Te reo learning a family affair (+pics&video)

Lynmore Playcentre enjoyed an interactive show by children's author Sharon Holt to celebrate Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori - Maori Language Week. Photo / Ben Fraser

Lynmore Playcentre parents are epitomising this year's Maori Language Week theme by learning te reo alongside their children.

Children's author Sharon Holt hosted an interactive show and shared her singing te reo Maori books for the 22 families, who are part of the parents co-op centre on Monday.

Mrs Holt was invited as part of Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori - Maori Language Week with the theme "Whangaihia te reo Maori ki nga matua - helping parents to pass te reo on to their children".

Since 2011, Mrs Holt has been working full-time on her Te Reo Singalong series of children's picture books and CDs. The books aim to make it easy for parents and teachers of early childhood and lower primary school aged children to use te reo - even if they have no former knowledge of the language.

Playcentre president Brownyn Alton said the show was enjoyed by all.

"It was amazing, it was laugh out loud funny," Mrs Alton said.

"Sharon sang her books and it was so fun, easy and the sentences were repetitive that we were able to learn different sentence structures, like 'come here' and 'follow me'. It was really empowering for us as parents to have that experience."

The playcentre celebrated Maori Language Week last year and as part of its theme learned a word a week for the year. It also recently commemorated the Maori New Year, Matariki.

"We took that kaupapa on and said, 'let's commit to learning each week'. We just wanted to build on that and speak it a bit more, introducing a few more words to our children," Mrs Alton said.

Image 1 of 12: Alice Alton, 4. Photo/Ben Fraser

"We want it to be natural and comfortable to use, when we found out about Sharon, we thought, 'hey, what a great way to celebrate, do something different'."

Mrs Alton said they wanted to take their te reo learning and teaching to another level and commit, as a playcentre, to biculturalism.

KUPU HOU (NEW WORDS)

Ako (Ah-koh) - learn

Kaiako (Kie-ah-koh) - teacher

Kura (Koo-rah) - school

Maatua (Maah-too-ah) - parents