Noho Marae 2016

Last weekend we took the 2 kids to our classroom where we are learning Te Reo Māori this year on Monday nights for a sleep over and learning time.

They had a ball, although drove me slightly crazy on the Saturday afternoon when we had just arrived. We went straight into learning, into a 2 hour class on comprehension where we actually had to listen and pay attention. Meanwhile, two girls were fighting over felt colours, banging each other on the head with pool noodles and sporadically screaming. Do you ever just think "why did I even bother?"

I'm glad we pushed through because we all ended up have a great time. The kids found their grove, they loved being around Te Reo (Camilla is a keen learner, and Katie has her own confident unknown (but to her its Māori) language she likes to sing in) and on day two we remembered to plug in the tablet during learning times!

It was great to get to know our class mates better, share kai and stories during the Pō Whakangāhau (Evening entertainment). We found the "Māori only" immersion morning really beneficial. Graeme swam through it like a champ - and it made me realise how much harder I need to work than him. We have since thought it would be great to do a Māori only night once a week when Graeme gets home from work. Its just so easy to default into English. We will see how this goes. 

Its a journey that we are all on.



Camilla: "Your Māori Kaiako said "Kei te pehea koe?" to me." ("How are you?")
Me: "And what did you say back to him?"
Camilla: "Kei te wera au" ("I am hot")
Me: "Awesome Milla! Were you feeling hot?"
Camilla: "No, but it was all I could think of saying"