Te reo Māori was an unspoken language in Tui Ora Dawn Campbell’s whare when she was growing up.
She knew her Nan had a love of Māori cultural and te reo, but in between the generations a piece of the puzzle was lost. Now she’s working hard to put find that missing piece for herself, and her mokopuna.
“Learning te reo is something I’ve always felt passionate about, because it’s a connection to whakapapa that I’ve never had. It’s important for people to know where they come from and know their roots. So, for me to be able to speak and understand te reo and be able to pass that onto my mokopuna, that’s a big motivator for me to keep learning.”
Dawn has been on a life-long journey to reclaim te reo Māori, “I started te reo Māori lessons about 25 years ago but the kaiako ended up moving away. I didn’t pick it up again until I started lessons about five years ago, but then life happened and I had to stop.”
So when an opportunity came up at Tui Ora to learn te reo Māori through Te Ataarangi, a full immersion remote learning 20 week course, she jumped at the chance.
“It’s definitely a personal goal of mine that I’d love to achieve and feel confident in. I would be so proud to be able to speak te reo Māori,” she says.
Every week for two hours, Dawn makes the time to log on for her lesson, even when she’s exhausted from a full day of mahi as a Community Mental Health Nurse, and has a busy household of whānau to come home to, including her three-week-old mokopuna.
“I’m a night owl, but I still struggle. I’ve done my eight hours at work, scoffed something quickly when I get home, and then sit down for two hours full immersion.”
She recounts that a couple of weeks ago, “I was looking after my moko because her parents had popped out to the supermarket, the lesson had started, and I just had to walk around with my laptop while my husband and I tried to settle her, you just make it work!”
The format of the wānanga is for immersion language learning – which means no English is spoken at all during the class. The approach is modelled on Caleb Gattegno’s the Silent Way, using Cuisenaire rods, or rakau, and incorporating Māori values and tikanga.
Dawn admits, “Full immersion is something I find really challenging, it’s very different to what I’m used to. I’m used to writing things down to learn, whereas Dr Ruakere Hond is saying not to do that, and to just listen. He’s been doing this a long time, and he knows what works. I feel really fortunate to have the opportunity to learn from him!”
Outside of Te Ataarangi wānanga, Dawn has found some creative ways to help her learnings stick!
“I do as much revision as I can, I speak as much as I can around home, even if it’s just to my dog, or my pot plant, all of it helps! You’re never too young, or too old to learn something new! My dog Tui now understands when I say karakia kai, that when we get to āmene, she can eat!” she laughs.
“I’m up to week six, and it’s pretty amazing how much I’m learning. Now when people greet me in te reo Māori, it just sounds normal, I’ve never had that feeling before, like it’s just clicked for me, and I don’t even realise I’m not being spoken to in English.”
Along with the progress she’s making through te reo lessons, Dawn also finds working at Tui Ora is really helping too.
“We do karakia every day, and learn new karakia and waiata, I love it. I love that every day we start with that, it uplifts my spirit and makes me feel positive about the day ahead… it really sets the tone,” she beams.
“I think that Tui Ora giving us those opportunities, to do that as a team, and to learn te reo Māori, is really amazing,” she adds.
“For me, when you’re working with predominantly Māori whaiora, it is important to be able to kōrero in te reo Māori. For some it’s not part of their world yet, but for others it’s a real ritual that we do karakia, kōrero about their history, understand their whakapapa and lineage. It’s about being able to connect not just on a clinical level but on a Te Ao Māori level too.”
“Working in a clinical space for more than 20 years, I feel like I’ve got a great grounding of knowledge. But learning te reo has made me really excited about my mahi at Tui Ora, because I’m bringing in a part of something that I’ve always personally valued but I’ve never been able to weave together, until now!”