January 23, 2013
Course takes reo out of classroom
Otago University may sound a long way to go to learn Te Reo Māori, but Senior Lecturer Matiu Ratima says it is paying off for many students.
He says while the department is strong in Ngāi Tahu studies, it is attracting students from all over.
That’s because of a commitment to Te Reo Māori as an everyday thing.
“Even though I’ve taught in departments throughout the country, there are very few of those departments where you walk out of the classroom, you go to lunch and you will hear students speaking Maori. At Otago, outside of the classroom, teachers are speaking Te Reo with students. If students stick with us through to the third year, invariably all of our third year cohorts used te reo outside of the classroom” says Matiu Ratima from Otago University.
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