Te Reo, Te Mana: A Journey of Language, Leadership, and Legacy

In Pēpuere 2025, Te Ohu Reo was asked to design and deliver an accelerated Rūmaki Reo for our Tumu Whakarae across three weeks. During this time, we were invited to use our pūkenga to strengthen Helmut’s confidence and mātauranga in using te reo Māori in both informal and formal settings e.g. media interviews.

The Rūmaki experience enabled accelerated progression of learning across the many ‘nuka reo’ (language patterns) taught and tested.

Daily kōrero led to wide-ranging, often deep wānanga on matters that revealed the traditional and contemporary beauty of te reo rangatira. Our kōrero often explored the experiences of our tūpuna and the lessons that their challenges offer to us today.

Kaupapa ako included a comprehensive focus on Wetereo (grammar), Hapa Reo (common language errors), and contextual reo.

We also had the privilege of haerenga to our moutere Mana and Kapiti, cooking (literally) using te reo, and learning Whakataukī (proverbs), Kīwaha (colloquialisms), and Kupu Whakarite (figurative language) to enrich Helmut’s everyday use of te reo Māori. Varied learning contexts enriched the kaupapa, providing a positive and transformative experience for both kaiako and our Tumu Whakarae.

We are proud to have witnessed his confidence grow significantly, week by week, and saw his commitment to openly learning and retaining the kaupapa taught each day. He has now signed up for our ‘Kāhui Whaikōrero’ and will spend the next 10 weeks continuing to apply his new learnings and skills in developing whaikōrero.

Spending time with kaimahi to talk through our ‘big picture’ whakaaro helped with deepening the wānanga as well as creating positive rapport. It is not often that kaimahi get to spend time with a rangatira who carries an extensive load on his shoulders. Yet, we spent time on whanaungatanga each day which helped our team shake off any anxieties or nerves.

As the weeks progressed, it was evident through daily kōrero with Helmut that his sentences had more flow and were, in a grammatical sense, correct or expanding with use of our ‘nuka reo’.

Lastly, visiting Mana and Kapiti Island did wonders for our collective wairua and mauri, enhancing everyone’s learning, connecting and growing the puna mātauranga of te reo.

Our approach to this kaupapa was taking the learning out of the classroom and entrenching it through Te Taiao, which strongly contributed to a better learning experience.

Kia whakatauākītia i konei, ‘he iti, he nui, he rahi nā te aroha i takoha mai e ngā mātua tūpuna kia tātou ngā waihotanga iho’.