Drive to learn te reo starts early

WE NEVER spoke Maori in our house when I was a child and I didn't go to kohanga reo. I went to kindy, which I enjoyed. But I grew up on my marae in Wairoa and my church in the Ratana faith where te reo Maori was all around us. I remember my grandmother coming from Rotorua to visit us and we would all flock around to listen to her and my aunties speak Maori. We were amazed at what they were talking about and that proved to be the big driver for me to learn Maori.

At the time my sister Parekura and I had a real passion for kapa haka. We were learning waiata and whakamoemiti, or prayers, and through that work we began to learn how to speak the reo.

So I didn't learn initially by going to classes, it was all through what we picked up at kapa haka, learning our waiata, pepeha and whakapapa, to do with all things Wairoa, as well as listening to my grandmother.

We learned about the names of our tipuna and places of significance connected to our families. Straight after seventh form at Wairoa College I went into learning Te Ataarangi, a method of learning the language, with tutor Liz Hunkin.

I was 19 when I went to EIT Hawke's Bay to further my studies in the reo. I was there for four years, completed my degree and honours.

It was at EIT that I began to develop a more deeper love for the reo. At kapa haka I loved singing about my tipuna but at EIT I realised what I was singing about. I learned the true meaning of those songs and their words and where they had come from.

My tutor, Materoa Haenga, was from Ngati Porou but she taught us Kahungunu words and fed that to us because she said those words were unique to us and belonged to us. I didn't realise that before, that there were kupu (words) unique to Kahungunu so was very grateful to our tutor.

Radio Kahungunu was still based at the EIT when I was at class then. I was approached to work as an announcer on the rangatahi (youth) show and loved it straight away. It was a chance to use the reo I had been taught, and to strengthen my reo while being on radio.

Joseph Te Rito, our dean of Te Manga Maori (Maori studies department) used to come into the studio, when the red light was on and I was on air, and write with a red marker on the white board if I had pronounced any words incorrectly.

It was beneficial to us, even though we were thrown in the deep end.

I am now working in administration at Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Ngati Kahungunu o Te Wairoa and teaching kapa haka at Wairoa College. I am also one of the senior leaders of Te Rerenga Kotuku, which will be competing at the national kapa haka competition in Rotorua next year.

My husband, Edward, and I can both korero Maori. We have a two-year-old son whom we want to bring up in a bilingual world that involves kapa haka, marae and whakamoemiti environment, similar to the way we were brought up. Edward speaks English to him and I speak Maori to him. We want him to learn both languages, so he doesn't miss out, rather than seeding him with just Maori or just English. My son goes to Taihoa Kohanga Reo. My parents later on in life decided they too wanted to learn te reo to be able to talk in Maori with their children.

For anyone thinking of learn the reo, I would say immerse yourself in the culture. That is what it's about, te reo me on nga tikanga, which means the language and the culture. You can't have one without the other.-->-->