A desire for self-improvement the catalyst for study

A desire to learn te reo Māori was sparked when Open Polytechnic graduate Ariel Barlett’s youngest child started kindy and she returned to part-time employment. "I knew I wanted to better myself in some way,” says Ariel.

Before enrolling in Te Pōkaitahi Reo (Reo Rua) (Te Kaupae 1) - The New Zealand Certificate in Te Reo (Bilingual) (Level 1), Ariel considered other options, but she had always wanted to learn te reo. 

“I don’t have Māori ancestry, but I’ve always felt I owed it to the place I live to learn the language,” she says. 

Flexible learning suits lifestyle  

Ariel says she chose to study with Open Polytechnic as it fitted her existing lifestyle. 

“Open Polytechnic was the best choice, with my children’s school and kindy pickups, and my morning job, as was the learning style, being flexible and online.” 

“I liked that I could be in pajamas with a cup of coffee, the boys in bed, and learn then. I also really enjoyed that everything was written, I didn’t have to listen to lectures and could read the course materials myself.”  

Support from whānau while studying

Ariel said her husband was an amazing support while studying, “He made sure I got through everything I needed to and was very supportive of my learning.

“Although not fluent in te reo Māori himself, he was very happy to help me put aside time to study and remind me of assessments due.”

Ariel says her sister-in-law has been an incredible support too.

“My sister-in-law, fluent in te reo Māori, is my benchmark for most things. She gave feedback about what I had written, and whether it would translate when spoken, and make sense.”

“My children too, even though only four and six, have also been learning te reo with her. Hearing me practicing they’d ask, ‘Did you just count in te reo?’ I’d say, ‘Yes, do you want me to go through it with you?’”

“This meant we could keep adding common phrases into our everyday life and it was easier that they already knew most of those words. My aim is to have them bilingual in the two languages,” says Ariel.

Using te reo Māori every day

Ariel says initially she didn’t think what she had learnt in her course would be directly useful in her work teaching swimming and dance. 

“At first in these types of arenas (swimming & dance) I didn’t think it would be relevant, but it has been.”  

“Some of the songs I sing with the preschoolers, I can now turn into te reo songs too, it’s been quite cool to add a little bit of the language in there.”

Course materials and tutor guidance prove invaluable

Ariel says the course study materials were amazing and the support from her course tutor. 

“I loved the research part at the end of every full module in my course, where I was given more than one option of where to research.” 

“This was helpful when I started the course as I was unsure where to find te reo Māori language texts and stories. An index of where to find these resources was invaluable.” 

“I’m a huge fan of myths and legends, so I loved learning about the Māori gods, learning about Maui was some of my favourite parts of the course.”  

Ariel says the support from her course tutor was also invaluable. 

“My course tutor Ayla Reti was absolutely incredible,” says Ariel. 

“It was the level of support she provided, answering any questions I had and those from other ākonga in our course talk channels, she answered these so quickly.” 

"This level of communication provided an ease to my learning; even though we weren't face-to-face, the responsiveness and communication was fantastic.”

Experiencing the challenges

Ariel says one of the challenges she experienced while studying was the inability to see how she was tracking along compared to her peers. “I’ve always been the type of person, that likes to use comparisons to figure out whether I’m doing ok.” 

“I did find that a challenge in terms of motivation.” 

“Another challenge was not being able to converse with people to practice my pronunciation. I had to seek out my own friends to converse with.”

Encouraging others to learn something new

Ariel says she has mentioned studying with Open Polytechnic to many of her school mum friends, encouraging them to give it a go. “I’ve told them it’s easy and you can fit it in any time. That’s what I think the online platform is so good for, because it means you can fit study in, around your workload or your lifestyle.” 

“My sister-in-law too, even though fluent, says with enough of a push she wouldn’t mind brushing up on a few things with the Te Pōkaitahi Reo course.”

Benefits of study

Ariel says she thinks it’s important to keep our brains active by learning and retaining knowledge.

“I’ve always been an advocate for doing as much learning on whatever subject you are interested in.
 
“I also want to show my children it doesn’t matter how old you are, you can still learn something from the beginning and with determination achieve something."

“Learning te reo Māori, whether you have ancestry or not, I think, is important for us all to take part in, to make sure we support the language and not let it die.”

Future plans

Ariel says she would like to keep studying at a higher level, "I think that for any further study I need to be sure I can give my time and commitment to it, even though it is flexible.   

"I’m just waiting until I'm ready to commit to it fully.” 

“I'm positive though that it will be the next step,” she says.