Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

School's success encourages bilingualism - principal

Updated at 6:48 pm on 20 June 2012

Kerikeri High School says its students' recent success at the World Problem Solving Championships in the United States has inspired the school to become more bilingual.

The school's Te Reo team came second at the international competition held in Indiana this month.

Their project included promoting bilingual signs around their school, te reo lessons for their teachers, marae stayovers for international students, and encouraging better pronunciation of the Maori language.

The school's principal Elizabeth Forgie says there's a sense of pride in class - where both teachers and students are more positive about using te reo.

She says it's really exciting to see young people adopting a problem and thinking about how they can solve it - to the extent of conducting classes for teachers to improve their own use of te reo, giving them more courage to speak the language.

Ms Forgie says the competition also encouraged indigenous students in other countries to adopt their school's project.

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