After observing Whaea Waitonga’s class at Aorere College, I made some changes to our class routines. I included removing shoes, mihi, and waiata/hīmene to our tikanga processes. Some ākonga have embraced the new introduced tikanga process, others have not. I asked those that were not keen on it and their responses included:

• “I don’t want to speak in front of everyone.” 
• “I can’t say the words.”
• “I haven’t done my mihi.”
• “I hate taking off my shoes cause I hate having to put my shoes back on.”
• “I don’t want to take off my shoes.”

There is a feeling of whakamā or shame associated with speaking te reo in front of an audience, especially for those tauira who have little or no reo. 

I noticed that some ākonga were arriving late or truanting my class to avoid having to do the karakia or mihi. I will need to have a kōrero with these ākonga to see what a mutual solution could be, one that does not jeopardise our tikanga process or our students learning and attendance. Te Reo Māori is incumbent upon tikanga and doing things the “right” way.

I have provided a mihi template to work from, but many of the ākonga have not yet completed them. I have to come up with a different strategy for ākonga to do their mihi. I may try putting a simpler mihi template on the wall for ākonga like these to follow and use.