Growing up as a Pākehā New Zealander, I have always been proud of te reo Māori and had some limited vocabulary myself. I now have a baby girl who is of Nga Puhi descent and am doing my best to foster a bilingual environment at home with words, songs, artwork and books. I hope that she grows into a confident individual and I think that has to begin with an appreciation of her Māori heritage and the language of tāngata whenua. There are now some amazing resources to help us with that, clear evidence of the progress the battle of te reo has made. We watch kids shows with te reo, have bilingual picture books, it's frequently seen in the media and widely used in early childhood centres. To expand my knowledge and vocabulary I used the te reo course through the correspondence school. As I use the language more I notice there are still so many New Zealanders that are resistant to te reo being used in mainstream media and life, either because they don't agree with it's use or struggle with mispronounciation so much they shy away from speaking te reo at all. So much progress and so much more to go....
Kā Pākihi Whakatekateka o Waitaha | Canterbury | Christchurch City | 2020-29 | Whānau & community
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