Motivated mums at forefront of te reo trend

Keeping up with tamariki learning te reo at school is one of the key motivators for adults signing up for language classes, says Maatakiri Rapira, kaiako reo Māori at Te Matatini o Taranaki | WITT.

Maatakiri (Ngā Ruahine, Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Ruanui, Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi), says she is thrilled by the growth in the number of learners, particularly non-Māori. And the new demographic trend she’s observed is heartening.

“A lot of mums whose children are in the kapa haka group, participating in the Puanga festival, and are also part of a bilingual unit, tell me their tamariki are coming home and saying, ‘how come you don’t know the karakia?’ So, Mum’s thinking; ‘I probably need to learn the karakia’. And from that it’s turned into something else and now it’s something Mum and her children and whānau can do. And that’s coming from our non-Māori learners.”

“It’s been an absolute treat to watch that shift happen and that awareness.”

Te reo at work and home

For WITT ākonga, Meesh Holswich, learning te reo is valuable for her whanau and work.

“I whakapapa Māori and have always wanted to learn, but until now there have been too many barriers for me to achieve my dream. I didn’t have access to learning te reo Māori growing up. There was one term of te reo offered during my school years, and no one in my whānau could kōrero Māori.”

Meesh says that learning te reo Māori has helped shape her identity. “I’m Eurasian/Māori/Pākehā. I whānau mai au I Hingapoa, engari he uri au nō Te Ātiawa (I was born in Singapore but I’m also a descendent of Te Ātiawa) here in Taranaki.”

“Being both tangata whenua and tauiwi, belonging to the land as well as being a migrant, is an odd place to sit. Growing up in New Plymouth I was often made to feel as though I don’t belong here. Discovering my language and the history of Taranaki has helped me feel like I truly belong here.”

She’s doing her best to use te reo every day. “I’m fortunate my job requires me to use what I know daily, and my colleagues can kōrero Māori, so I can practice every day. It really is important that everyone has an opportunity/space in their everyday life where they can kōrero Māori, or else your confidence and ability get lost.”

“I’m about to have a baby, so I will kōrero Māori to my baby to keep the reo alive for me, and for generations to come.”

For Colin Cooper, his two-year journey learning te reo has been “personal, emotional, historical and rewarding to learn more about my reo and my culture.”

Although he grew up in the Pākehā world, most of his mokopuna speak and use te reo.

“I always wanted to learn and understand the reo but work and family commitments held me back. Now with more time available I can follow my heart for my culture and reo. The mokopuna are reinforcing my mindset to learn te reo.”

Ivan James, also in his second year, enjoys discovering his language and culture. “WITT has given me a solid foundation for a learning journey to continue, with an amazing kaiako, and a great bunch of people to share the journey with,” he says.

Te Reo belongs to everyone

WITT staff and students have been celebrating Te Wiki o te reo Māori throughout the week with a range of activities, including a waiata session, quiz and sausage sizzle as an opportunity to use greetings and requests in te reo.

Maatakiri, who studied te reo Māori in 1998 through Te Wānanga Māori, (then-Taranaki Polytechnic), says the aim of the activities is to support staff in feeling comfortable, and safe and to enjoy speaking and singing in te reo. She, with kaiako Bernie Edwards (Ngāpuhi), runs WITT’s Level One to Three classes.

 She studied and taught te reo here before moving to Australia, where she continued teaching and broadcasting in te reo in Brisbane on migrant language radio programmes.

“Back then in 2004, very rarely would you have a non-Māori learning. To come back 18 years later and see the vast diversity of learners has been phenomenal. The hunger to learn the reo – whether it be just to know how to pronounce ‘Taranaki’ or to use the reo to communicate and kōrero to mokopuna.”

She says awareness among Māori and non-Maori about how importance of our language is growing stronger. “It’s the language of our land. It belongs to everybody.”

“We say to our learners; ‘we are living in a wonderful time now where the learning of te reo will be transferable to our mokopuna and then to their mokopuna. That’s what we want – what better legacy to leave than language and tikanga and the culture of our land.”

Caption: Maatakiri Rapira