It’s an inspiring and exciting time . . .

Everyone has a journey they want to pursue, and for me, as a member of the ACE (Adult Community Education) team, helping wha¯ nau with their te reo Ma¯ ori journey, was an inspiring and exciting time for the Far North REAP wha¯ nau and myself.

Co-ordinating courses and finding the right tutors to connect and manaaki our learners is imperative for Far North REAP, along with establishing a working relationship with many exceptional kaiako from within our network of people, who are the right fit for Far North REAP, and most importantly our community. The individuals are diverse, from all different backgrounds, and eager to learn, and come from all different backgrounds.

Over the weeks, watching their reo Ma¯ ori evolve into the sounds of our rangatira was an amazing time. They cannot get enough + students are chasing us for more classes.

Two levels of te reo were on offer for our community and wha¯ nau, consisting of:

Beginners — the use of basic te reo in day-to-day conversations, greetings, and farewells; the use of te reo when giving your pepeha; using te reo in discussions; learning to enquire about objects and their locations.

Intermediate — consolidating prior learning to structure simple sentences in te reo using personal pronouns and transitive/ intransitive verbs; creating ‘passive’ sentences from ‘active’ sentences and using them appropriately; learning to negate active sentences to describe everyday activities.

Feedback from students included: “Respect and appreciation of Ma¯ ori culture and language, I would definitely like to continue learning Te Reo.”

“The experience with the te reo Ma¯ ori course at Far North REAP was extremely helpful for me. I am grateful to have had my very first class in such a positive, welcoming environment set by our tutor. Because of the wha¯ naungatanga I was able to flourish and thrive in the class, and left feeling more confident within myself, and identity as tangata whenua. I truly enjoyed every minute of the class! I learnt more in those short Monday mornings than I have in my whole life, and I’m glad to have taken the class and now have confidence to enrol in more reo and tikanga classes, so thank you Far North REAP for giving me my mana back.”

“This programme has given me more confidence to speak te reo Ma¯ ori with others.”