te reo: how do you say...

Does Pronunciation Matter? Is it Māori or Maarry?

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te reo: how do you say...

Pronunciation of te reo Māori — or any language for that matter — is important, as it can change the meaning. It’s a sign of respect, too. The history behind place names is important, as it locates you, and you see, or find, the history that brought about the name. I can think of several stories relating to the pronunciation of my name; another blog post perhaps?

If you’re someone who would like to improve your pronunciation, there are some practical steps you can take:

  • Ask for help. Most people are willing to assist you if they know you are trying.
  • Make an effort; don’t give up. Make an effort, and don’t give up, as we know change often happens in small steps. Even if you ‘move closer’ to where you would like to be, people will notice the effort and admire it.
  • Find resources. Look for resources to assist you.

I was having a discussion with my colleague Te Mako Orzecki (two names that regularly get mispronounced) about the pronunciation of “Kaikōura” and the multiple ways we have heard it recently in public on T.V. and radio.

Mispronunciation can change the whole meaning of a word. I have been impressed with Radio New Zealand and the effective strategy they use. When I constantly hear te reo throughout and every name is pronounced correctly in te reo Māori, after a while I just ‘hear’ the essence of what is being said and forget whether it is in English or te reo (this is because of the repetition, and because it is mainly introductions and greetings).

I have also noticed that the uptake of macrons in the media is still very slow. Past CORE blogs have discussed the importance of macrons in te reo Māori. If you’re unsure of how to add macrons, follow these simple guides:

Without wanting to get into the many reasons why te reo Māori is mispronounced, Te Mako and I thought we would choose 15 well-known place names and offer a free course to improve your pronunciation. The course involves interactive activities to support te reo Māori pronunciation, and a one-on-one virtual session with Te Mako or Anaru. If you are interested in enrolling in this course, register here:

Ngā Ingoa Wāhi o Aotearoa

Te Mako and I would also like to continue to gather ideas on te reo Māori and kaupapa Māori ideas to support whānau, learners, and staff. If you have any questions or stories to share please leave a comment below or tweet us: @anaruwhite or @OrzeckiT, or use the hashtags #correctPronunciation and #tereo. You can also use #TransformWithCore.

 

He rauemi

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Māori pronunciation

He rerekē tēnei, i tēnā — Each has its own uniqueness

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Māori pronunciation
Recently, I have had a lot of discussion with my colleague Te Mako Orzecki about te reo Māori and particularly about the pronunciation of our names.

We both agree on the importance of correct pronunciation, and, as former kaiako, we can think of several occasions when students’ names were mispronounced. I remember how students felt when their names were mispronounced and the disappointing and upsetting reaction from them. On the other hand, a fond memory I have is when a former colleague of mine came to me at the start of the year with her class list and asked me how to pronounce names correctly. A wee bit of preparation can lead to a positive start to a classroom relationship, and we know how important this is.

At times, Te Mako and I have been a bit slack correcting pronunciation, but we have been staunch lately, and this has been well-received with apologies and the desire to be correct.

In our discussions, we have talked about our names and experiences and wanted to share them to highlight the importance of pronunciation and the meaning behind names. I was interested to hear about the experiences and kōrero behind Te Mako’s name.

 

Te Mako and I would like to continue to gather ideas on te reo Māori and kaupapa Māori ideas to support whānau, learners, and staff. If you have any questions or stories to share please leave a comment below, or tweet us: @anaruwhite or @OrzeckiT, or use the hashtags #correctPronunciation and #tereo.

He rauemi

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boys writing

TBH – Māori boys’ writing may not be your target!

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boys writing

Setting the targets

It’s the time of year when many schools are considering their achievement targets for the coming year —  analysing data; having discussions with staff — and thinking about how they can improve educational outcomes for all students. To be honest, we know that Māori students, in particular Māori boys, are sadly often overrepresented in the tail end of our educational achievement curve. As such, we often find them in starring roles in many school’s achievement targets. It appears that many of our Māori boys are underachieving across the board, and most notably in writing. More importantly, they appear to be achieving at a substantially lower standard than their female classmates, and most certainly in comparison to Pākehā/European students of their same age, and in the same learning environments. So, it stands to reason that we must have achievement targets aimed at improving the achievement of Māori boys in writing, doesn’t it? Or…is there more to this story?

