24 Jun Mārie Winitana
My Te Reo Māori journey has started and stopped a couple of times in my life, but never had I experienced such a truly rich and rewarding experience, like I did when I joined Rāpata’s “Ngāti Ruapani Reo Wananga” in 2019. Rāpata helped me to combat my fear and whakamā of learning to kōrero Te Reo Māori. Rāpata was able to expertly weave the learning of Te Reo Māori, alongside learning our Tribal histories into an amazing experience for people who were lucky enough to be a part of this wānanga.
Rāpata has a fun, empathetic, and safe way of teaching, which builds good confidence in students of all levels, ages and capabilities. Rāpata provided us with all the necessary e-Books, online learning apps, resources and materials we needed, but then on top of that, exposed us to amazing speakers and experts in their respective fields, to compliment his teaching and our learning. Two things I appreciated the most about Rāpata, is that:
1. Rāpata truly cares about his students, and goes that extra mile to help when we were struggling.
2. Rāpata loves teaching and is passionate about sharing his knowledge selflessly, and is very generous of heart and spirit in his teaching style, and as a person. I respect him for this.
Thank you Rāpata for helping me immensely in my ongoing journey with learning Te Reo Māori, I wish you all the best.