saying in the Cook Islands that anything decided by the government was hashed out at Trader Jacks.

The legendary bar and eatery, opened in 1986 by Jack Cooper, is known to virtually every Kiwi who visits Rarotonga. 

Jack died a year ago but his life and the bar's many wild and wonderful times are celebrated in  40 Years Behind Bars: A Publican in Paradise. a book completed with the help of Golden Bay based journalist Gerard Hindmarsh.

10.05 Suzanne Heywood: how a family sailing trip became a 10-year nightmare

Aged just seven, Suzanne Heywood set sail with her family on a three-year voyage around the world. Three years turned into a decade, with little formal schooling and many tensions between Heywood and her parents.

It all ended in Aotearoa, with a teenage Heywood looking after her younger brother and her Dad’s business. This unusual childhood is the subject of her new memoir Wavewalker: Breaking Free

Now a successful businesswoman, Heywood's last book was the bestselling What Does Jeremy Think? an account of the life of her late husband Jeremy Heywood, British cabinet secretary and confidant of four prime ministers.

10.40 Danyl McLauchlan: why politicians love to invoke dystopias

Scientist and writer Danyl McLauchlan joins Kim to tackle life's big questions, ideas and thinkers. This week, he’s examining the role dystopian novels play in politics.

The conservative fundamentalist nightmare of Margaret Atwood‘s The Handmaid’s Tale has become a go-to analogy for liberals when criticising the right.

Just recently Labour’s Megan Woods accused National (via a tweeted GIF) of wanting to turn New Zealand into Gilead if they excluded contraceptives from their prescription subsidy scheme.

It’s not the only book to be co-opted as a political weapon. Orwell’s 1984 and P D James’ Children of Men have been used in similar ways by politicians of varying colours.

11.05 Serhii Plokhy: the history and future of the Russo-Ukrainian war 

Historians usually write about the past, with the benefit of knowing how things turned out, but Harvard academic and best-selling author Serhii Plokhy was so shaken by the Russian invasion of his homeland last year he felt compelled to write about it immediately. 

The result is his new book The Russo-Ukrainian War which traces the historical origins and evolution of the invasion and contemplates the wider consequences for the present and futures of both countries. 

He argues that Ukraine’s defiance of Russia, and the West’s support, presents a profound challenge to Putin’s ambitions.

Plokhy’s other books include Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy, Nuclear Folly, The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine and The Last Empire.

11.45 Ankita Singh: Aotearoa's kickboxing anime-loving new playwright 

Nightclubs doubling as fight clubs, dairies with rice bunkers and aunties scheming away in mahjong dens.The first Aotearoa play to be commissioned from a South Asian woman provides a rather different sci-fi take on our future than we’re used to. 

Yet beneath the stage combat, dance-offs and references to anime, Ankita Singh’s ‘neo-noir action-crime-comedy’ Basmati Bitch aims to be a sharp look at contested borders and migrant exploitation

Singh is an Auckland-based writer hailing from Chandigarh and Kirikiriroa. She’s the founder of Asian theatre producers Oriental Maidens, and has an animated series in development with Taika Waititi’s Piki Films. 

Basmati Bitch is on at Auckland's Q Theatre from 11 July.

Books featured on this show:

40 Years Behind Bars: A Publican in Paradise
By Jack Cooper
Published by Progeny

Wavewalker: Breaking Free
By Suzanne Heywood
Published by William Collins Books
ISBN: 9780008498504

The Handmaid’s Tale
By Margaret Atwood
Published by Penguin Books
IBSN: 9780224101936

The Children of Men
By P.D. James
Published by Faber & Faber
IBSN: 9780571342211

1984 
By George Orwell
Published by Simon & Schuster 
IBSN: 9781839642401

The Russo-Ukrainian War
By Serhii Plokhy
Published by Allen Lane
ISBN: 9780241617359

 

Music featured on this show

Basketcase
Green Day
Played at 9.25am

Six Months in a Leaky Boat
Spilt Enz
Played at 9.30am

Animal Farm
The Kinks
Played at 11.40am