More te reo Māori in homes - the QR code link
Educators including kaiako appreciate that the challenges faced by parents and other whānau to include multiple oral and written languages in their landscapes at home to support their children to become and remain multilingual. We know that many homes have limited spoken te reo Māori[i] and so this threatened language is in need of support from us all.
In our research collaboration with early childhood centres we have supported kaiako to strategically develop resources that include te reo Māori, so that it becomes visible in homes in a way that prompts its use. For example, songs and karakia blessings are often used daily in early childhood education and we found that children have prompted their use at home too.
To support the adults the text was printed on a digital photo of the tamariki to be taken home. We observed that the child’s photo often led to the text being placed in a prominent position. However, that still did not provide an oral version.
A parent told us that she wished she knew what her tamariki was trying to sing. She wanted to sing along too. So Leona found the way to add a QR code to the photo too so that the parent can see and hear the language too.
As a researcher, Leona also showed kaiako how to use a mobile phone to record the singing of a waiata and then how to upload the audio up to the Cloud. Then she showed them how to create a QR code and add that as a link on the photo. Then the whānau became able use a smart phone at home to hear the te reo Māori.
You can see how to do this too – it is one of our ‘pop up’ workshops on this EBinDW web site.
Please tell us if you find it useful. We would be very happy to hear other strategies too!
Note: The picture of child with text of song & QR code link is CC by SA with thanks to those who provided it.
[i] King, J., & Cunningham, U. (2017). Tamariki and fanau: Child speakers of Māori and Samoan in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Te Reo, 60, 29-46.
