Nine To Noon for Wednesday 9 September 2020

 

09:05 FENZ says safety improved at training centre since recruit burned

Fire and Emergency says it has made safety improvements at the National Training Centre in Rotorua, since a recruit was badly burned last February. The trainee professional firefighter, who spoke on Nine to Noon on Monday, suffered third degree burns and blistering to both hands in the accident during a live fire training exercise because the trainer did not identify that his gloves were two sizes too small and the wrong type. An official report into the accident found a range of shortcomings which "led to basic and fundamental safety requirements, initiatives, training and reporting lines to be inadequate". Kathryn speaks with FENZ CEO Rhys Jones.

09:20 Easy as A-B-C? Report stokes debate about how to teach reading

A new report that looks at ways to boost New Zealand's literacy levels is stoking a decades-old debate about how best to teach children to read. The report, The Literacy Landscape in Aotearoa New Zealand - considers what's needed across various age groups to help stop a decline in literacy levels - particularly among Maori and Pasifika students. In looking at the early learning period, it suggests systematic phonemic awareness is needed for SOME learners - in addition to what's often "business of usual". But advocates of systematic phonics instruction say ALL learners can benefit from that. Kathryn talks to Literacy Landscape report author Stuart McNaughton, who is Chief Education Scientific Advisor and a professor at the University of Auckland, and Professor James Chapman from Massey University, who has written a critique of the report.

09:45 Google and Facebook fight back against Australian govt plans

Australia correspondent Chris Niesche joins Kathryn to look at Facebook and Google's aggressive campaigns against the government's plan to force them to pay for news content - could it change the way Australians search for information and how they share news? Chris will also look at the reaction to Victoria's lockdown extension.

10:05 Warrior Kid Tim Tipene - White Moko

Tim Tipene was raised in two cultures, Pākehā and Māori. A white boy with a Māori name, Tim constantly faced suspicious questions, typically "How did you get the name Tipene?  You're a white fella." Tim had a miserable childhood at the hands of his birth family in West Auckland back in the 1970s and early '80s.  But he was embraced by his adoptive Tipene whānau as a toddler. To the Tipenes Tim was their white moko. The author of ten books, five of which have won awards, his last was Mrs Battleship, about a teacher who helped Tim start to turn his life around. His newest is the memoir White Moko, Stories From my Life.  Tim tells Kathryn Ryan about his life and how his Warrior Kids programme helps children build self control, resilience and conflict resolution skills.

10:35 Book review - The Tolstoy Estate by Steven Conte

Anne Else reviews The Tolstoy Estate by Steven Conte, published by HarperCollins.

10:45 The Reading

How to Walk a Dog, part 3. Written and read by Mike White.

Dogs that regularly visit the dog park get to make canine buddies and it seems their owners mimic the behaviour.

11:05 Hip-hop hooray: 47 years of hip hop music

Hip hop turned 47 last month.  RNZ Music's Yadana Saw will explain how an art form from the Bronx became one of the world's most popular forms of music. She'll tackle the unfair rap, rap has received over the decades. We'll hear beats and bars from local and international acts.

11:20 The League of Live Illustrators, bringing 'big' conversations  to life

League of Live Illustrators' Steve Templer and Megan Salole join Kathryn Ryan to explain their unique way of making  important ideas visible and shareable, on topics as diverse as health, criminal justice reform and climate change.

11:45 Covid-19's effect on the brain, hearing loss and dementia link

Science commentator Malvindar Singh-Bains joins Kathryn to look at the number of Covid patients that have experienced neurological issues, and how that could grow as the pandemic progresses. Researcher also have a new theory about how hearing loss may cause dementia, and what early intervention could do to prevent the disease.