For many people, especially those living in New Zealand where monolingualism is the norm, hearing another language is a rare thing. Being a family committed to te reo can therefore attract attention from others when you are out in the public using your reo. Most of this attention will be out of curiosity and interest. So stand proud and remember to smile as people pass by you wondering what beautiful language that is that you are speaking.
Be proud.
For books and resources, check out your local library which usually stock a great collection of books in te reo Māori for you to borrow FREE.
All schools have great collections of Māori language resources but not all are used a lot of the time so hit up the teacher at your local school and set up a resource library for your whānau and possibly other whānau to access.
Many bookshops have access to Māori language books and games but not all of them carry them in stock. If you can't find them on the shelves ask to check out their catalogues, as they may just need to order these in for you.
There are also a number of fantastic websites which are now available to support Māori language speakers and learners. Check out our links pages to see this.
KMK have also produced a number of resources to support families in the home. Many of these would have already been sent out to KMK registered whānau, but if yours went missing, check out our online copies which you can download at your leisure.
Don't forget to check out your local Māori radio station or Māori language programmes, which are now readily available on TV.
There is more access to Māori language resources available now than ever before.
If you don't have access to Māori language speakers and aren't a native speaker there are still lots of things that you can do to increase the amount of reo in your home.
Listen to Māori radio or watch Māori language programmes with your child. Even if it is just being played in the background. This lets you and your child get accustomed to the language and its sound
Don't forget local libraries are full of stuff. Go and check them out
There are a great number of groups producing Māori language resources and activities. Check out our links pages for more information
Find a group which uses reo Māori in your community, it may be a kōhanga playgroup, or a kapa rōpū and there are even some sports teams committed to the language. Go out and get involved with them to increase the number of people around you who can support your language growth
Language mixing is when a child mixes up their two languages. This is normal in the language development of a bilingual child. Hearing the sounds of two languages from an early age helps simulate language development in a child. In time they will be able to differentiate one from another and will speak to you in the language that you speak to them.
Sometimes becoming a bilingual or Māori speaking household can cause negative attitudes from others. Surprisingly or not some of those closest to you might have the strongest opposition to your decision.
The best way to start changing this is by having a conversation with your extended family and friends about what you are doing and why. Most of the time people will feel that the child might be disadvantaged in some way or that they might be limited in how they are able to interact with you and your family. Everyone can play a part in fostering bilingualism. For 'English-speaking' only family members this might mean that they take charge of ensuring that the English of that child continues to develop and grow and vice versa for Māori speaking family members.
With most bilingual children, regardless of how young they started to learn their two languages, these won't develop equally for all but the few exceptions. In most cases the language a person uses tends to vary for different times, different places and different people. Each language has then a different purpose and different functions and different uses.
