Throughout this year we have celebrated multiple Polynesian cultures through various language weeks.

In May we celebrated Samoan Language Week (26 May to 1 June), and onwards we celebrated Cook Island Language Week (4 – 10 August), and Tongan Language Week (18-24 August). These celebrations each had an overall theme that acknowledged how far the languages have come, encouraging us to celebrate them and express them to others. In these weeks we made and sold popular cultural food such as panipopo for Tongan Language Week and sapa sui for Samoan Language Week. We also ran a café where customers would have to order their drinks in the specific language of the week. 

Continuing from the rest of these celebrations, Tuesday 17th – Tuesday 24th is Te Wiki O Te Reo Maori, also known as Māori Language Week. During this week we did kahoots at tutor time where students would have to guess what different words in Te Reo meant, as well as some information about the week’s history. On Wednesday we had a very successful “Order your drink in Te Reo” in the café, selling hot chocolate, various coffee, and tea. On Thursday and Friday we sold delicious fried bread, made by some of our senior and junior Cultural leaders. We sold them for three for $3 with golden syrup. Overall, this was one of our most popular language week celebrations. It was awesome to see lots of students get involved with the kahoots, as well as buying our fried bread and hot drinks. We hope to continue seeing this level of participation in the coming International Language Week, and have really enjoyed organising and creating these activities.

Ngā mihi nui,

The 2024 Cultural Captains