Our children are growing up with technology that enriches their lives every day. There are plenty of apps that can help with learning words for kids as young as 18 months old, but until very recently there were no resources for teaching Te Reo Māori.
‘He aha tēnei?’ (What is this?) was launched in April this year by Pāpapa- a company focused on revitalising Te Reo Māori through interactive mobile apps for kids and their caregivers. The idea began when a young family was busy raising their children to speak Te Reo as their first language. Seeing the potential, the couple enlisted the help of a friend and all-together they brought this idea to life.
‘He aha tēnei?’ is a drag-and-drop game where matching of letters & pictures teaches pronunciation of every day words such as whare (house) and uenuku (rainbow). The game also aims to bring back historic words which have been lost in time as Te Reo Māori and English have grown together. For example, ‘panana’ is the common translation for banana in Te Reo, whereas ‘maika’ is the correct word. There is a focus on using specific words over generics as well: for example ‘karoro’ instead ‘manu’ (bird) to describe a seagull.
Pāpapa believes in nurturing the special language bond between kids and their caregivers, honouring the breadth, depth and beauty of Te Reo Māori vocabulary. ‘He aha tēnei?’ is app available on both Apple and Android, and there are 3 more apps in development:
‘Ōku Kākahu’ – A game that teaches clothing
‘He Haerenga’ – A game about going on a trip
‘Kei hea a ihoro’ – an eye-spy game
Download these apps at the following links: