{"id":4276,"date":"2024-09-26T02:30:09","date_gmt":"2024-09-26T02:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mahurumaori.com\/?p=4276"},"modified":"2025-08-06T02:33:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T02:33:07","slug":"former-tauira-now-teaching-with-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mahurumaori.com\/mao\/former-tauira-now-teaching-with-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"Former tauira now teaching with heart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo Credit: R\u0101whitiroa Bosch<\/p>

Since 2021, Emma Ralston-Wyllie has been a kaiako of first\u00a0He P\u012b Ka Pao<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and then\u00a0He P\u012b Ka Rere<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>at the\u00a0Wait\u0101kere campus<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>of Te W\u0101nanga o Aotearoa.<\/p>

A sound engineer by trade, she never intended to become a teacher.<\/p>

\u201cI enrolled in\u00a0Te R\u014dnakitanga ki te Reo Kairangi<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>because I wanted to get back to my reo. I wanted to learn again. I did\u00a0Te Aupikitanga ki te Reo Kairangi<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>and then I was invited to apply to be a kaiako. I still wanted to keep learning my reo so I enrolled in\u00a0Te P\u012bnakitanga ki te Reo Kairangi<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>in 2022 while I was also teaching. A previous kaiako had said I\u2019m good at explaining things, why don\u2019t I give teaching a go. Now I don\u2019t want to do anything else.\u201d<\/em><\/p>

She\u2019s now so passionate about being a kaiako that she immerses herself where possible in reo M\u0101ori spaces to grow her own skills. She travelled from her home north of Auckland to attend Toit\u016b Te Reo in Heretaunga in August.<\/p>

Celebrating language, culture, and the identity of M\u0101ori and wider Aotearoa,\u00a0Toit\u016b Te Reo<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 the world\u2019s first M\u0101ori language festival \u2014 was held over 2 days at Toitoi Hawke’s Bay Arts & Events Centre. Organised by reo advocate, Jeremy \u2018T\u0101tare\u2019 MacLeod, the event was a resounding success, bringing together thousands of people passionate about reo M\u0101ori.<\/p>

\u201cI went to be immersed. Like at Te Matatini, it\u2019s a natural space for us to speak and listen to the reo and just be around M\u0101ori. I want to learn how to revitalise te reo M\u0101ori, and improve my teaching skills. And the whakawhanaungatanga.\u201d<\/em><\/p>

Emma bumped into a former tauira of hers while she was there, and the joy in seeing each other confirmed the impact she has as a kaiako.<\/p>

Part of her role is guiding her tauira through their own feelings of shame and shyness that can come with learning te reo M\u0101ori.<\/p>

\u201cI tell them, there\u2019s no harm in giving it a go. They want to be there anyway, but I\u2019m encouraging them and supporting them to deal with and accept their feelings and help them find tools that help to get them through. I remind them I\u2019ve had more opportunities come to me since I\u2019ve learned the reo.\u201d<\/em><\/p>

He P\u012b ka Pao<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>is the Level 1 & 2 reo M\u0101ori programme at Te W\u0101nanga o Aotearoa and provides a great foundation level for tauira to learn pronunciation, basic sentence structures, and introduces tikanga practices.\u00a0He P\u012b ka Rere, Level 3 & 4<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0builds on this foundation to expand on sentence structures and encourage confidence.<\/p>

Emma has found that with growth and confidence comes value and opportunities. She no longer looks for jobs or opportunities, and is being sought after for her skills. She wants others to feel as she does, proud to be able to k\u014drero M\u0101ori.<\/p>

\u201cI felt out of my depth being asked to be a kaiako but that\u2019s how you learn and grow. I don\u2019t have to look for jobs, don\u2019t have to worry about any of that now. I\u2019ve even had to turn them away! It\u2019s been so valuable.\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":"

Since 2021, Emma Ralston-Wyllie has been a kaiako of first He P\u012b Ka Pao and then He P\u012b Ka Rere at the Wait\u0101kere campus of Te W\u0101nanga o Aotearoa.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":4277,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4276","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\/4276","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=4276"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.mahurumaori.com\/mao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4276\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4281,"href":"https:\/\/www.mahurumaori.com\/mao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4276\/revisions\/4281"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mahurumaori.com\/mao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mahurumaori.com\/mao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mahurumaori.com\/mao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mahurumaori.com\/mao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}