The workplace can be a great environment to use and learn te reo Māori with your colleagues. By sharing the use of te reo Māori at work, you’ll gain confidence in yourself, encourage others to grow what they know and put the language to use on contextual settings.
Organisations are embracing the Mahuru Māori challenge in all sorts of ways.
To help you get your workplace into the swing of things, here are some things you might consider doing to take part in Mahuru Māori or include as ideas in your organisational reo ora strategy:
- Greet people and learn some basic phrases in te reo Māori
- Learn how to introduce yourself in te reo Māori.
- Listen to podcasts like Taringa or Everyday Māori to sharpen your reo.
- Learn a waiata you can share as an organisation.
- Host a ‘Kōrero Kai’ for lunch where you only speak in te reo Māori.
- Start lunch off with a karakia for kai.
- Answer the phone in te reo Māori.
- Change your email greetings/signatures to te reo Māori.
- Display some helpful posters to help you in the office.
- Learn useful words and phrases for online meetings.
- Set a ‘reo Māori only’ zone within your workplace.
- Set a time where your workplace colleagues only speak te reo (i.e. 1-2pm)
- Change the work place radio station to a local iwi radio station.
- Post up common phrases the you can use in the workplace.
- Convert some of your signage to bilingual signage.
- Learn simple phrases related to technology.
We’d love to share your story about how you’re embracing Mahuru Māori at work. Send us a short video, a few photos or a few words to mahurumaori@twoa.ac.nz and we’ll share your story with our Mahuru Māori whānau.
