Ōpaki

One of the new and wonderful things in my life lately is a Māori TV show called Ōpaki.  

It's one of the very few programs on the Māori TV apps that is available worldwide...vs. only in New Zealand or only in New Zealand and Australia.  

It works out, though, for me, because Ōpaki is a language-learning show, and that's what I'm wanting most out of the Māori TV app.

The show consists of three Te Reo Māori-learning guests being hosted in a house by Pānia Papa, a sports star who became a Māori language advocate and teacher.

During the show, they have simple conversations that are mostly too hard for me to understand.  Because although the three guests are beginners, they're farther along than I am.  But I do understand a little bit here and there, which makes me feel good.

Here and there, the show translates some of the vocabulary at the bottom of the screen. I feel some glory if I already knew the word.  I feel some gratitude if it's a new word.  I feel frustration and failure if it's a word I already learned and then forgot.  

Along with the conversations, they also play games and other activities to teach vocabulary.  For example, they played a game where one houseguest placed their set of objects in a certain way while instructing a second houseguest on how to place the same set of objects. Without either guest being able to see what the other was doing.

Jack and I used to play this game together when he was young.  But in English.

Anyway, the game on the show helps to teach the names of objects while also teaching direction words.

In the episode I've been watching today, there was a surprise knock on the door.

I don't know if it was a surprise for them too or just me.  Because I could understand very little of the conversation before the knock on the door.

The fun thing is, I recognized the guy at the door.  I wasn't sure if I was imagining it or not.  But soon I learned it was who I thought it was—Hēmi Kelly from the Māori Phrase a Day YouTube Channel.  

This crossover of two different avenues of my Māori-learning world brought me some extra joy.  I guess, because it kind of signified that this has become a big part of my life.  It's like...okay, I might not understand a lot of phrases.  But I do recognize some of the big characters of the Te Reo Māori Education world.