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Learning a language isn’t easy, and with cuts to funding there’s even less support for educators to take up the challenge of learning te reo Māori. Meriana Johnsen meets the kaiako at Tawa Intermediate who are going above and beyond to bring more te reo into the classroom.
Jasmine Taankink (Ngā Mahanga-a-Tairi) is a second language speaker of te reo Māori committed to the intergenerational transmission of te reo in her whānau and community. She shares with us her hopes for her three moko.
Two years since it was made compulsory in schools, Heeni Collins (Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Haumia) finds out about the positive impacts of Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories curriculum on teachers and students, and the barriers they still face to implementing it.
In 2022, Ngāti Rēhia began a partnership with local schools in Kerikeri to incorporate its pūrākau and mātauranga into Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories curriculum. Ako Zoomed in to Kerikeri to hear from Riverview Primary School teacher Samantha Roessler and Ngāti Rēhia Matua Taua Kemp about the significance of this collaboration for their students and community.
Educators across the motu are building brains through music. It’s unseen and often undervalued work, but that mahi is helping tamariki thrive right across the curriculum. AKO spoke to kaiako who love using music to build communication, wellbeing and impulse control in tamariki.
Last year, NZEI Te Riu Roa won an allowance for existing teachers who hold cultural knowledge and expertise to recognise the work they are already doing in kura, schools and kindergartens. It came into effect this year and the applications for the funding were overwhelming.
Ngāmotu-based writer Emma Hislop (Kāi Tahu) sat down with a few of the kaiako who received the Cultural Leadership Allowance in Taranaki, to find out about their roles – and what receiving the funding meant to them.
My journey and personal relationship with my identity is an ever-evolving part of my life. My identity bears the impacts of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the Treaty from before I was even born.
Three pukapuka for tamariki and adults to kick start your raumati/summer reading list!
Puta noa i te motu e ngana ana te hunga tangata ki te ako i te reo Māori me Te Reo Turi/New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL), koia nei ngā reo taketake o Aotearoa. I kōrero ake a Ako ki ētahi o ngā ākonga e ngana nei ki te whai i tēnei kaupapa, ko te whāinga hoki ko te whakamana i ngā reanga e kake ake ana, e mōhio ai rātou ko wai rātou, nō hea rātou.
Across the country people are making it their mission to learn te reo Māori and New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL), both official languages in Aotearoa New Zealand. Ako spoke to educators who have taken up the language learning challenge, with the aim of empowering the next generation to be confident in who they are and where they come from.
Kairangahau Matua (Senior Researcher) at NZCER Nicola Bright shares her thoughts on why we need to put Māori first when we’re talking about te reo Māori revitalisation.
In 2022, 50 years after the Equal Pay Act was passed into law, Kaiārahi i te reo won a pay equity settlement, with an average pay increase of 79 percent. Āwhina Kihi tells us what being a kaiārahi means and why the pay increase is such a big deal.
He hoa haaere te maanawatia aa Mataariki i te whakanuia te maramataka Maaori. Kei te whai ake aa Ako i ngaa koorero oo te waa mai ngaa kura puta noa i te motu, me ngaa painga oo roto.
Reviews of thirteen excellent new books for kaiako and ākonga.
Tae atu ki ēnei tau tata nei, he rautaki a te kāwana kia whakawarewaretia āna ake mahi tūkino ki a ngāi Māori. He aha ngā whakaaro o ngā kura Māori e hāngai ana ki te whakaakoranga o ngā kōrero tuku iho me ngā hītori o Niu Tīreni?
AKO catches up with Api Nathan, deputy principal and Māori immersion strand leader at Otari School in Wellington, and hears how they supported immersion learning while the country was in lockdown.
Over the past 30 years, the demand for Māori immersion learning has increased, being a pivotal way to strengthen te reo Māori. What effect do immersion units have on mainstream schools and their communities?
Ah, compulsory te reo Māori in mainstream schools. It’s a grazing table for politician-elects and a fear-inducing topic for overworked teachers. It’s been on the cards since 1972, when 33,000 people signed a petition approaching Government on the topic, but so far, it’s been a fruit too high to harvest.
It is great to have the opportunity to contribute to Ako. I am really pleased that this issue is focussed on language, as it is top of mind for me.