Ko Huruiki te maunga

Ko Punaruku te awa

Ko Mātaatua te waka

Ko te Uri o Hikihiki te hapū

Ko Ngātiwai, Ko Ngāpuhi, Ko Ngāti Awa ngā iwi

Ko Mokau o Whangaruru te marae

Ko Amelia Butler ahau

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Amelia Butler is an indigenous Māori performer, dancer, choreographer and instructor from Aotearoa New Zealand. She has been teaching and performing dance at an international level for over 20 years. Amelia moved to Los Angeles in 2008 to pursue a career in dance and has worked as a professional dancer in the LA entertainment industry. She founded and leads Los Angeles based traditional Māori performance group, Ngā Ānahera Māori, teaches te reo Māori online and teaches haka & poi workshops in the US.  Amelia is the Māori Language Lecture at the University of Hawaii, Mānoa.  Her tribal affiliations are Ngātiwai, Ngāpuhi and Ngāti Awa.  She is proud to share her culture abroad

Ko Orohena te maunga

Ko Ha’apape te whenua

Ko Vaipopo’o te awa

Ko Fareroi te marae

Nō Tahiti, Nō Pitikeina, Nō Ingarani ōku tūpuna

Ko Chris tōku ingoa

Chris Double grew up in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa (Wellington, New Zealand) and now lives in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland). Chris is a descendent of the mutineers of the HMAV Bounty and the Tahitian women that joined them. Through his passion to learn more about his Pacific ancestry and the encouragement of his Uncle, a fluent te reo Māori speaker, he has studied te reo Māori for a number of years through Te Wānanga o Raukawa, Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi and Learn Māori Abroad. Recently Chris has been studying te reo Mā’ohi (the Tahitian language) to further his knowledge of his tūpuna (ancestors).

Hayley Marama Cavino, PhD is of Māori (Ngāti Whitikaupeka, Ngāti Pūkenga) and

Pākehā (English, Irish, Scottish, Jewish) descent. She holds a PhD from Syracuse University (New York) where she wrote a doctoral thesis on raupatu (confiscations) and intergenerational trauma in Tauranga Moana, primarily as told through the life stories of three generations of her tūpuna wāhine. Previously she worked for more than a decade as an applied researcher. Most recently she has taught in the Faculty of Māori and Indigenous Studies at the University of Waikato in Aotearoa (New Zealand) and previously at Syracuse University, Ithaca College, and Colgate University in New York. 

Hayley was prohibited from learning te reo Māori in high school and subsequently began learning as an adult while living in the United States. She completed a Beginners Te Reo Māori program through Te Wānanga o Raukawa, and Beginners, Advanced Beginners and 1:1 te reo classes through Learn Māori Abroad. In 2023 Hayley was a student at Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato ki Tauranga where she completed five months of the total immersion te reo Māori Te Tohu Paetahi program. Hayley is particularly interested in supporting adult learners, learners living away from home, and those who might have experienced trauma or whakamā (shame) related to speaking te reo. 

Ko Tainui te waka

Ko Whakamoehau te maunga

Ko Hikutaia te awa

Ko Ngāti Pū te iwi

Ko Ngāti Rangiwhakaea, ko Ngāti Rangirangi, ko Ngāti Rangipakihi ōku hapū

Ko Hikutaia te marae

Ko Lee ahau

Lee Stuart was born and raised in Waitohi, Aotearoa (Picton, New Zealand), and has been a Pōneke (Wellington) local for the last seven years. She studied te reo Māori through high school and immersed herself in Te Ao Māori (the Māori world); from leading her school kapa haka rōpū to writing waiata Māori (Māori songs) for her school choir, and participating in the national Ngā Manu Kōrero Speech Competitions each year. In 2014, Lee won a nationally televised singing competition on Whakaata Māori (Māori Television) - Hōmai Te Pakipaki.

After completing her GDip Tchg (Secondary) in 2018, Lee decided to purse a GDip Arts in Māori Studies. Inspired by her studies, she started a kaupapa Māori virtual assistant business to assist and empower Māori businesses through the values and principles of Te Ao Māori. She is on a personal mission to reclaim her family's lost history and is set to be the first member of her family to speak te reo Māori in several generations.

Nō Kotarani, nō Airani, nō Ataria ōku tūpuna

Ko Hill o Beath te maunga o tōku whānau

Ko Tatha, ko Linne Foirthe ngā wai tūpuna

Ko Hay, ko MacLabhrainn ōku hapū

Ko Austin Haynes ahau

Austin Haynes was born in Aotearoa New Zealand, growing up between Ōtākou (Otago) and Wurundjeri Country in Australia. He is Pākehā (New Zealander of European descent) and his ancestors came to Aotearoa from the 1850s onwards from Scotland (MacLabhrainn and Hay Clans), Ireland, and Austria. Austin began his reo journey with Learn Māori Abroad in 2020. He was initially inspired by several of his ancestors who had immersed themselves in te reo Māori and te ao Māori. Austin quickly fell in love with te reo and is passionate about sharing what he has learned with others on their own haerenga (journeys).

Austin is also an opera singer and now lives in Rānana (London). He is currently studying for a Masters degree in Literature, for which he is researching the history of te reo Māori translations of English language literature from Shakespeare to folksongs. Austin is a poet and writes in both English and te reo Māori. He hopes one day to be able to write poetry in Scottish Gaelic, the indigenous language of many of his ancestors, and to help create a world where te reo Māori and other indigenous languages are spoken, written and celebrated everywhere!

Ko Mātaatua, ko Tohorā ngā waka

Ko Mauao, ko Te Rae-o-Te-Papa ngā maunga

Ko Tauranga te moana

Ko Uretara, ko Waihou ngā awa

Ko Ngāi te Rangi, ko Ngāti Hako ngā iwi

Ko Ngāi Tamawhariua te hapū

Ko Te Rereatukahia, Ko Tirohia ngā marae

Ko Alexander Sarsfield ahau

Alexander Sarsfield was born and lives on Ngunnawal and Ngambri Country (Canberra, Australia). Connecting with Te Ao Māori and Te Reo Māori as an adult, Alex first joined Learning Māori Abroad as a student for Amelia's Intermediate class in 2021. Alex is passionate about sharing his knowledge of Te Ao Māori, supporting others who have grown up out of Aotearoa with their own haerenga (journey).

Alex holds bachelor’s degrees in psychology and visual art. His research work in psychology focuses on the ways Indigenous peoples find belonging in urban environments. In his art practice, Alex works primarily with uku (clay) and harakeke (flax). The past year, he has facilitated one-on-one workshops to teach others the practice of raranga (traditional Māori weaving).

Alec Redvers-Hill was born, raised and, after a few stints overseas, currently lives in Tāmaki-Makaurau, Auckland in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Alec has been a language teacher both in his home country and abroad for over ten years in universities, school, private tuition, community and outreach programs, and online. He has a Graduate Diploma of Arts specialising in English and Māori and a Master of Teaching and Education Leadership. Whether as a teacher, writer, translator, mentor, or fellow learner, he’s always working to encourage engagement with language and cross-linguistic exchange and understanding, especially the continued growth, spread, and vitality of te reo Māori, including presenting on the language at Polyglot Conference 2021.