Ko te timatanga o te matauranga
Ko te wehi ki a lhowa
Maungarongo ki te mata o te whenua
Whakaaro nui ki te tangata

Tēnā koe e te tau ruamano mā ono. Ngā mihi manaaki ki a koutou, ngā kaipānui, mō ō koutou kaha ki te tautoko mai i te kaupapa, arā, ko te reo. Nō reira, e te iwi, kia kaha rā ki te kōrero i tō tātou reo rangatira. Kia ora tātou katoa.

As of January 2006 there are still approximately thirty live Round Four projects. If you have a Round Four project with overdue milestones please complete your milestone reporting requirements or contact Maihi to discuss how best to progress your project. Remember that if you have a ‘live project' you will not be able to access funding in the new round.

We have now completed Round Five contracting. Long delays by providers in getting all their documentation in has exasperated the Mā Te Reo team this round. We will be strategising to ensure that this does not happen again in Round Six. Approximately 20 Round Five projects have been completed.

Te Rōpū Tautoko has confirmed the following opening and closing dates for Round Six. Put them in your diary now! Note that emailed applications are considered hardcopy applications and must be received by 28 April. This is because we have to input your application and need time to do this. Please try to apply on-line as this gives you more time and it's easier on us.

The following 8 funding categories have also been confirmed by Te Rōpū Tautoko:

• Language Planning
• Kura Reo-Whakapakari Reo
• Kura Reo-ā-Iwi
• Language Resources
• Events/Promotion
• Wānanga Reo
• Language Programmes/Classes
• Information/Technology Communications (ITC)

Te Rōpū Tautoko always welcomes new applications to Mā Te Reo for innovative reo Māori projects. One project type that we have not seen a lot of is Māori Language Clubs, in spite of significant feedback from the Kōrero Māori website ( www.koreromaori.co.nz ) that there is a demand for the establishment and support of this type of club and associated activity. If you are a member of a group of friends or whānau or a Māori community group and are interested in forming a local Māori Language Club, why not apply for support from Mā Te Reo for club related activities?

In November 2005, Te Rōpū Tautoko signed off on our second Mā Te Reo research/evaluation project focused on Language Planning. The overall aim of this project is to investigate the funding of the development of community based Māori language plans by Mā Te Reo. The goals of this proposed research are:

1. To conduct an analysis of who has been involved in community Māori language planning funded by Mā Te Reo and the plans that have been produced.
2. To understand what makes an effective community based Māori language plan.
3. To consider how Mā Te Reo might better assist those providers it funds under the language planning category to produce effective language plans.

Nerissa Aramakutu, Mā Te Reo, and other kaimahi from Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori attended the following two regionally based Mā Te Reo funded events during October and November 2005.

Te Rā o Te Reo 2005

The ‘Te Rā o Te Reo' Māori Music Festival was held at Te Rauparaha Park on Saturday 12 November 2005. A combination of live entertainment, workshops and stalls featured at this event. Live entertainment included Ko Au, Dei Hamo, Native Sons, Justice, Tyna & JB, Beetrootz, TJ Taotua, Bobsicle, and Nudge. A range of workshops and stalls featured, including our own Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori / Mā Te Reo stall, Te Wānanga o Āotearoa, The Māori Party, Waka Ama, Tā moko, kai, Māori designed clothing and Hauora stalls, just to name a few. The relaxed whānau atmosphere and rangatahi focus was amazing, and despite the inconsistent weather approximately 2000-3000 people gathered over the course of the day. The project co-ordinator, Jacqui Keelan did a fantastic job in showcasing a reo Māori event that accommodated the diverse cultural population in Porirua and surrounding areas. Ka mau te wehi!

Top: Maihi Makiha (Mā Te Reo Project Advisor) at the Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori / Mā Te Reo stall

Kia Piki Te Reo 2005

The ‘Kia Piki i Te Reo' whānau concert day was held at the Feilding Civic Centre on Saturday 29 October 2005. Like ‘Te Rā o Te Reo', this event featured a range of live entertainment, workshops and stalls. Interactive reo Māori lessons were highlighted during the day. Live entertainment included Whirimako Black, Brannigan Kaa, Native Sons, Toni Huata, and Hato Paora College – just to name a few. The event was separated into two distinct areas: one for the live entertainment and speakers of the day; the other contained all of the workshops, stalls and another stage for the interactive reo Māori lessons. There was a positive turn out to this event, with people from the Manawatu and Wellington regions attending Kia Piki i Te Reo. We would like to also mention the outstanding effort that the project co-ordinator Kaye Maree Dunn made in ensuring that this rohe had the opportunity to attend a reo Māori event of that magnitude. Tau ke!

