More than 900,000 NZers take part in Te Wa Tuku Reo Maori
E whai ana a te taura whiri i te reo Maori kia kotahi miriona tangata e korero ana, e waiata ana, e whakanui ana hoki i te reo - i te wa kotahi, i tetahi wa tuku reo Maori kaore ano kia kite - i te wiki o te reo Maori. E tohu ana tÄ"nei i te rÄ me te hÄora i tÄpaetia ai e tÄ"tahi ranga toa o te reo MÄori tÄ"tahi petihana i te tau 1972 tahi mano, iwa rau, whetu tekau ma rua, i ngÄ kaupae o te whare pÄremata, e whakahau ana kia whakaakona te reo ki Å tÄtou kura. I kohia e rÄtou ngÄ waitohu o ngÄ tÄngata o Aotearoa e toru tekau mano/30,000. Ka maumahara tonu tÄtou ki te hunga nÄna te reo i whakatairanga i te wÄ kÄore tÄ"rÄ mahi i paingia e te hapori, e te ao tÅrangapÅ« anÅ hoki. A, tae atu ki te ra nei - tata ki tetahi miriona tangata ki te kÅrero Maori i te poututanga. Hundreds of thousands of people gathered around the country at Midday today to embrace te reo MÄori in some way. The significance of today marks when Nga Tamatoa arrived at parliament in 1972 to deliver a 30,000-strong petition calling for te reo to be taught in schools - at a time when it was not politically or socially acceptable to do so. Almost 50 years on - we have workplaces, schools and communities signing up to Te WÄ Tuku Reo MÄori - the MÄori language moment - set up by the MÄori Language Commission. The aim was to get one million people to speak te reo at the same time in Aotearoa - to represent the Commission's goal to have one million speakers by 2040. One of the schools taking part was Beckenham School in Otautahi. MÄni Dunlop spoke to the principal, Sandy Hastings.
