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​Te wiki o te Reo Māori - At BestStart Somerset Street

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11th-17th Hepetema (September) 2023 is a very special week in Aotearoa New Zealand as we celebrate and promote te reo Māori, a celebration in Aotearoa since 1975. Te wiki o te Reo Māori is part of a wide Māori language revival programme that helps to raise awareness and appreciation of the language. 

Here at BestStart Somerset Street we sang beautiful waiata, learnt lots of new words, counting, colours and animals. We learnt new phrases and greetings, and with the help of our whānau, we created our very own centre Pepeha;

Ko Taupiri te maunga e rū nei tatau ngākau Taupiri is the mountain that speaks to our heart Ko Waikato te awa e mahea nei tatau māharahara Waikato is the river that alleviates our worries Ko Tainui te waka The waka that we acknowledge is Tainui E mihi ana ki ngā tohu o nehe, o Kirikiriroa e noho nei tatau We recognise the ancestral and spiritual landmarks of Kirikiriroa where we learn Nō reirā, tēnā koutou katoa Nō reirā, tēnā koutou katoa.

Thus, our acknowledgement to you all Our hope for the future is to have a bi-lingual culture where te reo Māori is not only accepted but revered as an official language of Aotearoa New Zealand.