AMELIA BUTLER

Founder | Rangatira & Teacher | Kaiako

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.

ELLY HULANCE

Teacher | Kaiako

Ko Tuhua tōku Maunga Tapu

Ko Hikurangi ki Tamarunui tōku Manuga Aroha

Ko Ngakonui rātou ko Taringamotu,  ko Mangakahu ōku awa

Ko Tainui tōku waka

Ko Ngāti Maniapoto tōku iwi

Ko Ngāti Hari tōku hapū

Ko Hia Kaitupeka tōku marae

Ko Elly ahau

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Elly Hulance (Ngāti Maniapoto) was born and rasied in Tāmaki Makaurau. She studied te reo Māori at high school, the University of Auckland and Te Wānanga o Raukawa. Elly joined Learn Māori Abroad in 2021 to reconnect to her Māori ancestry. Te Reo Māori plays a huge role in her whānau (family) life and despite living in Rānana (London, UK) Elly and her husband speak te reo to their two tamariki (children) every day.

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Outside of her commitment to revitalizing the language within her whānau and the wider kiwi community in London, Elly is also a designer, and an author/illustrator of dual language children’s books. She has also founded a charity for the neurometabolic disorder Nonketotic Hyperglycinemia (NKH).

ALEC REDVERS-HILL

Teacher | Kaiako

Ko Ngāi Haina te iwi

Ko Rī te hapū

Nō Aotearoa ahau

I whānau mai i Tāmaki-Makaurau

I tipu ake i te taha o Maungakiekie

E noho ana i te taha o te Waitematā

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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 recently presenting on the language at Polyglot Conference 2021. 

CHRIS DOUBLE

Teacher | Kaiako

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).

When he’s not learning languages you can find Chris at music venues around town working on his hobby of gig photography or exercising his other passion, computer programming. Chris acknowledges those who passed on their knowledge of te reo Māori to him and is excited to contribute to the growth of the Māori language by passing that knowledge along

through teaching and normalising of the use of te reo Māori in

everyday life.

LEE STUART

Teacher | Kaiako & Social Media Manager | Pae Pāpāho Pāpori

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.

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As well as teaching for Learn Māori Abroad Lee provides unique, educational and inspiring content for our Social Media channels.  To view her posts click here & here.