Ka pai for Ma¯ori language

Students from Te Ko¯puku High School want to see more Kiwis learning Ma¯ori.

There are 7000 spoken languages in the world, they said, and by the end of the century, half of them will be eradicated. They do not want Ma¯ori to be one of them.

Waipaira Reti, Luanne Butler and Poihakena Reid are bilingual students, meaning they are confident speakers of both English and Ma¯ori.

Most of their learning happens in te reo, school leader Cath Rau said.

Te Ko¯puku’s vision is to develop a generation of Ma¯ori students with the self-belief that as Ma¯ori, they are capable of designing innovative, sustainable, successful futures for themselves.

There are around 100 students at the Foreman Rd school, each with varying levels of understanding of Ma¯ori language.

‘‘You learn the culture through the language, and you learn the language through the culture,’’ Rau said.

As part of Ma¯ori Language Week (September 11-17), Te Ko¯puku studied a national survey which found that only eight per cent of Ma¯ori aged between 15-24 could speak te reo ‘‘well’’ or ‘‘very well’’.

They compared this with a survey carried out at school and found that 33 per cent of their students could speak the language well.

‘‘I was really surprised, and I think that a lot of us need to learn Ma¯ori because our ancestors speak Ma¯ori and it’s a really special culture and language,’’ Waipaira Reti said.

‘‘We need to at least get it to 50 per cent. When I found out it was eight per cent, I was so disappointed,’’ Poihakena Reid added.

They rarely hear Ma¯ori spoken outside of the house.

The students said if people want to learn the language, they should begin by understanding the culture and learning simple vowels like a-e-i-o-u.

‘‘You can’t learn a whole bunch of words in a week. Our Ma¯ori Language Week is just everyday us.’’

It’s particularly useful with math terms. For example, decimal in Ma¯ori is tau-a¯-ira, meaning number with a point. Butler’s favourite word is wairua - spirit, while Reid’s favourite is roro hipi - meaning sheep brains.

Kelley Tantau visited Te Ko¯puku High in Hamilton to get an insight into what Ma¯ori Language Week means to the school. Te Kopuku students Poihakena Reid and Luanne Butler want to see more Kiwis speaking Ma¯ori.