This last Tuesday morning, the whole Cathedral Grammar School was treated to a stunning production performance from Christchurch’s own Court Theatre.

“He Kura kōrero -The Gift of Speech”, was a bilingual show of wonder and delight following three collectors; (Tola Newbery, Shea Kokaua and Olivia Parker) who, after gathering treasures from around the world, find their newest and greatest gift is, te reo Māori. 

To share this new gift, they weaved the bilingual Te Ao Māori /the Māori World story of ‘How Māui found the Secret of Fire’ to us through an amazing performance.Māui, is one of the Māori myths favourite trickster we regularly read to the tamariki(children) about at Pre-School. 

In this story by the Court Theatre, Māui wanted to know what will happen if he puts out all the fires in his pa. When his people find out they are very angry and sent Maui to the volcano to visit Mahuika, the Goddess of Fire. She gladly gave Māui one of her fire flaming fingernails. Māui fooled her with many excuses making her give nearly all fingernails up. Finding out she had been tricked Mahuika had lost much of her power, but still she was not giving up. She took her last nail and threw it at Māui in anger. The nail of fire missed Māui and flew into the trees, planting itself in the trees of the forest like the Kaikōmako trees. These trees cherished and held onto the fire of Mahuika, considering it a great gift. When Māui returned to his village he didn't bring back fire as the villagers had expected. Instead he brought back dry wood from the Kaikōmako tree and showed them how to rub the dry sticks together forming friction which would eventually start a fire.

After this outstanding performance Tola, Shea and Olivia had a kōrero (talk) about the show with all the tamariki gathered relaying a core meaning behind He Kura kōrero -The Gift of Speech, that we need to be bold and brave when using Te Reo Māori in your everyday life, whether you know very little at all or a lot.  It is about giving it a try even, Kia ora (Hello) is a start.

Our bicultural heritage is an important part of us as country and it is reflected through our strong bicultural early childhood curriculum Te Whāriki (Ministry of Education, 2017) and our Cathedral Grammar Primary Curriculum.  

The Pre-School echoes this by the weaving of the Te Ao Māori/the Māori World like te reo Maori and tikanga practices throughout the Pre-School curriculum in many diverse and unique ways.