Malo e lelei! This week is Tongan Language Week, and the theme of the week is:
'E tu'uloa 'a e lea faka-Tongá 'o ka lea'aki 'i 'api, siasí (lotú), mo e nofo-'a-kāingá
In English, that means "The Tongan Language will be sustainable when used at home, church and in the wider community".
Around 187,000 people around the world speak Tongan, and many of them are here in Aotearoa.
Here at PEP, we have been blessed to work with a number of Tongan-led organisations, including West Auckland's only Tongan Christian Early Learning Centre, Akoteu Falemaama.
This year's Tongan language week derives its theme from the overarching Language Week Series theme for 2024: Sustainability.
We believe language is a treasure and the primary medium through which culture and heritage is transmitted. It is also one of the first things to disappear in a diaspora setting. Our founder, Salā Marie Young, found in her Master of Technological Futures degree that New Zealand-born Pacific people face multiple pressures balancing their inherited culture with the dominant culture of the land they live in.
Therefore it is such a privilege to be working with the early childhood sector, with the selfless ones who work tirelessly, day by day, child by child, word by word, to maintain and strengthen language and cultural identity.
As the Action Plan for Pacific Education says, "A child will feel safe if they are wrapped in their culture."
Want more Tongan language in your life? Find more resources at the Ministry for Pacific Peoples' official page.
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