Te Mana o te Reo Māori education resources
Teacher support material
Te Mana o te Reo Māori education resources
A suite of teaching and learning tools designed to help students and teachers explore their own personal connections to te reo Māori.

With these tools, learners will explore their place in the history of Waitangi Tribunal claims about te reo Māori and the wider Māori language revitalisation movement, using the social enquiry approach.
Students will develop their understanding of themes like Whakapapa, Tūrangawaewae, Whanaungatanga, Mana Motuhake, and Kaitiakitanga through studying the history of te reo Māori.
These resources are built on Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories draft curriculum and the themes of Te Takanga o te Wā. They support teaching a complete unit or used as individual parts of your existing lesson plans. Made for Year 7 and 8 students, but easily adaptable across levels and subjects.
Te Takanga o te Wā – Te Kete Ipurangi
Bringing Te Mana o te Reo Māori to your students
He Kupu Whakataki: Introduction to resources
10 pages, A4 PDF.
- Te reo Māori – Introduction to Te Mana o te Reo Māori education resources (PDF, 1MB)
- English – Introduction to Te Mana o te Reo Māori education resources (PDF, 1MB)
This introduction will help you:
- introduce this topic to Māori and tāngata Tiriti students
- connect this topic to the New Zealand Curriculum
- plan a social inquiry approach with this topic
- use each of the following resources.
Student workbook
Tōku Ara Reo Māori: My Māori Language Journey
12 pages, A4 PDF.
Students can use this workbook to support self-directed and project-based learning using Te Mana o te Reo Māori as the learning context.
It encourages students to explore the past, present and future of their own Māori language journeys, using activities and templates to help them explore where te reo Māori features in their lives.
Students are encouraged to reflect on their own aspirations for te reo Māori by considering:
- their own relationship with te reo Māori
- the historical and present-day factors that have impacted that journey
- the future of Māori language and how it will feature in their lives and the world
- the role they can play in the revitalisation of te reo Māori.
Teacher support materials
He Aratohu mā te Pouako
Introduction and 8 TSM booklets, A4 PDFs.
- Te reo Māori – Teacher support materials (ZIP, 6.5MB)
- English – Teacher support materials (ZIP, 6.5MB)
This teacher support material (TSM) is made up of eight booklets – one for each of the chapters in Te Mana o te Reo Māori. They are available via the links below or can be downloaded as PDFs.
Teacher support for each chapter

Te reo Māori origins
The origins of the Māori language and links to other languages across the Pacific.

New contact, new words
The use of te reo and English in early interactions between Māori and Europeans.

Māori is the New Zealand language
Reo, He Whakaputanga and Te Tiriti, and the shift of power.

War and assimilation
War, laws, policies of assimilation, and the steady decline of Māori language.

Language under threat
Postwar threats to te reo Māori and the start of the fight for revitalisation.

Revitalisation initiatives
The movements and actions to restore te reo Māori.

The WAI11 claim
The Waitangi Tribunal and the claim by Ngā Kaiwhakapūmau i te Reo.

Post-claim revitalisation
Activism and the organisations that now promote te reo.
Poster pack
He Pūkei Whakaahua o Te Mana o te Reo Māori
10 double-sided posters, A4 PDF.
This resource is a set of 10 posters that align with the digital story featured in Te Mana o te Reo Māori. These can be used in multiple ways by students and teachers to support learning around this topic. The posters are double-sided and provide key focus questions to help students identify what they already know about the topic. They also provide information to support teachers to facilitate group discussions and activities around key concepts and themes that feature in the digital story.
Each poster includes:
- a key visual resource
- focus questions
- information to support activities.
There is a poster for each chapter of Te Mana o te Reo Māori, as well as:
- He Hīkoi mō te Reo Māori | Marching for Māori language
- Te Reo Māori hei Reo Ora | Māori language as a living language.
Complete resource pack
Grab the full set of resources in one zip file.