November 26, 2018
Late learner earns reo award
A lifetime of dedication to te reo Māori has won Te Aho o Te Kura chief executive Mike Hollings the Takitahi individual category in this year’s Māori Language Awards.
Mr Hollings, from Ngāti Raukawa and Te Ātihaunui-a-Papārangi, grew up in a non-Māori speaking home in Masterton with virtually no contact with his own iwi nor with local iwi Ngāti Kahungunu and Rangitāne.
It was as a young teacher in the area talking in te reo Māori to elders that he gained fluency and a strong urge to gain back the language his immediate whānau had lost.
His career has included establishing a graduate diploma in bilingual education at The University of Waikato, serving as chief executive of Te Māngai Pāho and in senior positions at Te Puni Kōkiri, the Ministry of Education and the Education Review Office.
Te Kura board chair Dame Karen Sewell says everywhere he has worked, Mr Hollings has promoted te reo Māori, in kōhanga reo, in kura kaupapa Māori, in various public service departments, and now in the correspondence school.
Copyright © 2018, UMA Broadcasting Ltd: www.waateanews.com