OHO AKE - THE AWAKENING: KOHANGA REO (ENGLISH LANGUAGE VERSION)

Part of a series of celebrating Te Reo Maori and the figures, organisations and places writ large in the history of Maori in New Zealand.

“1982, ko te Kohanga tuatahi
ko wai ka hua. te aria.
I miharo te ao Maori ki nga
mokopuna i korero ana i te reo.
Ko nga matua i aukatia te reo
i a ratau i te kura.
Haaunga te aro kore a tauiwi,
i tenei ra he tauira.”

“When the first Kohanga Reo opened its doors in 1982 no one could have predicted the impact it would have on the Maori language. Almost over night a threatened language became the mother tongue of many of our children.Parents and elders, once banned from speaking Maori at school, now taught Maori and conversed openly with their children.
Dismissed at first by the mainstream, Kohanga Reo is today an inspiration for other indigenous languages world wide.”

He paku kōrero mo te timatanga o tēnei kaupapa ako i te Reo Māori.