RANDOM REMINDER
UPWARDS AND ONWARDS
The seeds of learning are sometimes cast on barren ground. Occasionally, they sprout unexpected plants. In a Christchurch primary school, a teacher was explaining the significance of Maori Week. Some of her pupils had displayed the utmost difficulty, at their Standard 4 level, in spelling correctly, or reading fluently, in the English language, but in an enormous burst of
optimism, she asked how many of them would like to learn the Maori language. There was no response. The teacher turned to one of the Maori pupils. “Wouldn't you like to be able to speak the Maori language?” she asked. “No,” the girl replied. “I don’t want to speak Maori.” There was a pause. Then the Maori girl volunteered
a little more information. “1 wouldn’t mind understanding it a bit,” she confessed. “My grandmother speaks Maori, and understands it. My mum can’t speak it but she understands it. So when grandma wants to tell mum something she doesn’t want me to know, she speaks in Maori. “This makes me mad. So I would like to understand enough to know what’s she’s telling mum.”
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33665, 15 October 1974, Page 30
Word Count
187RANDOM REMINDER Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33665, 15 October 1974, Page 30
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Acknowledgements
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Christchurch City Libraries.
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