Nerissa Aramakutu, Mā Te Reo Project Advisor (Monitoring and Evaluation), took up a new position as a Policy Analyst at Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori as of Monday 26 November 2007. She is a huge loss to Mā Te Reo, having been part of this team since half way through Round Two (2002/3), and for many of you, the one constant in Mā Te Reo. Nerissa has seen many Mā Te Reo staff come and go over her time and has seen the programme undergo many changes in its development. Nerissa has provided the following kōrero for our past and present Mā Te Reo providers.

“I feel very fortunate for my time working as part of the Mā Te Reo team over the last five years. It has been a pleasure working with such dynamic and motivated providers from within our Māori communities. As the funding has rolled out over the years, I have been lucky enough to have had the opportunity to see some very successful and innovative initiatives that have been occurring all over the motu, as well as working alongside those who are leading, and committed to the regeneration of te reo Māori. I would like to thank you all for my time working with you, and apologise to those who I was a hōhā to at times. I wish you all the best with your Māori language initiatives”.

I'm sure that many of you who have come to know Nerissa over the years will join us in wishing her all the best for her new mahi. We feel fortunate that she will still be in the tari to help us out from time to time!

Replacing Nerissa is Hollie Smith, Te Ātihaunui a Paparangi, Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa. Hollie will introduce herself to you in the March edition of our ī-pānui.

Juanita and Clayton will both be taking parental leave during 2008, to look after their new pēpi, both of which are due in early January. This means that there will be some disruption to the usual staffing pattern, so please bear with us during this time and be prepared to deal with somebody new in relation to your Mā Te Reo projects. We apologise in advance for any inconvenience this might cause.

Those of you undertaking projects in the Māori Language Resources or ICT categories may be interested in checking out this link
( http://www.med.govt.nz/templates/MultipageDocumentTOC28180.aspx )
to Te Mana Taumaru Mātauranga: Intellectual Property Guide for Māori Organisations and Communities. This guide was produced by the Ministry of Economic development in July this year and includes “information on each type of IP right, a selection of hypothetical scenarios, and practical tools that may assist whānau, hapū, iwi, commercial entities or others who may wish to formally protect and enforce their IP rights”.

Contracting is now pretty well completed for 2007 with around 150 contracts finalised and projects underway. There are still a small number of you from whom we are waiting documentation. Please get this into us urgently, as we are nearly at the point where we will be withdrawing offers of funding.

There are currently 29 live projects for this Round a reduction of 17 since the September issue. Clayton continues to work with the coordinators of these projects and if you are one, please make sure he knows what the status of your project is.

There are currently 15 live projects for this Round, a reduction of 3 since the June issue. Hollie will be following up with the co-ordinators of these projects to bring them all to conclusion as soon as possible.

There are still two projects live from this funding round and Mā Te Reo will be moving fast to bring these two projects to completion.

From 24-26 October, Jasmine visited the Hawkes Bay region on a monitoring visit to current Mā Te Reo providers. She based herself at the Hastings Te Puni Kōkiri office and spent time discussing Mā Te Reo with the staff there. She thanks Dixie, Sandy, Roger, and the rest of the TPK regional team for their hospitality, advice and support during her visit.

In addition, she met with the following Mā Te Reo providers: Mihiroa Marae, Public Dreams Trust, Tamatea Rugby and Sports Club, Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated, Pukemokimoki Marae, Waimārama Māori Committee, Hunu-a-rau, Eru Tahuri and Te Aranga Marae. Jasmine noted with interest that a number of marae are undertaking the development of individual Māori language plans to guide ongoing Māori language development.

A recent monitoring visit to Manawatu will be reported on in the March 2008 issue of our ī-pānui.

Rangitūnoa Black was funded in 2005 (Round 5) to produce a set of DVDs capturing her mother, Tūhoe kaumātua Anituatua Black, retelling te reo Māori stories that she wrote for her extended whānau, hapū and iwi. Copies of these resources were presented to Mā Te Reo on Thursday 1 November 2007 in a handover ceremony hosted by both Mā Te Reo and Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori.

The occasion began with a Waiata Tangi (Lament) dedicated to both Anituatua’s husband and son titled “He Apakura”. It is a haunting chant that captures the grief she felt over the loss of both her husband and son.

The set of three DVDs contain 20 stories, among them such delights as that entitled “He Hakari”. It tells of Kuia Tūrehu o te Pō and her mokopuna Kōhineao preparing to feast. Little do they realise they are being spied by kēkereao sitting atop a Manuka arguing over who should approach Kuia about sharing their kai.

Anituatua is a gifted storyteller. She draws you in to her tales by using body language and facial expressions. She catches your attention by using her voice to emphasise her words. It is a skill that is not easily copied, and that very few people possess. We are very fortunate Rangitunoa has captured this on DVD, and gifted it to her whānau, hapū and iwi.

