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National

Minecraft teaches tamariki to code in Te Reo Māori

The next generation of Māori gamers can now create their own digital environments through Te Reo Māori coding tutorials for the Minecraft computer game.

More than 40 students from Sylvia Park Primary’s Te Puna Waiora bilingual unit took part in the interactive ‘Hour of Code’ today as part of Computer Science Education Week.

The Minecraft tutorials allow players to completely control the game, create their own rules, sets and characters while learning.

Microsoft NZ and OMGTech! teamed up with CORE Education which translated the sessions. Users can access the tutorials free of charge at code.org 

CORE Education spokesperson Wawaro Te Whaiti says they are excited to have contributed to making Hour of Code more accessible to students in the Māori medium, helping students increase their participation in computer science and the language of digital technologies.

“This is a fairly new realm for Te Reo Māori and requires some very careful thinking about terminology and the development of language. We’ve made a great start, but there is still a lot more to achieve.”

Founder and General Manager of OMGTech! Zoe Timbrell says, “We want to make sure that we are encouraging Māori participation in digital technology and to do this it is vital to have quality digital resources in Te Reo Māori."

Computer Science Education Week ends December 11.