national standards by subject graph

national standards by gender graph

reading, maths, writing statsAll tables retrieved from: https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/statistics/schooling/national-standards/National_Standards

TBH — To be honest

You may not have heard of the acronym, TBH, before, and you might be wondering why it is relevant here. You also may not have heard what those clever little Gen Z teens have been spending their time doing on social media — the TBH game! Gen Z teens for the past year or so have been plumping each other’s feathers, inflating each other’s egos, and generally just passing around the warm fuzzies! One person posts something like this:
[IMAGE Mail-tbh] which roughly translates to — ‘If you like this post, I will send you (via Facebook private message) a list of the honest things I think about you’. In short — warm fuzzies. Well, perhaps not always warm, but they appear to be mostly positive affirmations in typical Gen Z lingo.

In my eyes, this phenomenon is truly amazing and it really does warm my heart. What other generation has ever done this? My own Gen Z teen has allowed me to share with you all a couple of the many hundreds he has in his inbox. All of them kept, and all of them special to him.

tbh

(Of course, you need a Masters’ degree in Gen Z lingo and emoticons to interpret them, but I can assure you, they are all warm fuzzies!)

So, please bear with me for a moment while I propose a few TBH statements that may be born from teachers’ perceptions, and which are sitting beneath the targets relating to improving the writing achievement of our Māori boys:

TBH Māori boys are disengaged in learning
TBH Māori boys misbehave and distract others
TBH Māori boys find writing too hard
TBH Māori boys have a bad attitude and/or a closed mind set
TBH Māori boys have a poor work ethic
TBH Māori boys get little or no support at home
TBH Māori boys don’t like writing

Now, it might be that some, all, or none of these statements are true for our Māori boys. BUT, my wondering is this: How do you know? What’s the story behind your data?

Uncovering the story behind your data

Analysing achievement data is a no mean feat. It takes perseverance, tenacity, and, most of all, determination to uncover your story behind your data. Each school will have their own version of events with determining factors and influences. How can we discover what our data is revealing to us? I would advocate for an inquiry into your data that includes everyone’s voices — especially the voices of the stars of the show — our students. More information on inquiry may be found here.

If we really want to know what’s going on for our Māori boys in class, we need to ask them. Not just once, but repeatedly. In open, safe, and respectful environments. Most importantly, we need them to know we will hear them and we will act on their ideas, opinions, and honest reflections. Just like how they know when their mate has read their TBH statements, our kids know the difference between when they have been listened to and when they have been truly heard. Ask the tough questions when analysing your data. What assumptions are we making? Whose voices are included or not included? What don’t we collect data on? TBH you might feel slightly uncomfortable on the journey to discovering your story, but it’ll be worth it! All the very best views can be seen from the top of the mountain!

What’s the data really revealing?

If non-Māori students in your school are achieving comparatively better than Māori students in writing, and they are all sitting in the same classes exposed to the same teaching practices, what might be the real reason our Māori boys are struggling with writing?

Russell Bishop’s work in the Te Kotahitanga project developed the Effective Teaching Profile. In his research, Russell discovered that the largest positive impact we can have on Māori student achievement lies in the hearts and minds of their educators. High expectations; a genuine ethos of care; effective personalised teaching strategies; and supporting the success of our Māori students as Māori, are all essential ingredients to raising achievement for Māori students.

effective teaching profileRetrieved from: http://slideplayer.com/slide/8454123/

With this in mind, when considering the professional development needs for your school in order to meet your target of raising achievement for Māori boys in writing, perhaps we need to look past the data and consider the story behind it. It might be that the answer doesn’t exclusively lie in developing our writing programmes. Could it, in fact, be that the more pressing need is to develop the Culturally Responsive practices of our teachers and schools, and further affirm our status as treaty partners.

What works for Māori works for everyone

This is the mantra of the He Kākano programme. Put simply, I think this means that if we create learning environments that are conducive to Māori students, they will be conducive to everyone. Why? Because we are really just talking about great relationships with students that will inform the way we teach and support each and every one of them — responsive practices. Furthermore, if we are wanting to meet the needs of all of our students in a holistic way, then culture, language, and identity must be at the forefront.

So, what’s your story?

