Māori Language Week, known as “Te Wiki o te Reo Māori” in Te Reo Māori, is an annual event in New Zealand that celebrates and promotes Māori language and culture. This week-long celebration, typically held in September has fallen upon us. To honour this special event many classes participated in meaningful Te Reo Māori activities.
In the Junior School some classes learnt new waiata (songs) and completed counting, animals and matching body parts activities in Te Reo. Some classes even practiced drawing Kōwhaiwhai patterns and learnt about their meanings.
But best of all was the Māori Language Scavenger hunt. Mrs Rice organised this activity for the Junior School to promote asking and answering in Te Reo. Each class was given a set of entry forms and went to the class windows written on the sheet. Teachers asked students “He aha tēnei?” (What is this). Students replied with “he….and identified the pictured kai (food) in the window and circled it on their answer sheet. Entry forms were put into a box and Mrs Rice gave out some prizes.
To make your Te Reo Māori stronger, you can learn some of the vocabulary that we learnt about.
He aha tēnei What is this?
Kāreti carrot
Panana banana
Kumara kūmara
Āporo apple
Pī pea
Rōpere strawberry
Karaka orange
