Rehu Tai was born at TEDx
It was 2013.
Grace Taylor performed - and I was captivated by her passion and emotion. That spine tingle was the beginning of an idea …
The idea
that our students should be able to talk about what mattered to them most …
that they should be able to use their language; the language of their people or the language of their time …
that they should be able to talk and present in a way that suited their generation …
that their voice should be heard in a myriad of ways, not just the one way we allowed them …
And so the idea for an alternate oral language festival began to evolve …
I wanted to allow our young people to drift away from the superficial overused speech topics we heard year after year and to hear the diverse ideas of our tamariki, the depth and the passion.
I wanted to have a panel of judges who used words in the real world, who were more like the young people they were judging, who were young, diverse, connected and real.
I wanted to hear the ideas of our ākonga presented in new ways that connected with their thinking by offering differing styles of presenting.
In 2014 a boy asked why? Why do 'they' go on about Māori and Pasifika boys writing, why do 'they' measure, and measure the wrong thing - let the kids talk, they have an oral culture, they have lots to say … So we talked about the 'why' and the 'what if' and the idea of a different way and he said - so do it mum, if not you, then who?
Rehu Tai grew in Papakura. We talked with the student leaders at Papakura High School to find out what was important and how the kids would want to present. We started small and over 5 years our festival grew, school by school then cluster by cluster. We evolved the traditional prepared speech competition to encompass the alternate streams of oral language that are generationally and culturally relevant to our young people - augmenting the prepared speech with rap, spoken word and flash talk.
This was not an abandonment of the old but rather a weaving together of the old and the new to create a stronger kete for our students.
And so, six years on came our first circle back and Rehu Tai was proud to partner with TEDx Auckland in 2019 for our inaugural Auckland wide Rehu Tai festival - a celebration of the ideas and talent of our young Aucklanders.
The Rehu Tai Festival of Oral Language began in 2015 in Papakura as a way to celebrate the diversity of oral language within their community. The name Rehu Tai, meaning sea spray, was gifted by local businessman and educator Dean Grace.
Rehu Tai, in relation to speech, means if you are talking with passion the spittle from your mouth flies like sea spray! This is indeed something witnessed on marae where kaumatua speak with this kind of passion while in full delivery of their korero!
The Rehu Tai Oral Language Festival encourages Year 5/6 and Year 7/8 students to explore the oral language streams of Rap, Spoken Word, and Flash Talk as well as Prepared Speeches.
The Maori, Pasifika and other language competitions remain.
More about the first Rehu Tai here: http://bit.ly/2H3icmm
APPA 2018/19 Direction:
The 2018 APPA WAG suggest that in 2018 clusters decide amongst themselves if they will take on all four genre or agree to do parts of the festival. The 3 minute prepared speech that is based on persuasive language remains in place. New streams are Flash Talk; Rap; and Spoken Word Poetry - stream criteria and resources follow.
The Maori language and Pasifika language competitions will remain. However, clusters can choose to incorporate other languages in their Rehu Tai Festival of Oral Language.
This ensures all languages are embraced and every effort is made to source judges in the chosen language of participants.
From 2020 Rehu Tai has been the official festival of oral language for APPA …
2023 Kaitaikitanga | Guardianship APPA Festival - finals at Remuera Intermediate School
2022 Kite | Discover APPA Festival - finals at Manurewa Intermediate School
2021 Diversity no festival due to COVID
2020 Mātauranga | Wisdom APPA Festival - finals at Point Chevalier School
2019 Connection Inaugural APPA Festival - finals Ponsonby Primary
2018 Change Optional Auckland wide participation
2017 Belonging Papakura Principal's Association
2016 My Place Papakura Principal's Association
2015 Who I am Papakura Principal's Association