As you embark on your next data-crunching expedition, I encourage you to explore and discover your story. Critically analysing data is of the utmost importance, particularly when considering the professional learning needs for your school, and, more importantly, when considering what is best for the students in your school. Discover your story and set the right targets for your students. Focus on the things that will really make the difference for them. TBH they’re worth it.

What's the story behind your writing?

 

Further reading:

  1. Creating culturally-safe schools for Māori students — Macfarlane, Glynn, Cavanagh, Bateman
  2. Culture Speaks — Russell Bishop and Mere Berryman
  3. Colouring in the White Spaces — B A Milne

 

For professional support in Culturally Responsive Practice, please check out our website and email arareomaori@core-ed.ac.nz
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Gen Z learners

Engaging Māori students and whānau in future-focused education

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From the uLearn16 blog: a review by Nichole Gully of Janelle Riki’s presentation – Friday 7 October 2016

Educators from around Aotearoa descended on the Janelle Riki’s uLearn session to wānanga (discuss) similar questions:

  • How can we better engage Māori learners and whānau in future focused education?
  • As our schools are transforming, how do we ensure our whānau and Māori students feel empowered?
  • How can we ensure that our schools are truly bicultural and breathing life into the Treaty of Waitangi?
  • How can be inclusive of all learners and create pathways to success for all?
  • How can pedagogy and practice in a modern and innovative classroom align with the values and practices of Māori?

This presentation discussed these and a lot more, providing examples of how a transformative journey to innovation in education will be more successful if everyone is in the waka together.

Janelle Riki family

Janelle talked to her audience as much as a māmā bear of a blended whānau of five as she did as an educator. She prefaced her remarks that in the next hour-and-a-half people would probably feel uncomfortable, and that she did this intentionally, from a place of love, in order to renew our perspectives and invite change.

So, forewarned, Janelle launched into an emotional raw story of her 16-year-old’s journey through education. A journey fraught with deficit views of his intellect, behaviour, and motivation. Labelled as the ‘typical’ Māori boy, more interested in being the naughty off-task kid than focusing on reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic. Report after report after report states, “Lots of potential but…”, “Lots of potential but…”. The negative perceptions of his teachers is the antithesis of who Mr Sixteen is at home. A teenage boy with the biggest heart for his siblings and cousins, respectful to his elders, a talented sportsman, a strong orator, and an extremely hardworking perfectionist. So, how is it that in a lifetime of schooling, none of these qualities have ever been noticed, fostered, and leveraged?

Russell Bishop quoteIs what we focus on all we see? As teachers, are our perceptions of kids shaping their experiences? If this is the case, if we see them as capable, driven, intelligent learners, how might this transform their experience in education? Janelle went on to talk about Russell Bishop’s research asserting, “What works for Māori in education, will work for ALL kids.” Why? “Because it is all about good practice”. She warned, though, that it doesn’t go the other way. What fits all, doesn’t necessarily fit Māori. And the stats speak for themselves.

Transforming educational outcomes for Māori like Mr Sixteen starts with knowing who they are and teaching to who they are. Valuing them. So, who are these Gen Z Māori, really? Janelle says, “They are really easy to love, but really hard to like sometimes”, but, if you make the effort, the payoffs are innumerable. And so, she unpacked who these kids are, starting with their language, Gen Z Māori lingo:

Gen Z Māori learners

  • Skux / Steezy (cool, keep doing what you are doing)
  • Salty (grumpy, so smile)
  • Snake (men who befriend lots of girls)
  • ACTUAL (truth be told, for real)
  • On the grind! (Getting fit, training, they actually value hard work)
  • TBH (to be honest)

It is this last phrase that really highlights the values that Gen Z Māori boys have. TBH – to be honest.

  • TBH u look skux
  • TBH u r a mean league player
  • TBH ur awesome at haka
  • TBH u smashed that exam

Their social media posts to their mates are splattered with positive affirmations of things they notice about each other, and they share them freely and publicly. What generation has ever done that? What would happen if teachers took this into the classroom every morning and everyone had a TBH session. TBH loved your writing yesterday, TBH your art inspired me to try new stuff, TBH… Normalise making mihi (positive affirmations) cool!

