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Find out more about Catherine

• Do you speak this language fluently because of your origins or because a teacher inspired you to learn?

  I am yet to become fluent in te reo, although I am headed in that direction with my studies. My early inspiration was from the women from our local marae who gave of their time to come to our mainstream primary school to teach us tongue placement, basic reo and waiata.

• Can you name a living, historical or fictional character that you think is the emblematic representative of the language's culture?

  Sir Timoti Karetu is my reo hero - he is the pinnacle of language and Aotearoa is very lucky to have him.

• Is there a typical word, phrase, tradition or behavior in the language that you particularly like?

  I really love the concept of tuakana/teina. Literally, it talks about an older and younger sibling, but within the learning environment, it is about both having someone to learn from as well as someone to teach. To me, it's about sharing knowledge and reinforcing learning through teaching.

• Why does speaking this language matter to you?

  Speaking te reo is everything to me, it's part of our national identity. Our government has set the goal of one million basic te reo speakers by 2040 and I am doing what I can to contribute to this.

• What is the main difficulty in learning this language and what can help the process of learning?

  I believe that one of the biggest barriers is anxiety. So many of us are worried about causing offense through mispronunciation that we miss opportunities to speak. I think the best remedy for this is to just speak, no matter how many mistakes, to do our best and to have that desire to improve ourselves.

• Provide a valuable anecdote related to your language learning or your days at school.

  During my studies I found that I was getting so stressed out mentally about making mistakes when I spoke in te reo that I would end up barely talking.
  
  I took this to my kaiako and she told me that my job was simply to speak te reo and her job was to fix any mistakes I might be making.
  
  This caused a huge mental shift for me, I became much more confident to speak and interestingly, the more relaxed I was, the less mistakes I actually made.

• How has travel or a specific trip helped you to increase your skill and knowledge of the language?

  Being on noho marae where we can only speak in te reo has helped my learning the most. At the start, it seems so difficult and impossible and I've wanted to cry and to give up. However, just trusting in the process of the full-immersion environment I have come away realizing that I have learned far more than I thought I could in a short amount of time.

• What makes you a Superprof in language?

  Like you, I am an adult learner of te reo, so I understand where you are coming from. If you are studying through TWOA, I will know your curriculum. I think my strongest skill is that I am incredibly patient and I will adapt myself to find a way to help you best understand, learn and remember.