July 10, 2016
Te Wiki o te Reo
Te Wiki o te Reo
WILLIE JACKSON
To celebrate Te Wiki o te reo Maori and Matariki I was asked to speak at Waterlea Primary School in Mangere Bridge. It was great watching all the kids doing their waiata and haka expertly even though they were all just early learners of the reo.
The school under the leadership of their principal Margaret Palmer and teacher and Maori tutor Aroha Buchanan is making a commitment to the Maori language which all schools need to do in this country, however they are struggling to get Maori language teachers. This problem of not having enough teachers can be fixed but instead it’s one of the excuses trotted out from people who say this is why you can’t make the language compulsory in schools.
However, it is nonsense, if the language is made compulsory in all New Zealand schools money and resources are then automatically put into the sector so that we can have more language teachers, it’s as simple as that. We don’t have the teachers now because we don’t have the resources, strategies and incentives to attract them.
Getting more teachers is not going to happen overnight but as soon as the reo is compulsory and becomes law then the Government must make it happen. The reo will then be in the school curriculum just like English and Maths and all our kids will grow up speaking te reo Maori. What a great day that will be and what a fabulous week te wiki o te reo Maori was this year. This initiative is driven by Te Taura Whiri our Maori language commission and their chief executive Ngahiwi Apanui who to his credit supports the compulsory Maori camp.
The theme used for this year’s campaign was “Akina te reo” which means give te reo Maori a go and they had four role models advocating this. Netballer and broadcaster Jenny-May Clarkson, actor Julian Dennison and All Blacks Andrew Mehrtens and Nehe Milner Skudder.
All were excellent choices but the choice of Mehrtens was particularly inspiring, he is a former All Black great and Pakeha who was brought up around the reo in the early part of his life. For him to be talking about the importance of the reo for all Kiwis helps immensely in the fight to save te reo.
It is a fact that the language is under threat not enough people are speaking it so we need innovative strategies and role models for it to survive. Mehrtens says “If we can get more Pakeha taking pride in the Maori culture as our own it would be better for everyone”. He is so right but that won’t happen until all Kiwi kids grow up speaking Te Reo and the sooner that happens the better off this country will be.
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