In these Gen Z Māori, we are seeing an emergence of kids connected and wanting to connect to their culture. They are smart Gen Z. They can process huge amounts of information really quickly. They can skim, not read line by line by line. Does that mean they know what to do with that information? No it doesn’t. So, we need to teach them how to analyse the reliability and validity of that information, summarise, and repurpose it. What do the oldies think —and, for your information, 25 and above is OLD to them! We think they are anti-social, have poor literacy skills, and that they are self-absorbed because they take lots of selfies. We could interpret it as self-absorption, or, we could interpret it as confidence and self-expression. We make really quick assumptions about these kids.

Angus McFarlane and his colleagues talk about how schools need to allow and enable students to be who and what they are. How are we enabling our kids to be Māori? Janelle asks, what would I hear, see and feel when I come to your school that sends the message, “We value and will celebrate your culture here?” Janelle goes to schools as an educator, but also wearing her Mum eyes. If she entered your school, what would she see and feel as a Māori mum? What signs would she see, and what would she hear that sends the message that we value and will celebrate your culture? How is she greeted as a parent when she goes to your school or your class? What might she see on your school website or read in your newsletter that will encourage her to enrol her beautiful tamariki at your school, safe in the knowledge that they will be cherished here, as Māori?

Janelle stated that, “It is not a privilege to be connected to the place you go each day. It is a right! Kids deserve to go to school and know they are home. If I was standing in your school, how would I know I was in a school in Aotearoa?” Furthermore, Janelle asked, “Shouldn’t I be able to choose any school in this country for my kids and expect that their language, culture, and identity will be celebrated and grown? This is Aotearoa, and Māori are tangata whenua, Te Reo Māori is this country’s first language. This is a school where my kids should be supported to grow into the Māori leaders of our future.”

Māori Achieving as MāoriSo, what is the recipe for Māori Achieving Success as Māori? We returned to Mr Sixteen’s repeated reports, “potential but…, potential but…”. But, Janelle asks, What are you as the teacher, as the school doing for him? His potential is his and it is not him that hasn’t realised it. That is the job of schools, to draw this out of our kids. He has potential but … what are you doing about it?”. What will it take for teachers to change their view, change their lens for kids like Mr Sixteen to realise their potential? See them in all their greatness, see all of their potential and enable them to apply what they are good at. It’s really not rocket science.

What might this look like for Mr Sixteen? How could we tie art into learning maths and sports into literacy. Where are the opportunities for him to leverage off his oral story-telling talents and working collaboratively on creative projects. Here is the box, fit in it. You don’t fit, you fail. The one-size-fits-all approach to learning doesn’t fit him and lots of other ways of learning and presenting learning do.

Janelle asserts that, “The label of failure is actually just unrealised potential.” If Mr Sixteen was born into pre-European settlement Aotearoa, he would have been considered off-the-charts gifted and talented with his oral abilities, physical prowess, and interpersonal skills, and yet he is not in our current system. He is a ‘failure’ in the NZ education system. A system that does not see or recognise his natural abilities and leverage off these. And Mr Sixteen’s experience is typical of many Māori in education.

If you are Mr Sixteen and you suck at reading, writing, and maths there are very few opportunities to to shine at school and feel good about yourself. What are other ways that all kids have time to shine. One strategy is the Tuakana/Teina wall. On one side teachers and learners write on stickies with their name, “I am good at…”, and post them on the tuakana wall. On the teina wall they can write, “I need help with….” Schools who have worked with Janelle have put this in their weekly programme and celebrate everyone’s skills. All attributes, skills, and abilities are valued, not just the ones considered valued national standards skills. What other strategies could work?

perceptionIn closing, Janelle finished with the saying, “Perception is everything! Intention is nothing”. As educators, if we want to collectively transform the experience of Māori across the education system, we need to address our perceptions and actions. It takes persistence and tenacity to shift the focus from others to ourselves, and we need to work with whānau to do this. It takes a big person to ask, What is my part in this? How can we then make it better? She says, the system is failing some kids and perception is the number one killer. We are failing our Māori kids with our perception of them and their perception of what they think we think of them. They think teachers don’t know them, don’t want to know who they are, and don’t care. Our kids have made assumptions and have gotten used to teachers having negative assumptions of them.

