To celebrate Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori, VLN Primary ākonga hosted an interactive Zoom for nearly 1800 tamariki from 70 locations around Aotearoa to celebrate te reo Māori!

Led by students

A handful of ākonga from Te Tai Tokerau, Taranaki, Waikato, and Manawatū-Whanganui met online in the weeks beforehand to practice leading the Zoom. It was the biggest audience students had spoke in front of and they did fantastically! They welcomed manuhiri with a karanga, guided them through actions for the karakia and waiata and invited everyone to act out emotions during the korero for 'Kei te pēhea koe?' It was great to see participation from classes of students with their teachers from Te Ika-a-Māui me Te Waipounamu, whānau in Tāmaki Makaurau Zooming from home in lockdown, several mahi, and even a few kanohi from overseas.

Ka rawe to:

• Anthony (Mangonui School) and Matiaha (Waihi Beach School) for MCing the event and leading the karakia and actions; 
• Ratapiko School for the waiata; 
• Te Ahere, Brock, Samuel, Thomas, Anthony, Leah (Mangonui School), Hayden (St Patricks Catholic School) and Matiaha (Waihi Beach School) for leading korero around introductions.
  

Watch Te Wā Tuku Reo Māori!

Check out the slides

Leading up to the Zoom, kura were sent out a set of Google Slides with videos and phrases so they could practice the different parts to the Zoom - the mahi before the moment. The wero was put out to our te reo classes for students to record themselves as an example for others to hear pronunciation of the kōrero. Students from Wairakei School, Halfmoon Bay School, Te Poi School, Papanui Junction School, The Gardens School, and Mangonui School all contributed - kia ora!

Mahi before the moment winners

Tino pai to all the students who recorded their kōrero and sent in videos to VLN Primary to be in the draw to win a prize. Waiotira students (Te Tai Tokerau) were drawn as our winners and a te reo karaka to tell the time in te reo is in the mail!

Helping to meet the need in schools

We see there is a great need in our schools to provide opportunities to learn te reo Māori and to increase the number of confident te reo speakers. We work with schools to provide these opportunities online. Te reo Māori and Kapa Haka are our most popular classes. We want to raise the profile of learning online and get support for more schools to access our expertise and grow their confidence and capability in te reo me tikanga Māori. Rachel Whalley, ePrincipal, VLN Primary

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