Ideas
What you do to start learning and speaking is up to you but you won’t be alone.
Get started! See how you can incorporate te reo Māori into your everyday life.
It could be as easy as playing a Māori language song, starting your Zoom call with "mōrena", or starting lunch with a karakia!
Check out some ideas below - we'll continue to share ideas and inspirations for you, your whānau, your school and workplace.
Join the movement >People that have joined the movement
Here are some ideas to get you, your workplace, school, group, team or friends and whānau involved in the movement.
Huatau | Ideas
Kōrero | Speak
- Make ‘kia ora’ your first choice of greeting to everyone you speak to
- Prepare your whānau, friends or workplace to speak te reo Māori for the hour
- Open your news bulletin with te reo Māori
- Host a ‘Kōrero Kai’ for lunch where you only speak in te reo Māori
- Start lunch off with a karakia for kai
- Order your coffee in te reo Māori
- Set a ‘reo Māori only’ zone within your workplace or home
Waiata | Sing
- Get a group together and sing an easy te reo song, see ’Tūtira Mai’ ‘Te Aroha’ ‘National Anthem’
- Do or teach lunchtime kapa haka
- Learn some waiata hou and sing along to our ‘Te Wiki o te Reo Māori’ playlist
- Learn and sing the Māori alphabet
Tākaro | Play
- Host a te reo Māori quiz and test your organisation’s knowledge. Use our quiz questions to set-up your own - some are easy, some are hard, so grab some friends and a Māori dictionary!
- See Pania Papa’s video on easy Māori games to play with no equipment
- Download some Māori apps and play with your tamariki. See Pāpapa, Pipi Mā Tae, find more apps here.
- Create and host an online Kahoot quiz with your whānau and friends!
Whakarongo | Listen
- Listen to te reo Māori only for the day
- Play our ‘Te Wiki o te Reo Māori’ playlist in your business or workplace for everyone to hear!
- Listen to a podcast and sharpen up your reo, type ‘Taringa’ or ‘Ako’ into your podcast app.
Turn on the radio or go online and tune into your local iwi radio station - Tune in to Māori Television
- Listen to Hinewehi Mohi sing our national anthem in te reo Māori at the 1999 Rugby World Cup in England.
Pānui | Read
- Spend your lunch hour reading a te reo Māori book, for beginners, try ‘Māori at Home’ ‘Māori 4 Work’ and ‘A Māori Phrase a Day’. For intermediate and higher see Mai i te Kakano, Te Rito and He Iti Kahurangi.
- Read the reo rua articles on Stuff NZ and share them with your organisation
- Use the signage list to put up signs around your workplace or try these labels.
- Hear Professor Rawinia Higgins talk about the thinking behind the Māori Language Act 2016
- For rangatahi or Marvel lovers, read Māori legend comics in te reo or English with Sanctuary: Pūrakau Evolution.
Ako | Learn
- Organise a lunch time te reo Māori lesson
- Attend a lunchtime reo seminar online
- Take some te reo lessons online
- Practice your pronunciation and learn the Māori alphabet
- Learn about Māori place names with Sonny
- Watch a reo Māori learning show
- Join the ‘A Māori Phrase a Day’ learning group on Facebook by Hēmi Kelly
- Set out to learn a word a day for a year – see 365 Māori words