Kei ngā pātaka pupuri kōrero o te motu, tēnā rā koutou katoa.
Nau mai rā ki Te Kaiaotanga o Te Reo, he hui whakarauora reo Māori ka tū nei ki Te Tauihu-o-Te-Waka-a-Māui. He mea manaaki tēnei hui e ngā iwi e rua nei, e Ngāti Apa ki Te Rā Tō me Rangitāne o Wairau. He tino tuatahitanga tēnei momo hui ki roto i tēnei o ō tātau kāinga kua hia whakatipuranga nei e ngaro ana te reo Māori. Heoi anō, arā tonu ētahi mahi e taea nei e tātau katoa.
Some of the greatest known te reo Māori exponents in Aotearoa will gather in Te Tauihu o te Waka-ā-Maui (the top of the South Island) next month for the region’s first ever Māori language revitalisation symposium.
Organisers, Te Tauihu iwi Rangitāne o Wairau and Ngāti Apa ki Te Rā Tō, hope the event, Te Kaiaotanga o Te Reo, will inspire not only whānau and those already working at the coalface of language revitalisation efforts, but also the wider community.
“Te Tauihu o Te Waka-a-Māui is one of many regions to have experienced the devastating loss of Māori language,” says Jeremy Tātere MacLeod, Pou Arataki Ahurea at Rangitāne o Wairau.
“We all have a role to play in normalising te reo Māori and bringing it back – into our everyday lives, into our workplaces, into our homes. It’s a big job, but if we can inspire people and help spark that flame, then it all helps.”
Sir Tīmoti Kāretu (Ngāi Tūhoe, Ngāti Kahungunu), who named Te Kaiaotanga o Te Reo, is one of several key speakers. Sir Tīmoti is one of Māoridom’s most respected linguists. He was the first Māori language commissioner, between 1987 and 1999, and then was executive director of Te Kohanga Reo National Trust from 1993 until 2003. In 2003, he was closely involved in the foundation of Te Panekiretanga o te Reo, the Institute of Excellence in Māori Language, and served as its executive director.
In 2019, Tīmoti translated nine songs from English to Māori language for the album, Waiata/Anthems, which peaked at No. 1 on the New Zealand album charts in September 2019.
Other speakers in the line-up include radio and TV broadcasters and well-known Māori language champions Stacey and Scotty Morrison, stars of popular Māori Television kids’ show Te Nūtube Te Haakura and Atareta (Te Arawa), human rights lawyer and advocate Annette Sykes, author and te reo Māori lecturer Hēmi Kelly, and Tukiterangi and Renata Curtis, of Ngāti Rongomai in Rotorua, founders and co-principals of Te Wharekura o Ngāti Rongomai.
Te Kaiaotanga o Te Reo is to be held in Blenheim on May 19 and 20, 2021. Tickets are now available – visit tekaiaotangaotereo.co.nz or see the Facebook page for further details.