Essay Writing

Room 2 students were posed the question "Should Maori Language be Compulsory in Schools?" Their writing structure was based on the Hamburger model, that is, introduction (the bottom bun), filling (middle) and conclusion (the top bun). The class started with a brainstorm to gauge initial thoughts and feelings. Students also used a variety of 'thinking tools' to write down their ideas. This topic generated a flood of opinions and perspectives from my 30 students. Since we had covered the Treaty of Waitangi in Term 1, and then Maori Language Week this term, students had formed a predisposition about this hotly debated topic. It was therefore heartening to read that from the 30 students, Alyssa chose (and rightly so) to argue against the language being compulsory. Alyssa believes..."Outside of school, my family and I are hardly ever involved in any Maori activities. Learning te reo Maori would be an awesome skill, but not as important as the other compulsory subjects such as maths, reading etc". On the other hand Daniel says..."It is important for New Zealand’s heritage to keep the language alive, and if we do not encourage it then only a few will be able to talk Te reo and a part of our heritage may be lost". Stay tuned for some more excerpts from Room 2 students.

Quiz Champions!

Congratulations to these Tauira (students)
from Room 7 who correctly answered the
questions for our Quiz. Tino pai tama ma!

Matua Adam Whauwhau

On Thursday the 30th July, Miriwera were privileged and honored to have Matua Adam Whauwhau come to our school assembly and speak about Te Wiki o te reo Maori. He spoke eloquently and passionately about Maori culture and language and what it means for himself and his whanau (family). He talked about dying languages (in particular Maori) and how out of 390,000 Maori in the World only 40,000 go on to learn the language and out of that 40,000, 5,000 are fluent speakers of Maori (Census). Matua Adam believes that initiatives such as Te Wiki o te reo Maori may go a long way to ensuring the longevity of Maori language and culture within Aotearoa.

Here is some video footage of Matua Adam at Miriwera, his guitar playing and singing is amazing!! - Tumeke Matua!

Maori Language Week Video Competition

Here is Room 1's entry for the Video Competition:



For the competition, we wanted to show how we use Te Reo Maori (the Maori language) in the classroom. Our class does karakia (prayer) everyday and learns new waiata (songs) but we wanted to have a video that was different to other entries, so we chose to show how we use Te Reo in P.E.

Maori Language Week Poster Competition

Well done to all the students who entered the poster competition for Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori. There were a lot of fantastic entries. Here are the finalists of the poster competition: