Like most kids my son enjoys stories before bedtime (which is just as well because his mum is a librarian and he was going to be getting them regardless).
Like a lot of Kiwi parents I do my best to add some te reo Māori into the mix where I can, but my own Māori language knowledge is a bit patchy in places - I'm a work in progress. So how to expose my 4 year old to some te reo, but also read a story so we'll both understand it and enjoy the experience?
I've found that reading te reo Māori versions of books we already know really well in English has been a fun way to do it. It helps if it's a book that you've read so many times, you've practically got it memorised. That way you can "read" the English language version (out loud from memory), and then read the te reo version from the page.
Our latest success with this method has been with Stephanie Blake's Poo Bum aka Paraweta, which has just come out in te reo.
I let my tamaiti hold the original version and turn the pages of that one, while I hold the Māori language version, and he yells out "Paraweta!" at the appropriate points in the story.
Here are some other te reo Māori versions of children's classics we've enjoyed that you might like to try:
Kaua e tuku mā te kukupa te pahi e taraiwa!
Hairy Maclary no te teri a tanarahana
Or try something from our Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori modern classic picture books list
If you're a te reo beginner then start with simple stories like The very hungry caterpillar, Where's Spot or even Kei te pehea koe? / How do you feel? (which is in both English and Māori and is really easy to follow).
Or try stories in English that incorporate some te reo Māori words like The kuia and the spider (because it's never to early to learn words like "hōha"), or Row, kiwi, row your boat, which you can sing together and includes simple Māori greetings (and a full te reo version for more confident speakers/singers).
Even if I trip up on a word here and there I've found that as long as I'm doing the silly voices and engaging with the story, my son is pretty happy to have a te reo Māori story at bedtime, in fact... Paraweta is his new favourite.
Find out more
Throughout Te Wiki o te Reo Māori we'll be blogging about ways you can help strengthen the reo.
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