😳🙂 Honest updates on our Māhuru Māori challenges...
Kia ora e te whānau,
Nau mai, hoki mai ki Te Arawhata—the Te Wiki o te Reo Māori edition!
Whether you’re an absolute beginner or a mātanga reo/language expert, in formal classes or not—everyone reading this pānui/newsletter is a te reo Māori learner at some level.
Nō reira this is your week e hoa mā! And this pānui/newsletter is full of Māori arts, media, and events to help you celebrate, enjoy, tautoko/support, and immerse yourself in it.
A tangi/cry with Mike McRoberts, bilingual trip down Pātea memory lane, and new playlist to help you do just that, coming right up.
Plus a very honest update on our Mahuru Māori wero/challenges. Gulp.
First up, e heke ana te ua/the rain is falling, so grab an inu wera/hot drink and something tino reka/delicious, it’s time for talk of the tāone.
- Warewhare records just got smashed by this Māori clothing range which sold out in minutes.
- Theia has a new waiata out and e hika, she ain’t holding back in it.
- Talking about politics… Tama Potaka shared his whakaaro on using te reo Māori inside and outside parliament.
- Basement Theatre is stepping up with its first-ever show fully in te reo Māori.
- Māori singer, Jaedyn Randell, made three judges turn on The Voice Australia with this cracker.
- Manawa Māori has launched a new community for language learners including ‘secret sit ins’.
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“I used to get anxiety about saying, ‘Kia ora, good evening’ in case I…” (Mike’s voice cracks) “...got it wrong.” The opening line in this courageously vulnerable doco is where ngā rangi/the tears (both Mike’s and our own) start. They don’t stop. The moment he delivers his (imperfect) mihi at his home marae, is one of the most inspiring things I’ve ever seen. You should see it too.
Find it: on NZ on Screen I Time: 45mins I Cost: free I Credits: produced by Annabelle Lee-Mather, directed by Chris Graham
Waiata Anthems signifies a peak in the Māori Language Movement—a point where the ‘It’s cool to kōrero’ message finally felt undeniable. And they continue to piki ake/climb. This marama/month they’re releasing nine new waiata from artists who are so cool they make us feel awkward-nervous. Whakarongo/Listen as a super fun and easy way to tautoko/support the cause fam!
Find it: on Spotify I Time: 4minish ia waiata - they’re being released throughout September I Cost: free I Credits: artists include Tawaz, Jordyn with a Why, Dillastrate, Marei, Nikau Grace, Mā, MOHI, MAJIC, and Chase Woods
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He tika a Airana Ngarewa/Airana Ngarewa is right. There are loads of great children’s books for beginner-level reo Māori learners, quite a few for mātanga/experts, but nooooot that many for us intermediate plebs i waenganui/in between. His new novel—full of bilingual, cheeky, page-turner short stories on small town life—was written to fill the gap and can we get an ‘āmene’ for that?!
Find it: on the Unity Books website I Time: 272 pages I Cost: free I Credits: written by Airana Ngarewa, published by Hachette
I tērā wiki/Last week we were the starstruck Ngāti Nerds at this premiere. Distracted only momentarily by Scotty Morrison’s ‘proud partner’ face as he watched Stacey hosting, we loved every second of it. Bigger than the Disney brand, is the Māori ngākau/heart—and you don’t need to understand te reo to understand that. Definitely one to mātakitaki/watch at the cinema. With M&Ms.
Find it: at your local cinema l Time: 102mins I Cost: $15ish I Credits: directed and produced by Tweedie Waititi, also produced by Chelsea Winstanley, Mia Henry-Teirney, Pere Wihongi was the music director
*To hear about Māori events in YOUR region, follow our dedicated ‘Haere’ page: Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty,Taranaki, Gisborne/Hawke’s Bay, Manawatū/Whanganui,Wellington, Nelson/Tasman/Marlborough, Canterbury/West Coast, Otago, Southland.
If you read our Koanga edition, you will have seen our fresh-faced, clean-slate, ‘let’s ruddy do this’ inspired goals for Mahuru Māori.
Time for a Te Wiki o te reo Māori half-way point check in with Te Arawhata cuzzies Lizzie and Grace.
Are we on the road to success or have we fallen by the wayside?
Well, like most things in life, it depends which way you look at it. And kind of, in this case, which one of us you’re looking at…
Level: intermediate
Challenge: to watch, read, listen, or do something i te reo Māori every day
How it’s going overall: My wero is going well, though dreams vs. reality kicked in on day one. I’d imagined myself watching ‘Te Karere’, keeping up with Scotty’s pace and kupu, but instead, I watched ‘Encanto Reo Māori’—not fully following, but just bopping along to the cool songs.
Instead of reading ‘Hare Pota’ and ‘Rōmeo rāua ko Hurieta’ in te reo, it’s been more like, ‘Te Anuhe Tino Hiakai’ (The Very Hungry Caterpillar) and ‘Ngārara i roto i te kete’ (Bugs in the kete), a lift-the-flap book.
Some days I challenge myself with tasks, like doing the grocery shopping using te reo Māori for everything from making the list to unpacking. Other days it’s singing kid’s waiata on YouTube. But I’m making sure to do something every day.
A win: All the new things I’ve learned, including two new kid’s waiata.
A loss: Those two waiata are super catchy and now stuck in my head, all day long, “Tohorā nuuuuiii, tohorā roooaaaa, tohorā tino mōmonaaaaa!”
Self-reported chances of keeping it up till the end of Mahuru: 99.9999%. I know I can keep it up—for Mahuru and beyond—by letting go of huge expectations and enjoying learning alongside my 2-year-old, who’s probably at my level to be honest!
Level: intermediate
Challenge: to read ‘Hare Pota’ i te reo Māori alongside the English version and for all communications with Grace to be i te reo Māori.
How it’s going overall: Tuatahi, l hope you all appreciate that I’m madly fighting the urge to lie right now…
Grace and I were both stoked that after days speaking so much reo Māori at mahi, we were naturally reaching for it first in our thoughts and conversations at home too.
BUT it’s been a massive few weeks for me in other parts of life and honestly, this wero has felt too difficult on top of that.
After a week or so I downgraded to half-days and last Thursday was full English.
On ‘Hare Pota’? I’m up to page 16… just 304 to go….
A win: When I DO stick to ngā wero, they’re absolutely working. I’m picking up new vocab, cementing structures and—just as handy—noticing the biggest gaps in my knowledge.
A loss: I’ve started dreading the days that Grace comes into the office because it hurts my roro/brain (soz cuz). I may have been too ambitious.
Self-reported chances of keeping it up till the end of Mahuru: considering the rest of my workload at the moment, about 3.5%, but ya know what? I’m happy to bow my head to lofty mountains. In fact, I think it keeps me going.
The point of sharing our different approaches and ups and downs with you e te whānau is to normalise them. It’s all part of the journey. Whether you’re more motivated by Grace’s steady approach or by my reach for the stars-fail-try again one, the most important thing is that we all keep going.
Enjoy the highs, laugh at the lows, keep putting one foot in front of the other.
Haere tonu/Keep going fam, we’re rooting for ya.
We hope this newsletter helped you to enjoy, learn more about, and deepen your connection with te ao Māori today and inspired you to craaaank some reo Māori this week.
Mā te wā!/Laters!
