Māori-medium magazines

A number of reo Māori magazines being published for the Māori-medium education sector are designed to encourage Māori-medium students to engage in reading.

Those produced in hard copy are distributed to Māori-medium kura and immersion classes for use both at school and to take home for reading and sharing with the whānau.

Taiki E!, Hui E!, and Toi Te Kupu have been in circulation for a number of years, and students look forward to them arriving in the kura. Takatū Ake is a new publication and is now available online at Te Kete Ipurangi.

Taika E! And Hui E!

Tāiki E! is a magazine designed for primary school students from years 3–6.

One of the foremost characteristics of Taiki E! is that students will be visible in the articles, helping them to identify with the content. The magazine models quality informal and everyday use of te reo Māori in contexts that are interesting and fun for children.

Taiki E is colourful and informative, has lots of pictures of tamariki and kura, and includes games, jokes and fun activities, such as easy cooking recipes.

Hui E! is designed for students in years 4–5 and is also promoted as a take-home magazine for whānau to enjoy and use as an opportunity to engage in reading with their tamariki.

An important aspect of Hui E! is the contribution that students make as writers, so it is a vehicle for capturing student voice. This themed magazine features enjoyable, fun, entertaining activities and informative, thought-provoking articles.

Toi Te Kupu

Toi Te Kupu is a student newspaper designed for ākonga from years 9–13 who are working at levels 5–8 of Te Marautanga o Aotearoa (2008), with the intention of encouraging and supporting them to read independently.

The purpose of Toi Te Kupu is to motivate and engage students to read and think critically, discuss and write about contemporary events and topics, model text types that they are expected to produce, and to provide a pathway, platform, and resource for students to contribute to as writers.

The newspaper articles in Toi Te Kupu include both narrative and expository texts using a variety of text types (persuasive, explanation, report, procedure, etc) and text structures (eg, compare and contrast, sequence, cause and effect, problem and solution, etc) in a newspaper format.

Articles are up to date and cover topics and events that are of high interest to students, such as Manu Kōrero, waka ama and kapa haka, and themes such as celebrating success and positive Māori role models.

Takatū Ake

This new magazine for year 4–7 students currently explores a conservation theme.

It aims to provide a language-rich environment that supports student inquiry about current environmental and health issues. It encourages students to think globally and act locally around topics such as sustainable coastlines, air waste, carbon footprint, water pollution, obesity and holistic health.

In Takatū Ake, there are activities to stimulate and support the growth of contextualised puna reo, research skills and integrated learning. The digital issue enables the inclusion of videos featuring conservation projects and interactive elements such as hyperlinks to resources and websites to encourage students to research further.

Find Takatū Ake here: tmoa.tki.org.nz/Karere-Hou/Takatu-Ake(external link)