Kia ora glorious humans! This month, I have decided to get involved in Mahuru Māori, which is all about normalising te reo, and participants can opt to pledge the whole month or a day per week.
For me, it will involve pledging to speak, sing, and write solely in te reo Māori for every Tuesday during September, starting on the 4th. I know I’m being ambitious here, and I think it will be a difficult undertaking, but I hope that it will really help me further my reo knowledge, usage and confidence. I chose Tuesday because that’s when Café Reo is: a dedicated hour of kai and kōrero at the university’s Māori Department. I even got a bit creative and made a spotify playlist of Māori music, both contemporary and traditional. It’s called ‘I ngā Rātū ka whakarongo mātou ki te pūoro Māori’, and translates to ‘On Tuesdays we listen to Māori music’. I also found a great podcast from Te Wānanga o Aotearoa and have been enjoying listening to that.
Of course – I’m going to have to make some exceptions. When uni starts back up, I will have to take my lectures notes in English. I anticipate I’ll be frustrated about not being able to interact as much or as questions in English during my lectures (and obviously it would be pointless to try to ask in te reo in that context).When I babysit on Tuesday night, I’ll have to speak to the kids and parents in English. I think it will be a test of restraint in some aspects when talking to people – outside of Café Reo, no one will know what I’m saying. Even though it will only be 24 hours a week, I know it will be hard, and I think I’ll be doing a lot less talking and a lot more thinking because of it.
I’m also hoping to blog here about my experiences of Mahuru Māori. I plan to write a draft in some basic te reo (as far as my current level can take me) on the Tuesday, and then write the translation and write about my experiences in greater depth in English later in the week before publishing. Below is the pack I got sent in the mail and it contains: a cute pin, wallet sized cards explaining what I’m doing that I can hand out to people, a technology vocab booklet (a kupu per day), a card pocket to stick on the back of a phone, and a notebook.
Wish me luck tomorrow…I’m going to need it!
Nāku, nā Abby