Top (left to right): Stormy Mohi (Māori Language Services Team / Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori), Betty Hauraki (Te Whakaruruhau o ngā Reo Irirangi Māori o Aotearoa)

If you have a Mā Te Reo event coming up, you may want to consider putting it forward for possible promotion on MA TATOU, Māori Television's iwi events programme. You can submit your event details to matatou@maoritelevision.com

Mā Te Reo aims to get out into a different region every couple of months. The purpose of these visits is:

•  To assist with monitoring contracts

•  To meet you and other members of your whānau or group

•  To get feedback from you about our administrative processes and how we can better support you

•  To give you feedback and support

Jasmine Cooper, Senior Project Advisor Mā Te Reo, normally conducts these visits and a good number of you will have met with Jasmine over the last year or so. To date she has visited Takitimu, East Coast, Taranaki, Waikato, Christchurch, and Horowhenua/Manawatu.

More recently both Jasmine and Maihi conducted a four-day visit to Te Tai Tokerau.

We chose this rohe because of the large number of new providers currently running Mā Te Reo projects, 22 in total. The hectic four days began with a presentation to Te Puni Kōkiri regional office staff, Whāngarei. Te Puni Kōkiri, one of the Government agencies represented on Te Rōpū Tautoko, provides great support during these regular monitoring visits, sharing local knowledge and information and providing a venue for us to meet our Mā Te Reo providers. Individual providers from Whāngarei then came into the office to meet with us.

Day Two was spent based at the REAP centre, Kaitaia. A group session with Kaitaia based providers was held, including a session on how to complete your milestone reports/Final Monitoring Reports directly into the Mā Te Reo database. Discussions were also held with individual providers.

Day Three was based in Panguru. After a hui at Te Kura Taumata o Panguru, we were welcomed onto Ngāti Manawa Marae where we held another collective session with local providers.

Our final day four was spent visiting other providers in the South Hokianga and central Northland.

From our point of view the trip was tremendously worthwhile and it was a great privilege to meet with so many committed reo Māori supporters. It really reminded us of what Mā Te Reo is all about - supporting grass roots reo Māori projects! We hope that the providers we met with also gained from the visit - whether it was being shown how to report on-line, to hear about other Mā Te Reo projects in your community, to pick-up some Mā Te Reo/Te Taura Whiri resources or just to catch up briefly with your whānaunga, ‘Maihi Moa'.

Left to right: Maihi Makiha (Mā Te Reo Project Advisor), Jasmine Cooper (Mā Te Reo Senior Project Advisor), Maira Berghan, Mere Petersen, May Nicholson, Mercia Smith, Jo Mane, Hori Chapman.

Participants at the Kaitaia session are pictured above. Maira Berghan and Mere filled in for Peter Lucas Jones who is running Wānanga Reo for Maimaru Marae. May Nicholson's project involves the development of a Māori language plan for the Ngāpuhi Hokianga Ki Te Raki Incorporated Society. Mercia Smith is co-ordinating Wānanga Reo for ngā whānau whānui o Manukau, including hapū o Patu Pinaaki, Ngāti Hine, and Parewhero. Jo Mane, is also co-ordinating a language planning project for Te Hiku o Te Ika, and finally Hori Chapman, who is running a series of Māori language classes in Kaitaia for intermediate/advanced speakers of te reo.

The Trust's Round Five project is to develop a hapū based language plan. Named Māori Language Survey of Te Mahurehure Homes (Te Mahurehure is a Te Rarawa hapū based in the Hokianga), the project falls into the Language Planning category. As a first step in the planning process, the Trust is to undertake a survey of all Te Mahurehure homes, both in and around Waima and elsewhere. The Trust is planning on using tamariki from Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Kaikohe to help with the survey, both in trialling the survey questions and to assist with interviewing whānau. The project is scheduled for completion by 30 May 2006. This language planning project is one of several planning projects currently being undertaken by groups throughout Te Taitokerau. It is hoped that Mā Te Reo/Te Taura Whiri will be able to support coordination of these types of activities.

Check our website www.ma-tereo.co.nz or call 0800 MA TE REO (0800 628-373)