The creators of the award-winning Te Reo Singalong Books, The Writing Bug, have released two new books in time for Māori Language Week.
Te Taiao is well-crafted story showing children from the Matapihi Kindergarten exploring the centre's forested area. The song was written by Greg Holt and sung by Stacy Walker. Author Sharon Holt says the new book is all about enjoying the natural environment with an easy, repetitive sentence structure and lots of interesting vocabulary. She says it's also a great way to practise te reo Māori and hopefully encourages children to explore the natural world more often.
Ngā Āhua is an interesting book about shapes which features children making shapes with parts of the body but it's much more than a book and song in te reo. While it uses simple, repetitive sentence structures again, it also encourages the reader to search for the different shapes in the pictures. Stacy Walker composed and sings the song.
Te Taiao was photographed by renowned New Zealand photographer Rachael Hale McKenna, and Ngā Āhua was illustrated by award-winning photographer Josh Morgan.
Sharon Holt says it's been over a year since they published their last Te Reo singalong book and are excited about adding to their series bringing it to a total of 15 books now. During Matariki earlier this year, The Writing Bug also produced four Māori language videos in New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) based on four of the Te Reo singalong books.
For more information, read here or check out their website.