Māori language week - Stacey Morrison on learning te reo and writing Māori at Home

Stacey Morrison is keen to see Kiwis embrace Māori language all year round.

The Hits radio presenter, of Ngāi Tahu and Te Arawa descent, learned Māori in her 20s, and is now fluent and brings up her three children up in a te reo-speaking household with husband and Te Karere presenter Scotty Morrison.

"It's an important connection and for us we feel it's our kids' birthright," she said.

"You have to embrace it and go for it. It's like parenting, it's chaos but you just go with it."

The couple wrote a book called Māori at Home as a "survival guide" for those wanting to introduce te reo into the household. It covers key topics like mahi-ā-kāinga [chores], hei mua i te kura [before school] and kīwaha [slang].

Morrison said there were many Māori words that perfectly described aspects of Kiwi life. A good example was 'mana', used to describe people such as the All Blacks or Sir Edmund Hillary and a word that most Kiwis understood.

Speaking te reo Māori uses a different mindset to speaking English; more metaphors are used and Morrison loves the layers of meaning that adds.

"If you want to say 'I'm proud of you my child' you say 'kei te tino poho kererū au kia koe'. It's like saying 'I'm very proud of you (like the puffed up chest of the kererū)'.

"It's visual, it connects us to things of our land and often references birds. It references things meaningful to us.

"I promise there's all these gems sitting inside the Māori language waiting for us to unlock."

When it comes to teaching children, Morrison urged parents not to worry if their own language skills weren't perfect.

She said studies had found children could acquire language from an imperfect model and some te reo was better than none.

Morrison supports te reo becoming a compulsory part of the curriculum if teachers are adequately resourced and there is the "building of goodwill and desire around it".

"If it's only Māori our language won't survive, we need to welcome everyone in. The line becomes muddy - I'm Māori and Pākehā as well. I love my English and Scottish whakapapa.

"Māori language is for everyone. It can be fun and enriching - just give it a go."

For those keen to speak te reo fluently Morrison recommended learning the basics then launching into full immersion - as that's where the magic happens, she says.

"It's like fitness. If you put a little bit of effort in, a small amount daily achieves more than a bigger amount infrequently."