Our language is an oral language. We hear pronunciation, annunciation, and dialectical annotations (some subtle, but to the trained ear, noticeable), and rhythmically. Like patere, moteatea, pao, waiata, haka, and poipoi. These were taught to us by an old method called ‘black outs’, where the room was totally black, words were repeated, tones and tunes were delivered, and we were to repeat what was said…again and again. Then secondary school education compounded to written structure of our language of ‘Te Rangatahi’ by Hoani Waititi. With a fluent oral Te Reo upbringing, (Whanganui dialect), I quickly learned the Te Rangatahi (of Ngāti Porou) and began helping fellow class members and our tutors as well. At year 12, I was tutoring Year 9 Te Reo Māori homework studies. Here was where I wanted to be a teacher.
In 1974, I finished 2nd Ed. and we moved to the winterless North, a far cry from the snow bounds of mountains snow of Ruapehu and the Ruahine Ranges. Of course Māori language was in a totally different accent, dialect and structural manner. Getting a job at Māori Affairs helped immensely and being graded by Sir Kingi Ihaka and Sir James Henare boosted my profile to help translate in my career. At the reconstruction of Māori Affairs, I trained as a teacher in the Bilingual training of Rangakura from Whanganui, trained further at Waikato University (Whakapiki Te Reo) and Te Whare Wānanga o Aotearoa (Kaikohe). I use the ‘tune and word’ system whenever teaching waiata, haka, poi… because infants, people of other cultures and ethnicity-blind people can’t read. Taught a haka to a school from Auckland ASDA (actions 807 and words 1324) in 28 mins with absolutely no words onscreen.
Pākehā can get involved with Māori Language Week in a meaningful way by dropping in simple Māori words in daily conversation with your friends, like commands and expressions.
Illustration: Isobel Joy Te Aho-White.