
Phillipa says:
Tuia te rangi e tū nei
Tuia te papa e takoto nei
Tuia tō mātou nei Kiingi
me te whare Kāhui Ariki
o Potatau Te Wherowheo
Tuia ngā parekawakawa
E tākai nei ki te ngākau
Tuia tātou te hunga ora
Tēnā tātou katoa.
I te taha o taku pāpā, Ko Kelly Hakopa
He urī ahau nō Ngāti Tūwharetoa ki Tokaanu
I te taha o taku Māmā, Ko Wara Tawha
He urī ahau nō Waikato Tainui ki Raahui Pookeka
He urī anō hoki nō Kāti Māmoe ki Temuka
Ko Phillipa Hakopa tēnei kua mihia.
I was born in Huntly, grew up in Awanui Kaitaia and lived in Invercargill for 33 years. I returned home to Waikato Tainui 2008 to reconnect and reclaim my Tainuitanga and Ngāti Tūwharetoatanga. During this time I have worked as a Kaiako and gained a Batchelor majoring in Te reo Māori and a Post Graduate Diploma in Applied Linguistics Second Language Teaching at Waikato University. Both have created a huge platform for me to pursue my own career with the development of my own programme Te Horopaki i te reo Māori (The Māori Language in Context), using a Communicative Language Teaching approach to learning and acquisition. Currently I am working towards completing my Master of Arts in a Genre-based Approach to Academic Writing in Te reo Māori and its application within the classes I facilitate.
I have had the honour and privilege of returning home to Invercargill 2015/2016 to share my knowledge and to give back to my community who nurtured and instilled in me the passion for our Indigenous language. I have returned again this year, with the wonderful addition of working alongside those of you of Ngā Kete Matauranga Pounamu Trust who wish to embark on this journey of learning. I am both thrilled and delighted to join a team of visionary thinkers who have chosen to take up the challenge to ensure the survival and maintenance of our chiefly language, and to uphold the gifts that have been handed down by own tūpuna so that it will never be lost like the moa. A language can only survive if it is spoken.
‘Ko te reo kia tika (so that our language is superb)
Ko te reo kia rere (So that our language soars)
Ko te reo kia Māori (So that our language is INDIGENOUS!!)’