Simon Day didn’t learn te reo Māori as a child. Now a parent himself, he’s passionate about giving his sons the opportunity. My great grandfather, Tom French, was born under a tree at Waipapa marae in Kawhia, overlooking the black sands of the town’s harbour on the North Island’s west coast. As a young man … Read more
Two years ago, Haider Khan started his te reo Māori journey. Since then, he says, a new world has opened up for him, and he’s uncovered connections that he’d never noticed before. Haider Khan was inspired to take up te reo Māori at precisely the wrong time. After hearing a coworker at Spark delivering a … Read more
In June 2018, Rawinia Higgins was appointed chairperson of Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori. She’s the first woman and the first te reo Māori second-language speaker to hold the role, and during Te Wiki o te Reo Māori, she sat down with The Spinoff to talk about her life. “You can’t do a … Read more
Ruby Porter on the first novel by acclaimed Vietnamese-American poet Ocean Vuong. I came across Ocean Vuong’s poetry collection Night Sky With Exit Wounds last year. I read it twice in one day. I was staying outside of New York, at the time, and taking the train in each morning. I remember being disappointed when … Read more
The debate continues on whether compulsory schooling could be effective as a te reo Māori revitalisation tool. Kristin Hall reports on the view from Ireland. ‘Mattresses have three suites. Macdara has four more flavours. How many mills are Macdara?’ This is a question I found myself pondering for far too long while sitting in a … Read more
What if there was a way you could show your willingness to kōrero Māori with others in public? Leonie Hayden talks to the brains behind a range of t-shirts, jumpers and badges letting people know the wearer can, or wants to, speak to others in te reo Māori. For Paul Andersen (Ngāti Raukawa) the challenge presented … Read more
The Side Eye is a monthly non-fiction comic by Toby Morris, supported by NZ On Air. Read the rest of the series here.