RNZ's Māori Strategy Manager Shannon Haunui-Thompson began learning te reo at high school, but it was having children that motivated her to become fluent. Shannon talks to Jesse Mulligan about her personal te reo journey.
Shannon Haunui-Thompson Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
The Kohanga Reo movement – Māori immersion pre-school, followed by kura kaupapa primary schools and wharekura high schools – didn't begin until 1982, Shannon says.
"I missed out of kohanga reo and kura kaupapa, I was too old."
Unless te reo was spoken at home, many Māori born in the '70s and earlier had few opportunities to learn the language, she says.
"Not speaking Māori wasn't really that unusual to me, all the kids I went to school with, all the Māori kids and there was quite a few of us, none of us spoke Māori.
"It didn't really faze us, it just didn't seem abnormal in any way. My parents didn't speak Māori, either."
Read more about te reo Māori on RNZ:
- Our 14-part quick-start guide
- Kīwaha, a reo Māori podcast of easy key words and phrases
- News about Māori language week
However, when Shannon went to high school, her mother enrolled her at Auckland Girls Grammar, where she was selected for a programme.
"It was called Ngā tūmanako Kahurangi, and it was a total immersion unit within the Auckland Girls structure.
"The reason I was asked to go in was because I listed that I was Māori on my enrolment form. My mum said 'yes, we're keen'.
"We were kind of an experiment when I look back … we were an experiment but it really set me up for the next steps of my journey."
From there, Shannon went on to study Māori at university, then began working in the media. She still had some Māori language, but wasn't using it every day.
"It wasn't until I … had children, that I kind of realised I wanted more.
"I think it was really through the choices that we made with our boys, I have two sons 11 and eight currently, that we decided that we wanted them to go to kohanga reo, and following on from kohanga reo to kura kaupapa."
Guyon Espiner and Shannon Haunui-Thompson Photo: RNZ
People around her also had an influence.
"At the same time I had my first child my dad had actually gone back to school to learn te reo Māori, so my dad is actually really fluent now, he's a second-language learner.
"I thought 'okay, dad's gone back, I need to improve the level that I'm at, I need to start pushing myself'.
"I have to also mention within all that time, I got a job at Māori TV and ... [started] being around people that speak Māori all the time.
"I learnt so much in my short four years that I was at Māori TV, my reo went to a completely different level."
Yet Shannon says it hasn't been ideal learning alongside her children.
"In one of Scotty Morrison's books, I suppose it's a whakataukī of 'Tā Timoti karetu, ko te mauri o te reo kei te kainga - the lifeforce of the reo is in your home', so if you're not speaking it in your home it's not gonna live.
"I just remember hearing that and thinking 'okay, I need to speak Māori to the kids better, and longer, and so I did that. I'm one of those mums that got all the words all over the walls, we find the new resources and use them."
Now she's doing more formal study to reinforce her skills.
"I'm doing Te Aupikitanga ki te Reo Kairangi … I haven't done a lot of real formal learning, I've done a few week-long classes, a few day classes, a few night classes here and there."
Shannon tells Jesse she's pleased that te wiki o te reo Māori has had more positivity and attention around it this year.
"I think there seems to be a lot more pickup from media, RNZ, we've had lots of great coverage.
"Another thing that I've really noticed for the first time this year Te Taura Whiri, the Māori Language Commission, have organised Te Reo Māori hikoi to celebrate the Māori language in five different locations this year as opposed to the one in Wellington.
"I kind of live in a te reo Māori bubble ... I have my Facebook feed and my Twitter feed, I'm following people that love te reo Māori like I do.
"The hikoi was a really great indication to me that there's so many people out there that love te reo Māori."
More about te wiki o te reo Māori:
Kupu: a new app for Māori Language Week
Spark has unveiled a free app called Kupu to mark Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori (Māori Language Week). The concept? Take a photo of something with your phone, then Kupu scans the image and tells you the name… Audio, Gallery
Some history on te reo Māori lessons
For te wiki o te reo Māori, Sarah Johnston takes us on a jaunt through the Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision archives to explore how people learnt te reo in the past. Audio
