April 08, 2022
Reo revitalisation a multi-generation effort
Kōhanga Reo today marks 40 years of helping tamariki get their first exposure to te reo Māori.
Kōhanga graduate Reikura Kahi, who now chairs the Māori language revitalisation agency Te Mātāwai, says the movement has had a profound impact on thousands of lives, not just the tamariki but the parents and grandparents who committed themselves to language revitalisation.
Her own grandmother took her brother and herself to one of the earliest kohanga reo, after not speaking Māori to her own children, and now all her grandchildren and great-grandchildren speak Māori.
She says kōhanga graduates have gone on to careers in broadcasting, medicine, law, working with their iwi and hapū, and especially teaching.
“It’s important for our generation to be the generation who pass the language on to our tamariki and encourage our tamariki and the students we went through kura with to take their tamariki through kohanga and through kura so we can continue to speak Māori in the future and in all sectors,” Ms Kahi says.
Reikura Kahi says many people who went to kohanga but not kura are now trying to start their language journey again as adults.