{"id":4258,"date":"2024-09-12T02:15:02","date_gmt":"2024-09-12T02:15:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mahurumaori.com\/?p=4258"},"modified":"2025-08-06T02:23:55","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T02:23:55","slug":"english-teacher-search-cultural-dentity-sparks-love-for-te-reo-maori","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mahurumaori.com\/mao\/english-teacher-search-cultural-dentity-sparks-love-for-te-reo-maori\/","title":{"rendered":"English teacher’s search for cultural identity sparks love for te reo M\u0101ori"},"content":{"rendered":"
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English kaiako Cathy Purdie began her reo M\u0101ori journey in 1997, intending to uncover more about her cultural identity.<\/p>

She wanted to understand what it meant to be a New Zealand P\u0101keh\u0101, but after just a few weeks of learning te reo M\u0101ori, she had accepted that it didn\u2019t matter what it meant to be P\u0101keh\u0101 and had instead fallen in love with te reo.<\/p>

After learning te reo M\u0101ori on and off for several years, in 2018 she enrolled in\u00a0Te P\u016btaketanga o te Reo Level 4<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0at Te W\u0101nanga o Aotearoa. She has since completed\u00a0Te Aupikitanga ki te Reo Kairangi Level 6<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>

\u201cStudying te reo through Te W\u0101nanga o Aotearoa has changed me. I am P\u0101keh\u0101, with no M\u0101ori whakapapa, and when I began level 4, I didn\u2019t feel much of a connection with the whenua. But now I am aware of the land in a completely new way. The hills have an energy and a presence that I can feel. What has changed me? Learning the M\u0101ori way of seeing things.\u201d<\/em><\/p>

Cathy is an English kaiako at\u00a0Dynaspeak<\/a><\/strong>, a w\u0101hanga of Te W\u0101nanga o Aotearoa. Although she teaches students te reo P\u0101keh\u0101, she still finds her reo M\u0101ori knowledge beneficial in her mahi.<\/p>

\u201cIt (te reo) is extremely useful in my mahi because, from time to time, someone is needed to proofread M\u0101ori phrases, sing waiata, and so on. Learning te reo has also helped me to do a better job of teaching students about p\u016br\u0101kau and other aspects of M\u0101ori culture.\u201d<\/em><\/p>

For the first time in her life, while completing an assessment, Cathy realised that she knew very little of her grandmother’s family history.<\/p>

With no M\u0101ori whakapapa, learning about her wh\u0101nau waka was not easy, and she realised the importance of knowing the stories of her family.<\/p>

\u201cMy second cousin was the one who knew all the family stories, but her health has been frail. Had that assessment not spurred me to talk to my cousin before it was too late, I would never have heard her stories. Having heard my cousin\u2019s stories has changed who I am. I have found part of me that I never knew was missing, and I feel stronger and more solid.\u201d<\/em><\/p>

Cathy encourages others to take up the opportunity to learn te reo M\u0101ori. She recommends Te W\u0101nanga o Aotearoa, saying,\u00a0\u201cYou should learn te reo through Te W\u0101nanga o Aotearoa. You won\u2019t just be gaining vocabulary and grammar. The things you will gain as a person are at least equally important.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

English kaiako Cathy Purdie began her reo M\u0101ori journey in 1997, intending to uncover more about her cultural identity.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":4266,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-challenge-stories","category-reo-maori"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mahurumaori.com\/mao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mahurumaori.com\/mao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mahurumaori.com\/mao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mahurumaori.com\/mao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mahurumaori.com\/mao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4258"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.mahurumaori.com\/mao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4270,"href":"https:\/\/www.mahurumaori.com\/mao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4258\/revisions\/4270"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mahurumaori.com\/mao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mahurumaori.com\/mao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mahurumaori.com\/mao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mahurumaori.com\/mao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}