Te Kohanga Ote Whenua Hou Association Inc is a Maori community association that has a focus on teaching Maori language, culture, arts and dance from within a Maori cultural context. Te Kohanga Ote Whenua Hou takes a strong Maori community approach to delivering and operating its programs and activities, encouraging involvement and support from whanau, kaumatua & kuia (elders).
Te Kohanga Ote Whenua Hou operates a number of community based activities that include:
- Kohanga reo: Fortnightly language, art and dance classes for children, young people and their whanau, of any age. These classes are run every 2nd Sunday from 10am to 12pm.
- Wananga: Te Kohanga ote whenua hou runs a number of wananga (Maori learning environments) throughout the year teaching Maori language, visual and performing arts. The focus is on bringing our whanau together to learn in a Maori context, and to create opportunities to develop cultural practises and traditions such as powhiri, whaikorero, hui and whakawhanaungatanga.
- Takahia whakamua Puutahi: a 14 week program teaching Maori language, arts, dance and protocol, from within a Maori learning environment. Takahia is run by Te Kohanga Ote Whenua Hou at the Brisbane Youth Detention centre and has been operational in youth detention since 1996. Similar programs have also been run in the community with young people, including within a school environment.
- Maori cultural immersion: Te Kohanga ote whenua hou has developed “He whakamarama”: an explanation of Maori culture. This is a cultural learning package that can be taught in any context, from daycare & schools, to workplaces, neighbourhood centres, aged care facilities – indeed any setting where people wish to learn about Maori people and culture. He whakamarama uses a multimodal experiential learning approach, that is modulised to target any age, level of learning and context, and includes information about Maori in Australia, particualrly Queensland. Some examples of He whakamarama have been : teaching haka and poi in pre-school; a workshop on engaging with Maori to Youth Justice Service Centre Staff; an open day to local neighbourhood on Maori culture. For more information send us an email.
- Community capacity building and advocacy: Te Kohanga ote whenua hou regularly liaises across the Maori community in South East Qld to assist in the building and strengthening of Maori community capacity; to promote a kaupapa Maori approach to working with Maori, and engages with Federal, State and Local Government, Non Government Organisations and community stakeholders to advocate for Maori community responses.
Te Kohanga ote whenua hou is located in North Brisbane @ 10 Delaware St, Geebung.
For more information on our activities and programs you can email us on tewhenuahou@gmail.com
