January 14, 2015
Tots go online for Waiata Mai
Whakatane-based education resource developer Hei Tiki Creatives has won funding from the Maori Language Commission’s Ma Te Reo programme to create children’s songs in te reo Maori for online distribution.
Director Maraea Davis says the 40 songs in the Waiata Mai series are designed to engage tamariki while teaching basic Maori language sentence structures.
She says she saw her own children benefiting from exposure to YouTube, but there were no quality Maori language videos for children.
Using the English-language videos that most engaged her tamariki as a guide, Ms Davis produced a few videos for YouTube.
The success with channel views prompted her to seek funding from Te Taura Whiri.
Waiata Mai will focus on several educational areas; Ko Au is based on the child, their whanau and their body; Patai is based on common questions children ask; I Tenei Ra looks at children in their everyday settings; Matauranga contains songs about colours shapes, seasons and time of day and He Takaro, He Toi focuses on activities tamariki enjoy.
Language quality has been overseen by language advisors Waitangi and Te Ranui Black from Ngati Awa and Tuhoe.
Much of the content was filmed at the Treehouse Bilingual Montessori and Te Waipuna Ariki o Matangireia, and other kura and kohanga in the Whakatane area were also involved.
The series is also available on DVD from waiatamai.co.nz.
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