Reo Pēpi

As an early childhood teacher on a journey to integrate Te Reo Māori meaningfully into my work with children I have found its really hard to find resources appropriate for the infant and toddler age group. Most bilingual books seem to explore legends or involve story lines more relevant to preschool aged children. Finally I came across the most beautiful books that are absolutely perfect for infants and toddlers! I'm really excited to share with you all about Reo Pēpi's beautiful bilingual pukupuka created by Dunedin māmā Kitty Brown and Kirsten Parkinson. 

I discovered Reo Pēpi's first series of books in Good Magazine and immediately I knew I had to have them! As an artist, the illustrations captured me and the simple sentences both in Te Reo Māori and English were perfect for the infants and toddlers I teach. Reo Pēpi's books are interactive and really invite the children to join in. “Kanohi” has been the favourite in my room, focusing on the face and naming all the different parts. My children just love showing off their knowledge of this area and practicing the words in Te Reo Māori. The other two books in the series are called “Kākahu” which is all about getting dressed and “Kararehe” which is all about animals. As this resource became so well loved, I was beyond excited about the release of Series 2 which featured 3 books about counting, shapes and colours. I actually preordered it I was so keen! I can say they were worth the wait. The children in my classroom have just loved them and again, the interactive nature of the books really captured them. Counting, colours and shapes are concepts toddlers are familiar with and often discuss with their teachers and parents so they were excited to see something they recognised and could become involved in. Using Te Reo was meaningful for them and added a new challenge. I think what really makes these books amazing is that they are relevant to infants and toddlers every day lives and sadly its really hard to find appropriate resources that promote Te Reo for this age group.

So obviously, our infants and toddlers are crazy about these books but something else that I find so special has emerged from them. As some of you know, I work in a very multicultural community and in just my classroom around 10 different languages are spoken. One day I was reading “Te Kaute” from series 2 which is about counting with a few of the children. One of the Grandmothers who is from Germany had come to collect her Granddaughter and observed me reading to the children. “What language is this?” she asked me and I explained to her that I was reading in Te Reo Māori. She was intrigued that I was reading in another language with the children and it opened up an opportunity for me to have a conversation with her about why Te Reo Māori is important and relevant for all the children growing up in Aotearoa, including children who have immigrated here. I think it is very cool that reading these books with the children has opened up opportunities to have dialogues with families who come from all around the world about something so important to New Zealand.

These books have really increased the teachers knowledge of Te Reo Māori and we have all picked up new words from the books that we are now integrating in to our day to day conversations with children. I think its really great that these books come with a pronunciation guide included in the back. This has been really useful for us to work on pronunciation. 

I am really happy these amazing resources are out there and I think every childcare centre and home should have them! Kitty and Kirsten, you should be so proud of what you’ve achieved with these books - there really is nothing out there like this and I hope to see a series 3 in the future!

Reggio Emilia: Part 1 - "Being a citizen means you are never alone"

Being a citizen means you are never alone.

I traveled to Reggio Emilia in April for a week long study tour followed by an amazing month traveling around Italy, Switzerland and Germany with my partner Josh. It's taken me a while to write this as it was such a deeply intense learning and also an emotional experience for me, its hard to put such a profound experience in to words! My whole career (9 years) I have been inspired by the work of the teachers in Reggio Emilia and to finally go there and see it for myself was surreal and very humbling. I thought to myself, "I'm in Reggio Emilia, the actual city!"...its easy to forget it is in fact a place not an educational approach. On the day I arrived after a day and a half of travelling (two long haul flights!!) I sat in a piazza with my brother (a fellow teacher). We were both silent and it wasn't due to the jetlag...we were in awe of the beauty that surrounded us. The city is so old, so beautiful; the locals have an elegance about them, women riding bicycles in heels and pristine dresses; even hearing the murmur of people speaking Italian to one another was so amazing to us! We really couldn't believe we were there...it was so surreal. We had a few days to explore and get over the jetlag...in this time I even managed to visit Venice, Bologna and Verona - AMAZING! Eventually with great anticipation, the course did actually start!

If I tried to write about my whole 10 days in Reggio Emilia, it would be a VERY long post so I have decided to do it in parts. I went with a curiosity and many questions about rights and citizenship and what this actually looks like for the children in Reggio Emilia. I especially wanted to see for myself what citizenship looked like for Reggio Emilia's very youngest citizens - the infants and toddlers.

On the first day we heard from the mayor of Reggio Emilia, Luca Vecchi. He said,

“You can not have ideas about the rights of citizens unless you have an understanding of the rights of “the least of citizens”

This statement really resonated with me and I was reminded of it a lot through out the week that experiencing the idea of active citizenship depends on our perception of the youngest children. 

I had a few opportunities to discuss citizenship, not only with the teachers in the schools I visited but also with parents at a seminar I attended called "Ethics of Citizenship and Participation" which was led by Daniela Lanzi (an amazing woman and pedagogista! I clung on to every word she spoke!). During this seminar I asked my question "What does citizenship look like for the infant and toddler?". I was so happy to see the father who was there nod in approval at my question, its refreshing to come across a parent so passionate and involved in their child's education. He answered my question in the most beautiful and poetic way (paraphrased)...

"Ctizenship for an infant and toddler is something I too have wondered about and what it means. It depends on your perception of children. For me, I believe it is the opportunity to live and be a part of everyone. Infants can participate and be active citizens, for example when everyone gathers for events like Reggionarra, they can participate with their families and be seen in the public spaces. At the beginning children begin to understand that they are a part of a group, a school, a family and of course a community. I want my child to see that being a citizen means you are never alone, that together is better in learning and in life."

The wise words of one child's father have helped to shape me as a teacher and for that I am deeply and truely thankful to him...I have been challenged to tear down the walls (figuratively) and get out into the community and also bring the community in. These children are here and I want our community to know! One of the teachers at La Viletta School explained to me that "citizenship is an ongoing process; little and big" and I have reminded myself of this back in Auckland. We have started off 'little' focusing on the centre community venturing out in to our carpark, a place we call "the front yard". It is a place the children know and feel comfortable and have an ownership of. Parents and children are always coming and going and locals often walk with their dogs through the carpark. Our children are visible here, their contribution is seen and they are able to interact with people from their community. I hope I will be able to write a post soon with more detail about our project but for now I will leave you with this photograph of the Pipi children in their "front yard" looking out into their community...