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Te Reo Maori – The Maori Language
Toku Reo, toku oho oho
Seeds of change
From the 1970s many Maori people reasserted their identity as Maori. An emphasis on the language as an integral part of Maori culture was central to this. Maori leaders were increasingly recognising the dangers of the loss of Maori language. New groups emerged and made a commitment to strengthening Maori culture and the language.
One of these urban-based groups, Nga Tamatoa (The Young Warriors) petitioned Parliament to promote the language. Maori language day eventually became Maori language week in 1975. Three years later, New Zealand's first officially bilingual school opened at Ruatoki in the Urewera, and the first Maori-owned Maori-language radio station (Te Reo-o-Poneke) went to air in 1983.
Major Maori language recovery programmes began in the 1980s. Many were targeted at young people and the education system. The kohanga reo movement, which immersed Maori pre-schoolers in the Maori language, began in 1982; the first kohanga reo opened in Lower Hutt that year. Other programmes followed, such as kura kaupapa, a system of primary schooling in a Maori-language environment.
Legislating for change
Efforts to secure the survival of the Maori language stepped up a gear in 1985. In that year the Waitangi Tribunal heard the Te Reo Maori claim, which asserted that te reo was a taonga (a treasure) that the Crown or government was obliged to protect under the Treaty of Waitangi. The Waitangi Tribunal found in favour of the claimants and recommended a number of legislative and policy remedies. The following year saw Maori made an official language of New Zealand under the Maori Language Act 1987.
There are now many institutions most set up since the 1980s, working to recover Te reo. Even so, the decline of the Maori language has only just been arrested. There is a resurgence of Te reo, but to remain viable as a language, Maori needs a critical mass of fluent speakers of all ages, and it needs the respect and support of the wider English-speaking and multi-ethnic New Zealand community.
Northland Kindergarten Association
Northland Kindergarten Association is working towards embracing Te Reo Maori and recognising that Te Reo Maori is a taonga (treasure). Some of these strategies include:
Regular Te Reo Maori learning sessions which are available to staff within the office
Professional development of Te Reo Maori available to kindergarten teachers
Te Reo Maori language planning strategies for individual kindergartens.
Go to these websites for additional information
http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/culture/maori-language-week/100-maori-words
http://www.maori.org.nz/kotereo/default.asp?pid=sp156&parent=147
http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/category/tid/133
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