Ngā Manu Kōrero

Three of our talented students gave speeches at the Regional Ngā Manu Kōrero competition held at Kāpiti College on 14 May. 

Both the content and the delivery of their speeches was outstanding.  Te Kahariki Waitai spoke with passion on the topic “Let me be a rangatahi today, I’ll be your rangatira tomorrow”, Kaea Hakaraia-Hosking talked of the importance of revitalising te reo Māori and Oriwa Jury spoke about “Ko te wheako te kaiako matua o taku ao”.  Te Kahariki was awarded second place in the Junior English section.

The preparation for this event is huge and I congratulate all three students on their commitment and determination to do their very best.

I recently had an opportunity to chat to Kaea and asked what had motivated her to devote this amount of time to the competition she replied “I have done it before, and therefore wanted to give it another try.  It was a chance to make sure the College was represented.  I was inspired by the opportunity to speak publically about the journey of my own whānau and, as a result of this, my belief that we should treasure our reo and our identity.”

She then talked about the complexity of her theme – negating the topic “Te Reo Māori is the thread that binds whānau, hapu and iwi” in order to talk about the times when te reo was not valued.  She was then able to turn the whole topic around and bring it back to the point where she could emphasise the importance of revitalising te reo me ana tikanga.

The time and energy that goes into preparing for this event is given not only by students, but also by their teacher.  I would like to thank Whaea Maha Nikora-Davis for the support she offers her students.  I cannot put this any better than Natalie Waitai, mother of Te Kahariki, who emailed me to say “You are probably already aware, but I wanted to express my gratitude and absolute appreciation for Maharata Nikora-Davis.  Her support and expertise gave all three kōhine the confidence to stand and represent their college with pride at Mānu Kōrero.  This is not the first time that I have seen her go above and beyond putting ākonga at the centre of her teaching practice.  She is such a taonga to Ōtaki College and, as a training teacher, I am inspired by her dedication and commitment to her work.”