The Story of Rangi’s Reo

Rangi’s Reo started in a very organic way, it started to take shape October 2020, when my good friend Bridgette Tapsell approached me with the idea of teaching her Te Reo Māori, although she had a fair understanding of the Māori language, but she just needed help to become conversational.

I agreed to help her and then she mentioned that some of her friends are interested in coming along as well. So, we started a small group out of Bridgette’s home pitched at an intermediate level. The name Rangi’s Reo came about from one of those lounge-based classes where as a joke I said to those assembled, “Welcome to Rangi’s Reo!” and the name stuck. The whole exercise was a new approach to learning Te Reo Māori and very much an experiment in progress. After 8 weeks of one weekly class, the feedback and results were profound.

There was a marked improvement in participants Te Reo with one participant saying that they were now speaking sentences with confidence. The course also produced an unexpected benefit where it seemed to provide a therapeutic aspect reported by some of the participants due to its holistic approach and deeper understanding of Te Reo Māori and Māori culture.

The home-based course soon expanded to the hiring of a classroom and to 3 courses a week covering beginner’s, beginner’s extension and intermediate.  I ran these classes for a full year in the evenings in addition to my full-time job.

In reviewing the popularity, the great outcomes and the intensive effort required to run these physical classes I decided to pivot and go online with Rangi’s Reo.  I brought on a business partner who happens to be my friend Bridgette Tapsell.  We spent the next year filming, editing and engaging a developer to package it all together.

So as of the beginning of June 2023, we are proud to say that Rangi’s Reo 1 and Rangi’s Reo 2 are now available online at www.rangisreo.com

Rangi’s Reo 1 – Is an introduction to Te Reo for beginners.

Covering:

·       Pronunciation

·       Vowels

·       Consonants

·       Vowel pairings

·       Greetings

·       Farewells

·       Pepeha

Rangi’s Reo 2 – Is an extension of Rangi’s Reo 1 and begins a focus on the basic building blocks of the language the kupu (word) “mea”, pronouns and possessives.

Both Rangi’s Reo 1 & 2 follow a Kaupapa Māori format beginning and ending with karakia (prayer), opening prayer followed by mihi (acknowledgement), then a story (pūrākau), then Reo Huna (deeper kupu(word) insights), the kaupapa (lesson).

Rangi’s own Te Reo journey:

My own journey with Te Reo has influenced Rangi’s Reo; like many Māori in Aotearoa (New Zealand) I was not raised with the Te Reo Māori as previous generations of Māori were discouraged in the speaking Te Reo.

Both my grandmothers were native speakers however the language failed to be passed through my parents to me. This was partially attributed to my maternal grandmother passing away when my mother was 8 years old and my paternal grandmother living in a community that spoke only English.

As a child growing up, I felt as though something was missing in my life and I knew that it was something to do with being Māori. Interesting enough I didn’t take to Te Reo until I was about 14/15 years old when I did my first whaikōrero at the marae, after leaving school my desire for the learning Te Reo continued to grow.

One advantage I believe of being a second language learner of the Te Reo is that I have developed many ways that help in acquiring Te Reo and some really good hacks in fast-tracking progress, which I have passed via Rangi’s Reo.

I am often asked where I got my Te Reo from, with which I answer, “everywhere!” What I mean is that I took advantage of every possible source and avenue in my Te Reo journey be it spending time with fluent speakers, listening to Māori TV and radio, undertaking Te Reo courses, reading Te Reo books and a lot of self-teaching.

The 8 Pillars of Rangi’s Reo

As Rangi’s Reo took form organically, I drew from my past and present experience and knowledge and established 8 principles that guides the ethos of Rangi’s Reo.

Matawhānui – spirituality, a soul approach to learning Te Reo, connecting with one’s authentic self.

Ngā Mātāpono – Māori values i.e., aroha, manaakitanga, rangatiratanga etc.

Ngā Tikanga – Māori cultural insights, the language needs to be learned alongside the culture as one supports the other.  It could be said that the language is the content and the culture is the context.

Tē Mahara – The principle of not stressing when learning.  It’s based on the premise that physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually one can not absorb anything if they are in a state of stress.

Pūrākau – Enjoying Māori myths and legends, understanding “Te Ōrokohanga o te Ao” (The Māori Creation Story) and how it informs the Māori world view.

Te Reo Huna – An introduction to the hidden meaning in some Māori words.

Whakarongo – Listening, tuning in to the vibration of Te Reo Māori.

Poukapa – Matrix learning, the principle that speaks to creating structures that the language can attach to and develop upon.  An approach that reflects natural brain growth, is a decentralised non-lineal way of learning.

Time to start or restart your Reo journey?

Visit Rangis Reo (Website)