We have stuff in our profession we must unlearn. We have developed some bad habits and we have to learn new ones. We have to be open, critically reflective, and honest in turning that mirror around as the change starts with us. She implored teachers, as a Mum of five beautiful Māori kids in the education system to do this, so children like Mr Sixteen are no longer labelled as failures and become damaged in their journey through our education system. We cannot wait; we must act now. Our babies are too important, and our future depends on us growing the very best leaders we can.

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Charisma Rangipunga

Kei te kapakapa rānei te ngākau o te reo Māori? E kai ngā mata i te rā! — Spotlight on Charisma Rangipunga

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From the uLearn16 blog: a review by Nichole Gully of Charisma Rangipunga’s presentation – Thurs 6 October 2016

Kei te kapakapa rānei te ngākau o te reo Māori? E kai ngā mata i te rā!

Charisma RangipungaI tatū atu a Charisma Rangipunga nō Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Kahungunu, Taranaki ki uAko2016 e wānanga ai i te oranga rānei o te reo Māori. Hei tā Charisma, e hia kē nei ngā ara kua whāia hei whakarauora i tō tātou reo engari he haere kurī noa iho ērā haerenga, kua ora ake rānei tō tātou reo i aua mahi? Ko te whāinga o te kauhau kia matua mōhio te hunga whakarongo ki ngā āhuatanga o tō tātou reo Māori me tōna ora i tēnei ao hurihuri, hei āwhina i te hunga e ngākau nui ana ki te reo i ā rātou mahi. I whakaoreore i a Ngākau, i a Hinengaro kia aro ki ngā mahi whakarauora reo, kia whai whakaaro hoki ki te wāhi ki tēnā, ki tēnā o tātou i ēnei mahi.

Aua atu ngā mahi rangatira a Charisma Rangipunga hei whakarauora i te reo Māori. I te uepū whakarauora i te reo o Ngāi Tahu mai i ngā tau 90. Ko ia tētahi o ngā tino ringa tōhaunui i kōkirihia te rautaki Kotahi Mano Kāika, Kotahi Mano Wawata mai i te tau 2000. He Kaikōmihana a Charisma i Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori, ā, i te kāhui i kawe nei i Te Ture Reo Māori 2015. Ahakoa te hekenga o te werawera, ko tāna, kāore he mahi tua atu i te mahi hākui me te whāngai i te reo i te kāinga.  Kāore hoki he wāhi i kō atu i te kāinga hei whakarauora i te reo. Kei pōhēhē Ngāi Tātou, mā te kura te reo e whakarauora, ka ora rānei i te marae. E hē!

Charisma-tamarikiHe māmā a Charisma o ngā makimaki tama e toru, 17, 10, e 8 ngā pakeke. He reo Māori te reo i te kāinga pō noa te ao, ao noa te pō. Heoi, ki tā Charisma, ehara rawa te whāngai reo i te kāinga i te mahi ngāwari. Kia aro mai ana poai, me ū ki te reo o nāianei tonu, me mārama tana reo ki a rātou, me whai rautaki hoki ia e manawareka atu ai ngā tama ki te kōrero Māori hoki rātou ki a rātou, ki te hapori arero Māori. Hei tā i te pikitia, i kōrero ia mō te hararei ā-whānau ki Tahuna, ki ngā waka reti raima (luge) mahi ngahau ai i te taha o ngā tamariki. Tae rawa atu ki reira, ka raru katoa ia i te korenga o tana mōhio ki ētahi rerenga kounga nei kia Māori te whakaahua i ngā rerenga Pākehā nei:

  • Son, don’t use your foot as a break. 
  • Did you see how I slid around the corner?
  • Son, your big head won’t fit in the helmet, go ask for another one.

Ka pātai tana pōtiki, “Māmā, he aha tēnei mea te Gondola?” I whakautua tana pātai engari, kāore i a ia ngā kupu i hāngai ki ngā taputapu gondola, ngā kupu hei whakaahua i te hanga me ngā oro. I raru anō hoki ia i te taenga mai o te iwi Pokemon. Nā reira, ko tāna i ako ai, me āta whakarite rautaki e whakawhāiti ai i aua tū reo i mua noa atu i te haerenga.