From L to R (launch attendees): Rangitunoa Black, Stormy Mohi (Learning Media Ltd), Hera Taute-Black, Julie Black, Anituatua Black, Daniel Makamaka, Clayton Reiri (Seated - Mā Te Reo), Waitangi Teepa (Learning Media Ltd), Nerissa Aramakutu (Mā Te Reo), Conrad Noema (Te Taura Whiri), Juanita Teepa (Mā Te Reo), Jasmine Cooper (Mā Te Reo), Marama Meihana-Durie

Ngāti Whakaue has embarked on an ambitious plan to lift the education and development of its people. A key strategy is the engagement of whānau in the learning of their young tamariki. With assistance from Mā te Reo, Te Taumata Mātauranga o Ngāti Whakaue is publishing four books in te reo Māori designed to be read to children under the age of 5 years.

The books are entitled “Kei Maketu Tātou”, “He Taonga Mā te Iwi”, “Mokoia”, and “Whakatau Mai Rā!”

The books feature full colour photos of Ngāti Whakaue whānau engaged in activities that would be familiar to many tamariki. The storylines were selected specifically to engage the imagination of young minds and the language is simple enough even for those whānau who are not strong in te reo.

Project Manager, Roana Bennett, said “This has been a heart-warming and very satisfying project. The books have been well received by Ngāti Whakaue and especially by the tamariki.”

2000 sets of the books are to be be printed and distributed free of charge to Ngāti Whakaue whānau. Another series of books are planned for 2008”.

Katarina Hodge, Chairperson for Whakamārama Marae Society Inc. extended an invitation to Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori and Mā Te Reo to attend a celebration evening event at Whakamārama Marae during October. Both Sharon Armstrong (Deputy Chief Executive of Te Taura Whiri), and Clayton attended this special evening.

Roger Lewis, marae representative said, “the kaupapa for the evening was simply an opportunity for the whānau of Whakamārama Marae to celebrate the first fruits of their reo Māori plan (funded by Mā Te Reo, under the Language Planning category in 2006). A prize giving was held to celebrate those students who had completed a series of five wānanga reo delivered by Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi, in association with Whakamārama Marae. The evening also provided an opportunity to acknowledge the whānau of the Marae who had worked really hard on their reo Māori plan and supported each of the five wānanga reo. Finally it was also an opportunity to thank the funders that had supported the kaupapa”.

Clayton was very impressed and moved by the event:

“It was a very humbling experience for me to witness this fantastic stage of Whakamārama’s journey towards achieving their goal. That goal is that their grandchildren’s grandchildren will all be fluent speakers of Māori. As guests we were inspired, uplifted and treated with great respect and manaakitanga. Attendance strengthened my own resolve as to why we must retain our reo Māori - nā ō tātou tīpuna i tuku iho. Tēnā rawa atu hoki koutou e te whānau o Whakamārama Marae, kei konā o mātou whakaaro”.

From L to R: Sharon Armstrong (MTR), Jean Sutton (Whakamārama Marae),
Clayton Reiri (MTR), Roger Lewis (Whakamārama Marae)

Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori have re-produced two guides to Māori language planning, ‘Kia ora ai te Reo Māori: Planning for Māori Language Regeneration’ and ‘Te Reo Māori tō Hapori: Community Māori Language Profiles Guidelines’. We are currently inviting those who are interested in Language Planning to access the publications and complete a survey about them. This will enable us to collect information about how the booklets can be improved to better assist the Māori language planning process, and to determine what other information/ resources Māori communities want or need to support their Māori language initiatives.

If you would like to participate in the usability testing of these two publications by way of completing a survey, please go to:

http://www.tetaurawhiri.govt.nz/english/services_e/community_support.shtml

Nerissa has also sent both of these publications and a bilingual survey to all Round Seven providers who were approved funding under the Language Planning funding category. We look forward to receiving your responses to the survey and thank you in advance for your time and assistance.

Mā Te Reo Outcomes Evaluation

AATEA Solutions Ltd has been selected to conduct the Mā Te Reo Outcomes Evaluation. The AATEA team consisting of Kiwa Hammond, Timoti Brown, Chelsea Grootveld and Ria Tomoana, will be contacting a selection of Mā Te Reo providers (past and present) in the New Year to request your participation in the evaluation. We really hope that if contacted, you will be able to spare a little time for this kaupapa. Remember it’s all about securing on-going support for Māori communities for language regeneration and revitalisation activities.

The following kōrero from our last ī-pānui is repeated here. As you begin to think about possible projects for 2008 please keep this in mind.

“A decision has been made by Mā Te Reo to phase out the practice of pre-assessing applications over the next two Rounds. A habit of allowing some applications, usually Matariki based events; to be assessed outside of the group assessment process has crept into practice over recent years. However, this is not good practice as it could be seen to give those applications pre-assessed an advantage. Groups therefore have two years to organise themselves so that if they have an event being held June - August, they get into a new cycle of applying in the previous Round for the year ahead.”

Repeated again for your information, your key Mā Te Reo contact people and our direct dial numbers are:

Jasmine Cooper
Project Manger
04 471 - 6727
jasmine@tetaurawhiri.govt.nz

Clayton Reiri
Project Advisor
04 471 - 6733
clayton@tetaurawhiri.govt.nz

Hollie Smith
Project Advisor
04 471-6739
hollie@tetaurawhiri.govt.nz

Juanita Teepa
Project Administrator
04 471 - 6737
juanita@tetaurawhiri.govt.nz