Te Wiki o te Reo Māori goes for a Fortnite

A te reo Māori esports competition featuring the world’s most popular online game is just one of the ways New Zealand’s largest provider of te reo Māori education is supporting Te Wiki o te Reo Māori in 2018.

Te Wānanga o Aotearoa will be part of a Fortnite event on Wednesday at 7pm, where top players will be learning – and playing – the hugely popular game in te reo Māori and streaming it live worldwide.

While it is a relatively small event, Chief Executive Te Ururoa Flavell says the Fortnite promotion is a simple example of supporting the use of te reo Māori in our communities and normalising its use.

“Along with teaching te reo Māori to thousands of tauira (students) each year, we are promoting the use of te reo Māori throughout the organisation and in the communities we serve. Te Wiki o te Reo Māori is an excellent time to challenge yourself to use te reo Māori whenever and wherever you can.”

For the second year, Te Wiki o te Reo Māori is being held in September to coincide with the increasingly popular Mahuru Māori promotion – where people are challenged to speak only te reo Māori for a day, week or the entire month of September.

Mahuru Māori was initiated by Te Wānanga o Aotearoa Poutiaki Reo/Tikanga Paraone Gloyne in 2014 and has grown from a handful of people taking part in its first year to more than 3000 registered participants around the world in 2018, including close to 1000 challenging themselves to speak only te reo Māori for the entire month..

It is still possible to register for Mahuru Māori at mahurunaori.com and the website has language resources to download and use, along with links to the popular Taringa podcast and course information.

The rise in interest in learning and using te reo Māori has seen full classrooms and long waiting lists around the country and Te Ururoa says Te Wānanga o Aotearoa is working to meet the increasing demand for te reo Māori education.

“As the largest provider of te reo Māori education in Aotearoa, with nearly 8000 tauira choosing to learn with us this year, we will be pushing to create more space for people to learn our beautiful language.”

Te Wiki o te Reo Māori coincides with the opening of a new Te Wānanga o Aotearoa campus in Ōtautahi on Thursday.

Parades to support te reo Māori will also be held in several centres around the country during Te Wiki o te Reo Māori.

People wanting to watch the livestream of Fortnite in te reo Māori, can do so at Mahurumaori.com/fortnite from 7pm Wednesday.

For more information, please contact Tracey Cooper, 022-043-1157, tracey.cooper@twoa.ac.nz

ends

© Scoop Media