Te Reo Māori

Our Journey to Embracing Te Reo Māori

This year, we are on an exciting journey to make Te Reo Māori a natural part of our school culture. As an official language of Aotearoa and the indigenous language of this land, it is important that we all develop a strong understanding and appreciation of Te Reo Māori. By incorporating it into our daily school life, we honour our history, strengthen our cultural connections, and help keep the language alive for future generations.

As a diverse school community, we want all families to feel included in this journey. To support this, we will be sharing basic Te Reo Māori words that we use every day so you can learn alongside your child.

Challenge for Whānau: We encourage you to learn one new word per week as a family. Small steps like this will help increase the use of Te Reo Māori across our school community.

Let’s embrace this journey together—kōrero mai! (Let’s speak!)

It’s important to understand that Te Reo Māori is a contextual language. While we are providing you with basic words, many Māori words carry deep and complex meanings that can be difficult to describe outside of their cultural and linguistic context. Embracing the language means appreciating not just the words themselves, but also the rich history, tikanga (customs), and values that come with them.

Māori Alphabet: 

Each vowel in Te Reo is pronounced. The vowel sounds are very important part of learning Te Reo and a good place to start if pronunciation is difficult. The R in Te Reo is a rolled sound and can take some practice. 

Have a go at learning some of the 15 letter sounds of Te Reo:

Key Words you will find within the Newsletter:

Whānau - Family

Tamariki - children

Tumuaki - Principal

Kaiako - Teacher

Tēnā koutou - Hello to many (Tēnā kōrua  - Hello to two, Tēnā koe - Hello to one person)

Aotearoa - New Zealand

Powhiri - Official welcoming ceremony

Whaikōrero - speech

Karanga - Call or Summoning 

Mana - Prestige (in the context used - but has a more complex meaning and background)

Words you can try and use at home:

Pōtae - Hat (Don't forget your Pōtae)

Mōrena - Good morning

Haere mai - come here

Kai -food

Kōrero - to speak

Aroha - love, show sympathy, connection

Hikoi - walk

Kura- school

Mahi - work

Taihoa - Wait, hold off

Whenua - land 

Kaitiakitanga - Guardianship, protector - (used in the context of sustainability this term, Guardians over the whenua of Ridgeview)

A concept you may hear used often in regards to our school is: Tuakana-Teina” is a Māori concept referring to the relationship between an older sibling (Tuakana) and a younger sibling (Teina). In the concept of school this is when our older students support our younger students.