Symposium to revitalise te reo

Janis de Thierry has spent more than quarter of a century growing te reo and tikanga.

She and husband Anthony were instrumental in the establishment of Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Tuia te Matangi – a kura kaupapa Māori in Richmond.

But like the whakataukı¯ (proverb) in which the kūmara does not speak of its sweetness, Janis said there were a lot of people on the ground before the de Thierrys came on board.

Anthony is now tumuaki (principal) and a pouako (teacher) and Janis is kaihautū tari (office manager). They were due to speak at Te Kaiaotanga o Te Reo, the top of the south’s second

Māori language revitalisation symposium next Tuesday and Wednesday at the Trafalgar Centre, following the inaugural event in Blenheim last year.

Unfortunately, they are now in Covid isolation but are hoping to participate remotely.

Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Tuia te Matangi has 73 students, and has seen steady growth in the past few years. For the tamariki, the school is an opportunity to ‘‘inherently live with their ancestral tongue and culture’’, Janis said, but it could be a lonely experience.

‘‘They are the only ones in Te Tauihu, so their puna, their pool of people, can seem quite small.’’

For that reason, the de Thierrys encourage speakers of te reo to kōrero with the tamariki to normalise the language. They will be in good company at the symposium – speakers include radio and TV broadcaster Stacey Morrison, linguist Sir Tı¯moti Kāretu, and Dr Hinurewa Poutu, director of reo at Māori TV.

Janis, who affiliates to the eight iwi of Te Tauihu and Tūhourangi Ngāti Wāhiao, said some of the school’s ākonga were being raised by their grandparents who were second language speakers.

Their parents grew up in the era of being beaten for their language in the education system.

‘‘Some of them carry that weight and they don’t want that for their tamariki,’’ she said.

Those generations could not see where te reo took its place in the world, she said, because English was so dominant.

Symposium tickets are available at Te Kaiaotanga o Te Reo website.