Students make it cool to korero

St Peter's College are making it "cool" to korero with boys learning some of today's most common teenage expressions in Te reo Maori.

As the nation embraces Maori Language Week promoting the use of the language throughout the community - including the correct pronunciation of place names - the inner-city Auckland catholic boys' college is doing its bit to encourage students to speak in Maori.

They've turned to some of the most common - and possibly annoying - teen sayings and replaced them with their Maori equivalent.

It includes words and phrases such as 'yeeyah', 'whatever', 'holy moly' and 'better than nothing'.

St Peter's College students Tanis Bosson, Ryan Smith and Jackson Borchert. Photo / Michael Craig

And headmaster Kieran Fouhy said he didn't have to go far to find the right words.

"They came from the kids. In this generation it's just the words they use - 'hey bro, holy moly' - and it's in Maori."

He said outside Maori Language Week, the school was making progress towards using Te reo Maori during the rest of the year.

It included the school prayer recited in Maori and the daily notices delivered in both Maori and English.

Teachers were also attending weekly classes run by the school's Maori language teacher.

Fouhy said Maori culture was more than a haka and New Zealanders should realise the language was a wonderful gift we needed to treasure.

"We're on a journey and it's a good journey and one we're going to be intensifying."