Te Wiki o te Reo Māori is a great opportunity to have a go at speaking te reo Māori.

From 9 to 13 September EIT is participating in the annual Te Wiki o te Reo Māori or Māori Language Week. There will be a lot of different and entertaining events, activities and challenges for both staff and students encouraging them to use te reo Māori.

EIT will kick off the week with a hangi and waiata from local Māori singers, Te Ūranga Waka (School of Māori Studies) will give a kapa haka performance and students and staff who order their kawhe (coffee) at the campus café in te reo Māori will get a discount.

A staff wero (challenge) will underpin all these activities, e.g. to use a pepeha website/app to create a pepeha poster, practice poi moves using one of the poi displayed in the library, order a free hamipēka (hamburger) in te reo Māori etc. As part of celebration EIT is launching a new series of snack and chat sessions called “Kōrero Timotimo – Snack and Chat”.

However, at EIT the promotion and revitalization of te reo Māori is not limited to this particular week. For instance, Ketekete kōrero and waiata sessions are held on campus on a weekly basis. EIT recently introduced a new section on the staffnet homepage for “Te kupu o te wiki” (word of the week).

EIT also continues to embed the Herea Te Rā (EIT’s Māori Capability Development Framework) across the institute. It was launched in 2016, aiming to strengthen the capability of staff to further enhance Māori student success.