Everybody’s talking about Maori Language Week

Friday, 06 July 2007

Everybody’s talking about Maori Language Week at MIT

Maori Language Week begins on Monday, 23 July and Manukau Institute of Technology is gearing up for a celebratory week of activities to promote greater everyday use of the language among staff, students and the local community.

The MIT celebrations kick off on Monday with a staff lunch addressed by the head of Maori Television, Jim Mather. On Wednesday, a Marae Idol competition will feature at Nga Kete Wananga marae, while the audience enjoys a free barbeque. And Thursday is the launch of the Te Reo Coffee Club, a once-a-week opportunity for staff and students to relax in an immersion environment and speak te reo. E-deli Café, located in the North Campus Quad, is proud to participate in the events of the week and if visitors are keen enough to order their coffee of choice in Maori they will receive a 10% discount during the week!

A bilingual quiz night comprising teams of four will be held at the marae that night, with the same venue used on Friday for a midday hangi.

Members of the local community are welcome to attend any of the week’s events.

“Maori Language Week is an important time to honour past champions of the language,” says Kotuku Tibble, lecturer from Te Tari Matauranga Maori, MIT’s Department of Maori Education. “Because of them we have the whole kohanga reo and wananga system of education in te reo Maori.

“There is a Maori proverb that says, ‘The language is the life force of the Maori identity – Ko te reo te mauri o te mana Maori’.

“At MIT we pride ourselves on promoting the language and being inclusive. This year is also a double celebration for us because we have just launched our Maori Media, Language and Broadcasting Diploma, New Zealand’s first Maori media course to be taught in te reo.”

Last year MIT won the Tertiary Institution Award – Te Taura Whiri I te Reo Maori – for its work around promoting the use of the language and appreciation of the culture during national Maori Language Week.

Maori Language Week has been celebrated for more than 30 years, and has its roots in the 30,000-signature petition handed to parliament in 1972 requesting that Maori be taught in schools with large numbers of Maori children. It also went on to ask “that these same courses be offered, as a gift to the Pakeha from the Maori, in all other New Zealand schools as a positive effort to promote a more meaningful concept of integration”.

ENDS

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