Maori Language Week 2024

By Annette Osborne -

14-21 Sept 2024: It's Māori Language Week!

What a great reminder that we live in a country with three official languages; Māori, English and NZ sign language. It also provides a reminder to consider how our programmes and our conversations reflect this diversity. Here are just a couple of simple suggestions and resources to help you this week and beyond.


 The importance of correctly pronouncing Māori words:
This YouTube clip has been around for a while, but it's great! If you haven't seen it, it is worth a watch.Click here to check it out. "My name is Finnian Galbraith and I am a year 11 student at Kāpiti College. I wrote this speech initially for a speech competition in 2014 because I see this as a big issue and I believe it is very important that we take action. Thanks for watching!"

 The Lord's Prayer:
This website will give you the Lord's prayer in English and Māori, as well as a translation guide and a video to help you with pronunciation.
www.maorilanguage.net

Tāku Paipera
Tāku Paipera is a brand new Māori translation of the famous Lion Children’s Bible. The only Māori children’s Bible available, this 256 page hardback book features beautiful full-colour illustrations. What about purchasing a copy or two for your church library or as gifts for family and whanau. You can find out more at Manna, priced at $19.99

Many children's programmes include a memory verse. What about teaching it in te reo this week? You can find a Maori translation at www.biblegateway.com

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

12. Jesus has his first visitors.

By Annette Osborne -
Image
When a new baby is born, everyone wants to visit. People bring gifts and they take photographs. When Jesus was a baby some of the first visitors to meet him were these young guys who looked after sheep for a living. Some of them stayed in the fields to make sure the sheep we re okay, and a group of them travellled into Bethlehem to find this baby that the angels told them about.  This is a photograph of a painting of the shepherds. In this photograph the shepherd is an older man. Can you see how he carries the little lamb safe on his shoulders? They would have been a bit smelly. They lived out in the fields, with sheep for company. No showers, no soap and probably no change of clothes. But that doesn’t matter to God. You see, the Christmas story is full of people who weren’t famous or grea t leaders or seen as important. That’s what make it so amazing. God sent angels to tell the shepherds about the saviour of the world. Not Herod, not Augustus. Shepherds.  Do you think t
Read more

The Three Kings by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

By Annette Osborne -
Image
What a beautiful poem to read this Christmas, (despite the fact we don't know that there were three wise kings, nor do we know their names). This would make a great addition to an All-Age service, or as part of a church service during Advent. Find someone in your congregation with a great reading voice. You might even like to have them sit in a comfy arm chair with a lamp for light.  For extra drama, soak a little frankincense or myrrh oil onto cotton-wool balls and pass these out before you read the poem. Let people smell the spice of the wise kings gifts, as they listen to the poem, and take home the cotton-wool ball as a reminder.  The Three Kings  By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow  Three Kings came riding from far away, Melchior and Gaspar and Baltasar; Three Wise Men out of the East were they, And they travelled by night and they slept by day, For their guide was a beautiful, wonderful star. And when they came to Jerusalem, Herod the Great, who had heard this thing, Se
Read more

Waitangi Day

By Annette Osborne -
Image
Te Kawenata o Waitangi (the Covenant of Waitangi) The Treaty of Waitangi  signed 6 Feb 1840 “Te Kawenata o Waitangi is the name Māori gave to the Treaty of Waitangi. It means, the ‘Covenant of Waitangi’, and reflects the influence of the gospel on New Zealand history. The signing of the Treaty was not simply a contract but a covenant, in the Biblical sense of the word.” (Mark Grace, The Gospel and the Treaty of Waitangi, 2014) Waitangi Day is a great opportunity to reflect on our history as a nation, but also the part that Christians played in this historic event. Here are some ideas you might like to use in your Sunday School or children’s programme or together with all ages in your church services. Click on the links below to view and download free resources. We are keen to add to this col lection, so if you have an idea or activity we would love you to share it w ith us. Email: annette.o@sunz.o rg.nz A few main points:  Click here for a brief overview of the Tre
Read more