Gisborne kaiako (teachers) Max and Sandy Matenga have launched Whatakai Rokiroki with the aim of supporting teachers of te reo Māori. Photo / Zoe Mills
Gisborne kaiako (teachers) Max and Sandy Matenga have launched Whatakai Rokiroki with the aim of supporting teachers of te reo Māori. Photo / Zoe Mills
The teachers behind a new classroom tool to support te reo Māori teachers want to provide “great resources” for schools across the country.
Whatakai Rokiroki is an online resource platform that provides te reo Māori teachers with classroom resources aligned with national curriculum standards.
The platform was founded by “proudkaiako” (teachers) Max and Sandy Matenga, based in Tairāwhiti.
The meaning behind the name, Whatakai (food storehouse) Rokiroki (preservation) symbolised the preservation of the language.
Whatakai Rokiroki resources have been trialled at Kaiti School in Gisborne for about five years. It’s also where Sandy Matenga works as a Year 7 and 8 teacher and as acting assistant principal.
She said the response from her students had been “awesome”.
“It starts from the basics … in our class, now our kids are writing full stories."
The platform includes printable and digital resources for whakarongo (listening), kōrero (speaking), pānui (reading) and tuhituhi (writing). Classroom games and audiobooks are also covered.
The Whatakai Rokiroki platform includes printable and digital resources for whakarongo (listening), kōrero (speaking), pānui (reading) and tuhituhi (writing). Photo / Jody Tupara
It took the pair about a year to redevelop the resources for national use.
Max Matenga acknowledged “the collective effort from key people such as Terry-Jo Blyth (web developer), Stacey Tangaere (graphic designer), Wipere Mita (legal and strategy) and Billie-Jean Potaka-Ayton (tumuaki of Kaiti School)”.
“Hence the saying ‘ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, engari he toa takitini’.”
Max Matenga has been a teacher since 2009 and works at Ngā Poutoko Aromatawai Māori- NZQA. He’s experienced in teaching at full-immersion te reo Māori schools, as well as being a head of school.
Ten schools across the country – “as far north as Manurewa and as far south as Māori Hill Primary School and John McGlashan College in Dunedin” – helped test the platform before the launch.
“It shouldn’t matter if you’re a big school or not, it’s all about having accessibility to great resources,” he said.
Sandy Matenga hoped to develop the resources to support other learning areas, like mathematics.
“When you really enjoy something, and you believe in something, you’ll make it happen. We’re very passionate about this kaupapa,
“My biggest hope is that kura auraki, which are mainstream schools, have the same access to te reo Māori and assessments and resources that everybody else does, that kura kaupapa and wharekura have”.
