Te Wānanga o Aotearoa senior specialist marketing Brendon Moses and his team have created a suite of online resources to support Mahuru Māori participants during this year's lockdown. Photo / Dean Taylor
Te Wānanga o Aotearoa senior specialist marketing Brendon Moses and his team have created a suite of online resources to support Mahuru Māori participants during this year's lockdown. Photo / Dean Taylor
Seven years ago Te Wānanga o Aotearoa poutiaki reo (language strategy co-ordinator) Paraone Gloyne began a lone vigil to speak te reo Māori exclusively for the months of September – Mahuru Māori.
The aim was to inspire others to also use te reo in everyday life, thereby normalising te reo Māori and increasing the use of the spoken form.
In 2016, Te Wānanga o Aotearoa officially launched Mahuru Māori, and sent out a challenge around the world via social media to get people to speak Maori for a day, a week, or for the entire month of September.
It is estimated hundreds took part in the challenge, a great leap forward from the lone effort of 2014.
Now that figure has grown to thousands, and as Mahuru Māori 2021 draws to a close we look on the effect the annual challenge has had, and how it has influenced other te reo Māori initiatives, including Te Wiki o te Reo Māori (Māori Language Week).
Te Wānanga o Aotearoa Māori language strategy co-ordinator Paraone Gloyne initiated Mahuru Māori in 2014. Photo / Dean Taylor
Te Wānanga o Aotearoa senior specialist marketing Brendon Moses was tasked with increasing active participation in Mahuru Māori 2021 by almost 50 per cent on last year.
He says Te Wānanga o Aotearoa was inspired by Māori Language Commission goals that by 2040, 85 per cent of New Zealanders value the Māori language, at least 1 million Kiwis can speak at least basic te reo Māori, and that 150,000 Māori ages 15 and over will use te reo Māori as much as English.
• Aotearoatanga - te reo Māori is valued by Aotearoa whānui as a central part of national identity;
• Mātauranga - Aotearoa whānui has increased levels of knowledge, skill and proficiency in te reo Māori;
• Hononga - Aotearoa whānui is able to engage with te reo Māori.
The first step for this year was to align Mahuru Māori with Maramataka – the Māori calendar based on moon phases and seasons.
Previously, it had run for the month of September, but this year started at the whiro moon phase (the first night of the new moon) on September 7. It concludes at Mutuwhenua on October 6.
Mahuru is the name of the lunar month that coincides with much of Hepetema (September).
Until 2016, Te Wiki o te Reo Māori was held in Hūrae (July), but it was decided to align it with Mahuru Māori to reinforce the message.
Brendon says the drive to increase registered participation in Mahuru Māori started in 2019, when he was engaged to direct the energy and efforts of the team to double the numbers from the previous year.
They succeeded in achieving that goal and this year looked to drive numbers up from 8500 registrations in 2020 to 12,500 – a 47 per cent increase.
Brendon believes that has been achieved using new methods, some of it planned and some brought about as a result of Covid-19 and the Delta outbreak and lockdown.
He says planned physical resources were either being produced and printed, or were ready but not able to be distributed.
Instead, Brendon and his team put together an expanded suite of online resources to support Mahuru Māori participants.
"It is our gift to Aotearoa," says Brendon.
"We continued to target audiences outside of Te Wānanga o Aotearoa through a multi-faceted approach - me kite, me rongo, me kōrero/look, listen and speak - using social media (Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok), te reo Māori influencers, mainstream and Māori media.
"Participants were able to share their experiences and build the Mahuru Māori community through the month."
Another important change was to the participatory criteria so anyone could choose their level of involvement, such as starting out at an hour a day, or a day a week – up to 100 per cent te reo Māori.
Some of the strategies that have proved successful include Kai Kōrero (eat and greet in te reo māori), Karaoke Kōrero (normal karaoke with translation "on the fly"), and Te Hikoitanga o te Reo (walk and talk in te reo Māori).
He says some of the interactions with the resources has been encouraging, especially from large businesses and institutions.
"The ANZ bank technology team, Air NZ, Fonterra, AUT and University of Canterbury staff have all been participating in the challenge and sharing their stories on our platform," says Brendon.
Another exciting development is the involvement of the Māori deaf community and people learning to sign in te reo.
Brendon says they have been able to lay out a footprint for further learning, encouraging more people to learn te reo Māori.
To further boost social media interaction, the team created a video challenge and a series of animated gifs.
Mahuru Māori gifs on Giphy.com - created by the team at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa.
"The gifs are a fun way to reply to social media comments with te reo Māori phrases and humorous content," he says.
"Until now there has been very little available, so we are making a huge library of common phrases used in everyday Māori which are also correct and safe to use.
"With no promotion at all, we have already had nearly half a million impressions online within a few weeks."
The gifs are available at giphy.com/twoa/te-reo-maori The video challenge encourages people to share why they learn or speak te reo Māori on social media.
"Our goal is to get users to generate the content and influence others," says Brendon.
"In doing so they can also enter for a chance to win a share of $10,000."
