How I teach
My teaching style is relaxed, encouraging and playful. Inspired by my love of theatre, my classes are full of storytelling, laughter and fun.
Learners’ confidence grows as they become familiar with everyday terms and phrases, and develop the grammar they need to have basic conversations.
I have a strong focus on helping students improve their pronunciation.
I build a bridge between the Māori perspective and its intrinsic spirituality, and the language learning process creating a heartfelt connection to te reo Māori.
Kaua e pupuri i tō ake kete, whangai atu ki te ao
Don’t hold it in your own basket, feed it out to the world
Te Tuarā o te reo - the backbone of the language
All classes are generally an hour long and can be delivered in person if in Wellington or virtually throughout the motu.
TE TUARĀ LEVEL A (6–8 sessions)
Learning single words and short phrases that can be sprinkled into everyday conversations.
Improving pronunciation with easy-to- remember tips. (See my examples on Te Papa’s website.)
Becoming confident in using greetings and farewells, as well as everyday courtesies such as being able to ask someone how they are.
Using te reo at work – e.g., in emails and letters.
Introduction to the deeper intrinsic Māori world view. Developing a connection to the language and its tikanga and wairuatanga.
Meanings of place names, understanding of words such as manaakitanga, whanaungatanga , Pākehā and Māori.
Introducing yourself in te reo Māori (mihimihi, pepeha).
TE TUARĀ LEVEL B (8–10 sessions)
Recap on Tuarā A, with a particular focus on pronunciation.
Introduction to imperatives (e.g., commands)
Introduction to numbers using a Q&A format.
Definite and indefinite articles.
Plural pronouns and their unique differences from those used in the English language.
Introduction to basic active verbal sentence structures, and location sentences.
Co-creating sentences/phrases that can be used to welcome visitors and/or open and close meetings.
Discussion about tikanga and the Māori world view, allowing deeper understanding and appreciation to develop.
TE TUARĀ LEVEL C (8–10 sessions)
Role playing everyday scenes, to recap what we have learnt to date.
Possessive pronouns. Using them in the sentence structures we’ve learnt.
Expanding on location sentences – adding extra description and different tenses.
Present possessives – Nā wai? Nō wai?
Future possessives – Mā wai? Mō wai?
Understanding the steps in a pōhiri/pōwhiri.
Everyday conversations and role playing to build confidence in using te reo outside the classroom.
TE TUARĀ LEVEL D (8–10 sessions)
Recap.
Telling the time.
The calendar – the old and new days of the week and the months.
The seasons of the year.
‘When’ (present, past and future tense).
Locatives.
Lots of practise creating sentences using the kupu (words) and sentence structures we’ve learnt.
Continuing to use role play and fun to gain confidence and familiarity.
TE TUARĀ AND BEYOND Bespoke
I can work with you to design classes and a program suited to your organisation or people’s needs.
Language development can also be progressed past Level D all the way up to language fluency.
All classes can be delivered in person if in Wellington or virtually throughout the motu.
My mahi - four tips to improve your te reo
Kaiako (teacher) Joan Costello takes us through four helpful tips to keep in mind when pronouncing te reo Māori. Click the link below.
“Kaua e pupuri i tō ake kete, whangai atu ki te ao.”
Don’t hold it in your own basket, feed it out to the world