NZ Association of Language Teachers

May I begin by greeting everyone in the official languages of the realm of New Zealand, in English, Maori, Cook Island Maori, Niuean, Tokelauan and New Zealand Sign Language.

Greetings, Kia Ora, Kia Orana, Fakalofa Lahi Atu, Taloha Ni - and as it is morning....[sign Good Morning]

May I specifically acknowledge you: Ian McKinnon, Deputy Mayor of Wellington, aside from your public office a widely respected educator in our country, you President of the New Zealand Association of Language Teachers, Adele Scott; keynote speakers for your conference, Dr Emma Ushioda and Ian Lillico; UNESCO representatives Elizabeth Rose and Susan Isaacs; award recipient Gail Spence; Distinguished guests otherwise; Ladies and Gentlemen.

As Patron of the New Zealand Association of Language Teachers, I am delighted to be with you today and I register thanks for the invitation extended to my wife Susan and I to be here.  More particularly I am to have the honour of presenting the World Federation of Modern Languages Associations' award to a recipient so notably worthy as Gail Spence.

A speaker in commencing an address very often does so by registering a common interest with the audience.  Mine is to say that not only this morning but whenever I address New Zealand audiences in public, I always begin by greeting everyone in the six official languages of our country -one of them being New Zealand Sign Language as a result of legislation in 2006.

This modest gesture is a recognition that we are not a monolingual people.  On the contrary New Zealand is diverse and New Zealanders speak a variety of languages - which are the vehicles in which culture is carried.

The well known United States jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes used a different metaphor to say the same thing when he wrote that: 'Every language is a temple, in which the soul of those who speak it, is enshrined'.

Contemporary New Zealand exhibits a flowering of cultural diversity, this being reflected in the importance placed on retaining and learning everyone's language - most notably, of course, Te Reo Maori.

About 4 per cent of New Zealanders - that is some 160,000 people - speak Te Reo, and these people are vital carriers of culture to the next generation.

Speaking Te Reo also puts asunder the idea that the Maori language is dying out - something which until recently was until quite recently considered to be so.

New Zealand as a country will turn out to focus on it later in July in Maori Language Week - Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori.

In August, we will celebrate International Languages Week - during which I understand that many of you present - as teachers of Spanish, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Latin, and Samoan will be involved in special events to raise awareness of the importance of language learning.

For myself, although I have always spoken English as my first language, I have what I like to call a 'survival kit' of Maori and Hindustani which, for example, allows me to offer a mihi korero when speaking on a marae that is more than just something I may have learned by rote.

In my own family, one of my grandparents, who was one of what were called the Girmitya - people who travelled from India to Fiji seeking a better life, worked, not in the sugar cane fields, but in the colonial civil service as an interpreter as he was fluent in English and Hindi, and the three South Indian languages Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam. 

The New Zealand Association of Language Teachers has done a great deal to enhance the learning of languages in our schools and universities. The recognition of language teaching in the 2007 New Zealand Curriculum is clearly a victory for the organisation - and for the place of language learning in this country.  

With language teaching now recognised in the curriculum, the association now has an even firmer platform from which to continue its support for teachers and encouragement of students, and I am advised that an increasing number of primary schools are giving younger children the advantage of learning a variety of languages. 

It is clear, Gail Spence, that you have played a pivotal role in this successful effort - and I would like to add congratulations and to commend you for your service and your perseverance. 

Finally, I would like to pay tribute to every one of you teachers for what can safely be described in a Wellington setting as your 'Absolutely Positive' contribution to language teaching.

As I close I would like to quote a Maori saying that I hope people will agree, expresses well the importance of language and language teaching.  In Maori the words go:

"Ko tou reo, ko tuku reo te tuakiri tangata.  Tihei uriuri, tihei nakonako".

This translates to say: "Your voice and my voice are expressions of identity.  May our descendants live on and our hopes be fulfilled.'

And on that note I would like to close by offering everyone in New Zealand's first language, Maori, greetings and wishing you good health and fortitude in your endeavours No reira, tena koutou, tena koutou, kia ora, kia kaha, tena koutou katoa.