Samoan school children living in New Zealand were given disposable cameras and asked to photograph examples of the uses of reading and writing outside the school. Interviewed later, they explained their photographs including information about literacy in church and family. Rote learning and oral presentation of biblical texts that were read and committed to memory were characteristic of church literacy and supported by practices in the home as Shirley Brice Heath and others have reported. The purpose is closely connected to maintenance of Samoan culture and survival of the language. However, it was found that older siblings introduced school ways of learning to younger family members and that church literacy involved techniques for understanding and assessment that were similar to those of the school. It is asked whether the disparity in measured literacy performance of Samoan people is the consequence of a mismatch between church and family literacy and the literacy of the school. (Contains 2 figures.)