NCEA Level 2 Samoan: Writing (Tusitusiga)

Writing (Tusitusiga) tests whether you can produce coherent Samoan for a purpose and audience: a letter, notice, narrative, speech or short opinion. Marks come from communication and structure as well as grammar, spelling and register.

Core rules and concepts

• Plan before writing: purpose, reader, register and the three or four points you must cover.
• Open and close according to form: Fa'afetai lava for thanks, Fa'amolemole for requests, Fa'afetai / Tofa for closings.
• Control tense and aspect: sa/na for past, o lo'o for ongoing, o le a for future, ua for completed or changed state.
• Use possessives correctly: la'u/lau (my/your, singular) and the a/o categories; do not translate English 'of' mechanically.
• Paragraph by function: greeting, purpose, detail, closing. Check glottal stops and macrons last.

Worked example

Task: write a short thank-you note to a teacher who helped before an exam. Fa'afetai lava mo lau fesoasoani i le aso Faraile. Sa e fesoasoani mai ia te a'u i le taimi o le su'ega. Ou te fa'amoemoe o le a tatou toe feiloa'i. Reasoning: mo lau fesoasoani means 'for your help'; lau is the singular possessive, so it is more personal than mo le fesoasoani. Sa e fesoasoani mai marks past help directed toward the speaker. o le a marks future hope, and tatou is inclusive plural ('we, including you').

Traps

• Writing English sentences word-for-word in Samoan.
• Mixing past and future markers in one narrative.
• Omitting the glottal stop or macron, which can change a word.
• Using informal vocabulary in a formal letter or speech.
• Producing one block of text with no clear opening or closing.