Ko te Kahoot (kēmu 248488) te huarahi i ako ai ngā apataki o tēnei wānanga i ngā auheke me ngā aupiki o te reo Māori mai i te taenga o Ngāi Kiritea ki Aotearoa. He ā

ta titiro ki te heke o te kōrerotanga o te reo Māori. I matapakihia he aha ngā āhuatanga i tāmi ai i te kōrerotanga o te reo? I kōrerohia:

  • Te heke haere o te taupori Māori i te whawhai, i te māuiui, i te aha, i te aha
  • Te heke haere o te rahinga o ngā tamariki i kōrero Māori i roto i ngā tau, ināhea hoki i tīmata anō ai ki te piki
  • Te whakakoretanga o te reo i ngā kura
  • Te hua o te nuku ki ngā tāone nui o te motu
  • Ngā pūrongo kāwanatanga i mea “Kāore ōna take” o te reo Māori ki te ao hou. The Hunn Report – me Pākehā te Māori. I whakamahia e ngā tari kāwanatanga katoa
  • Te tau i takatū a Māori kia whai mana te reo Māori – 1975
  • 1975 – Te wiki o te reo Māori (hei whakatenatena i te pai o te reo Māori)
  • Te whakatū i ngā kura reorua hou (Ruātoki )
  • Ngā iwi me ngā rautaki – Ko Raukawa te tuatahi – Whakatipu Rua Mano
  • 1953 – 56% ngā tamariki kōrero Māori
  • 1975 – 5% ngā tamariki whai reo Māori
  • 1985 – Ko Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Hoani Waititi te kura kaupapa Māori tuatahi.

Charisma presenting

I whakatūria ngā apataki 10 o te katoa o te rūma kia kite ā-kanohi, kia rongo ā-tinana, ā-whatumanawa anō hoki i ngā raraunga e hāngai ana ki te oranga o te reo o Māori, ka matapakihia ai ngā pānga o ngā raraunga.

Charisma Rangipunga

  • E 3 o te 10 e noho ana ki Tāmaki. 1 o te 10 e noho ana ki Ōtautahi. He aha ngā rautaki whakarauora i ēnei wāhi? E whaitake ana? Ka pēhea?
  • 15% kāore i te mōhio nō hea rātou.
  • E 3 o te 10 e mōhio ana ki te katoa o ā rātou pepeha.

Mena ko te marae te wāhi ka rangona te reo Māori, he aha te pānga o ēnei ki te oranga o te reo?

  • E 6 o te 10 – kua tae atu ki tōna marae i tētahi wā nuku atu rānei – 4/10 kāore anō kia tae atu.
  • E 3 o te 10 – te rahi kua tae atu i tēnei tau kua hori
  • 15% kua tae atu ki tōna marae i tēnei 12 marama nui ake i te wā kotahi.

Mena ka riro mā ngā kura te reo e whakarauora, ka pēhea ēnei raraunga?

  •  E 2,500 ngā kura o te motu. Tōna 60 ngā kura rumaki (KKM+) taumata 1-2.
  • 1 o te 10 ngā tamariki Māori e kuraina ana ki ngā kura taumata 1-2.

Mena kāore a Māori e tae atu ana ki te marae, ruarua noa iho ngā Māori e kuraina ana ki ngā kura arareo Māori, ki hea kē whakarauora ai, kōrero ai i te reo?

Tokohia ngā Māori e kōrero Māori ana?

  • E 2 o te 10 ngā Māori e mea ana he āheinga reo Māori mai i te reo tapepe, kupu ruarua nei, tae noa ki a Tīmoti Kāretū.
  • E 2% o te katoa o ngā kaikōrero Māori e kōrero Māori ana i te kāinga.
  • E 4% e ruarua ana.

E hika mā, ko te nuinga o Ngāi Māori e kōrero Pākehā ana ki te kāinga. Ahakoa ngā kura, ngā whare wānanga, ngā reo irirangi, ngā pukapuka, te pouaka whakaata Māori, ko tātou katoa he kōrero Māori. Kei te kapunga o ngā ringa te oranga rānei?  Ki te kore koutou e whakahoki i tō koutou reo ki ō koutou kāinga ake, ki ō tamariki, he aha te hua o tō koutou reo? Kaiako mā, he aua noa te mahi i te kura arareo Māori. E kai ngā mata i te rā!

audience

 

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