The short answer
Three tens and four ones means 30 + 4 = 34. Two tens and fourteen ones means 20 + 14 = 34. The groups look different, but they contain the same total.
This is called renaming: describing the same number using a different grouping of units. No value disappears when one ten is opened into ten ones.
The written numeral stays 34. In its usual tens-and-ones form, the digit 3 represents three tens. “Two tens and fourteen ones” is another way to describe the same quantity; it does not change what the digit 3 means in the written numeral.
Show it with three bowls
Gather 34 small household objects, such as buttons, blocks or pasta pieces, and three bowls. Count ten objects into each bowl, leaving four loose objects beside them. Before continuing, check together that every full bowl contains ten.
You now have three groups of ten and four loose ones. Empty one bowl beside the four loose objects. The collection has become two full bowls and fourteen loose objects:
10 + 10 + 14 = 34
Nothing was added or removed. Only the grouping changed. Keeping the objects in view makes that unchanged total easier to check directly.
What to say while the group changes
Keep the written numeral 34 visible and say, “We opened one group of ten. Where did those ten objects go?” This draws attention to the ten objects joining the original four loose ones.
Then ask, “How could we put these back into three tens and four ones?” Let the child move the objects back into the empty bowl and recount if needed.
Fourteen ones is a valid grouping, even though the usual tens-and-ones form has fewer than ten loose ones. If the unfamiliar wording causes confusion, return to the objects: two unopened groups of ten and fourteen individual objects still account for all 34.
Why this wording appears in Year 2 homework
The Australian Curriculum v9 Year 2 material includes renaming two- and three-digit numbers using standard and non-standard groupings. In this example, three tens and four ones is the standard grouping, while two tens and fourteen ones is a non-standard grouping of equal value.
Official NSW place-value guidance also identifies flexible naming of numbers as a teaching focus. This explains the mathematical purpose of the wording, but it does not indicate where a particular child should be in their learning or how their school has sequenced the topic.
Try one more example if it would help
As an optional follow-up, show 26 with two groups of ten and six loose objects. Open one group of ten so that the same collection becomes one ten and sixteen ones. Check:
20 + 6 = 10 + 16 = 26
Ask, “What stayed the same?” The child might point to the total, the written number or the fact that no objects were added or removed. Treat the response as a chance to talk and demonstrate, not as a test of mastery.
Choose the next homework step
If the child can show how one ten becomes ten ones, return to the assigned question and help them record the answer in its requested format.
If the connection between one ten and ten ones is still unclear, count the contents of one group together. You can then send the teacher this specific message: “We tried showing 34 with groups of ten, but opening one group was still unclear. Which model or wording are you using in class?”
The number is still 34; only the groups have changed.