TE REO MĀORI – Kāpiti and Coast Independent

Language Transcends Generations

By Mereana Selby

July 2012

Te Kura Reo ki te Au ki Te Tonga

It is well known that the survival of a people and their culture is intrinsically linked to the survival of their language. It is our language that transcends generations, allowing the past and the present to continue an ancient dialogue born in the time of our creation.

It is our language that will ensure our mokopuna will see through Māori eyes and know what it is to perceive the world through a Māori ‘reality’ or worldview.

Te Reo immersion at Wānanga

This week sees approximately 150 students descending on Ōtaki, specifically Te Wānanga o Raukawa, to engage in an intensive week long Te Reo Māori immersion course known as Kura Reo. The Māori language and its survival is a high priority for Te Wānanga o Raukawa so we are thrilled to have the opportunity to host such an esteemed delegation and support the kaupapa of this Kura.

These week long Kura Reo courses are held throughout the country every year by well known Te Reo Māori exponents such as Doctor Tīmoti Kāretu, Doctor Wharehuia Milroy, Materoa Haenga and our very own Pakake Winiata among others. There are varying degrees of capability within the class; however as Māori is the only acceptable language for the entire week; it is aimed at those with a reasonable command of Te Reo Māori. While the immersion experience can be unnerving, there is no doubt it is one of the quickest ways to improve competency and confidence.

Wide range of skills taught

Students move back and forth from small to large group sessions and rotate through a circuit spending time with each tutor on specific aspects of the Māori language. A wide range of activities are covered including grammar and comprehension, whaikōrero and karanga, translations, proverbs and other key aspects of language acquisition.

The constellation we know as Matariki signalling the Māori New Year, still lingers in our skies, reminding us of the responsibility we have to focus our energies on the year ahead and most importantly on our goal of our survival as a people. So I am delighted that staff of Te Wānanga o Raukawa form part of the make-up of Te Kura Reo ki te Au ki Te Tonga and look forward to attending some of this week’s activities.

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100 Years Ago — and the Maori Long March begins

Māori politics was dominated by the influential MPs (and sometime Cabinet ministers) Māui Pōmare ( Waitara statue photo above) and Apirana Ngata.

The 1920's also saw the rise of Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana’s religious movement, and the emergence of Te Puea Hērangi in Waikato.

Ngata worked hard to foster Māori scholarship and education and preserve traditional arts and culture.

He convinced the government to establish a Board of Maori Ethnological Research (1923), a Maori Purposes Fund Control Board (1924) and a School of Maori Arts and Crafts in Rotorua (1927).

The Reform government also took the first, tentative steps towards settling longstanding Māori grievances.

Agreements with Te Arawa in 1922 and Ngāti Tūwharetoa in 1926 recognised their respective rights over the Rotorua lakes and Lake Taupō, and led to the establishment of trust boards with some government funding.

Commissions of inquiry which examined Ngāi Tahu grievances (1920–21) and the Waikato and Taranaki confiscations (1926–27) recommended that modest compensation be paid.