Maori Television Supports Maori Language Week 2009

PUBLICITY RELEASE
FRIDAY JULY 24 2009

Maori Television Supports Maori Language Week 2009

New Zealand’s national indigenous broadcaster, Maori Television, is proud to support ‘Te Reo i te Hapori - Maori Language in the Community’ as part of Maori Language Week 2009 (July 27-August 2 2009).

• Daily news programme, Te Kaea, will provide comprehensive coverage of Maori Language Week initiatives both in the run-up and during the week - every day at 7.30 PM and with English language subtitles at 11.00 PM. Youth show Haa (weekdays at 6.00 PM), sports entertainment show Hyundai CODE (Thursday July 30 at 8.30 PM) and live karaoke competition Homai Te Pakipaki (Friday July 31 at 8.30 PM) will also promote Maori Language Week as part of their broadcasts.

• Current affairs series Native Affairs will present its one-hour show live from Parliament on Monday July 27 at 8.00 PM. The Maori Language Week special will honour esteemed linguist Katerina Mataira who is collecting an international award for her lifetime dedication to teaching Maori, building resources for Maori language learning and co-designing teaching methods such as Te Ataarangi. The chief executive of Linguapax based in Italy, Miguel Ensombe, will present the award to Mataira at a ceremony at Parliament to be hosted by Maori Affairs Minister Hon Dr Pita Sharples. Erima Henare, the chairman of the Maori Language Commission, Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Maori, will reflect on the state of the Maori language and the ‘godfather’ of Maori language sports commentating, Hemana Waaka, will also be profiled. This edition of Native Affairs will be predominantly in the Maori language while its repeat later in the week - Friday July 31 at 10.00 PM - will have English language subtitles.

• Children’s links show, Tau Ke, will broadcast Maori language segments featuring members of the community including a policeman, fire fighter, doctor, dentist and teacher - weekdays from 3.30 PM. Each of these professions provided a message in Maori that the tamariki will understand, recognise, and, if needed, act upon. The aim of these simple but effective links is to illustrate to the children that te reo Maori in the community is being spoken and is normal. These messages will be repeated multiple times during the week. In keeping with this year’s theme, Maori Television’s on-air promotions department has also chosen to portray te reo Maori as ‘loud and proud’ in locations that clearly show the community.

• Maori Television is launching a new Maori language application for mobile phones. The initiative - m.MAORI - enables people to download fun reo Maori audio phrases to their cellphones. To download m.MAORI, text REO to 3553 (texts cost 20c) and you will receive a reply text with a link to download the application. Follow the instructions to install and depending on your phone, locate m.MAORI in your phone menu, games or application folder. Everyone who downloads m.MAORI goes into the draw to win a Nokia N95 mobile phone. Note: m.MAORI works on Java ME phones only - most of the latest models.

• Finally, the Maori Television website - www.maoritelevision.com - has launched a special Maori Language Week section including information about this year’s theme and ideas for families and organisations.

Ends

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