Haani Huata-Allen
Te Tohu Reo Māori Award
Learning is easy, learning is fun, learning is easier in a stress-free environment
Haani Huata-Allen | Head - Leadership Development and Reo and Cultural Capability, Te Wānanga o Aotearoa.
Waikato-Maniapoto, Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Whakaue me Ngāti Pikiao
Haani realised early in her career that her role was not to just teach te reo Māori but to also guide her students through an identity journey. The majority of Haani’s students are second language learners, many of whom are distanced from their tribal area. They enter in to her classroom with a lot of apprehension and fear. Thanks to Haani’s compassionate teaching and inspirational role modelling, these students leave her classroom secure in who they are, with a hunger for more.
One of her former students commented, “It is in her heart that you will find a deep passion for the revitalisation of te reo that has been implanted into all those who have been fortunate to have learnt from her.”
Haani’s main aim when teaching te reo is to see it reinstated in her students’ home as the main language of communication. The impact of her teaching is widely seen in the number of former students who are raising their children with te reo Māori as their first language.
Pono ki te kaupapa, puna ko te reo!
Haani Huata-Allen nō Waikato-Maniapoto, Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Whakaue me Ngāti Pikiao
Kua 40 tau a Haani e whāngai ana i te reo me ngā tikanga ki ngā tauira puta noa i te motu. Kotahi tonu te whāinga matua – kia ūkaipō anō te reo. Hei tā Haani ko te tino hua o āna mahi whakaako ko te kite i āna tauira e whakatipu ana i ā rātou tamariki ki te reo Māori kia horahia te reo ki Aotearoa.
E mōhio ana a Haani ki ngā uauatanga o te ako reo tuarua. Ka kuhu ana te tauira ki tōna whare ako, ka rongo a Haani i ōna hēmanawatanga. Ko te nuinga o ana tauira e noho manene ana i ō rātou rohe, kāore i whai hononga ki ō rātou tuakiri Māori. Nō reira, ko tāna ko te tika o te whāngai, o te mirimiri kia mōhio ai te tauira ko wai ia, nō hea ia. Nāwai rā, ko te whakaaro Māori, ko te arero Māori te hua.
Hei tā ōna tauira, “Kei tana ngākau te kāinga o te aroha i pūmau ai te ora o te reo ki te ngākau o te tini kua whai pānga ki a ia.”