Te wiki o Te reo Maori...

 Tena koutou katoa.
This week we are celebrating Maori language week as a Nation and it is so neat to be able to understand more of Maori language that I had very little knowledge of when I growing up. I think it was also exacerbated by the fact that many of my early educators were European and could not teach me much about my own culture or that of the tangata whenua (indigenous peoples of the land) who are Maori.

In fact, sadly enough a lot of racist ideology was taught in those early days in that the European culture was the only way to learn things and my own culture and especially that of Maori were marginalized especially in not knowing much about either cultural world views.

That somewhat changed with Maori and Pasifika teachers coming into the fore but often, as I experienced, they (we) were often marginalized into silos of looking after pastoral care and not always towards academic classes or being encouraged to grow into senior management levels.

Today, things are so very different in that there are now students of Maori descent who are being taught from early childhood centre in Te Reo Maori all the way up to Wananga (tertiary education) and this is so encouraging having met many young people who are fluent in two languages and often tell me that they think in Maori and then have to translate it over to Pakeha/European language.

This is so neat in also now hearing mothers talking to their children in Te Reo at the parks in the playgrounds, something that was unheard of some 20 years or so prior. It also makes me reflect about how backward NZ has been in relation to languages in that English is only one of three official languages being Te Reo and sign language but they aren't taught well in schools.

In European schools, I hear about how many children are encouraged to learn and are fluent in at least 3 languages and it is such a shame that many NZ children only learn one language yet there are so many benefits in learning more than two languages that I have come to understand.

So this week, I am proud to celebrated our first official language of NZ of "Te wiki o Te Reo Maori". No reira tena koutou, tena koutou katoa.,.