The words of the Six60 song ‘Don't Forget Your Roots' spring to mind when talking to Ngairo Eruera, the new kaiako (teacher) of Te Tohu Paetahi at the University of Waikato in Tauranga.

It's a dual homecoming for him and the Maori immersion programme, with both returning to Tauranga Moana this year.

'It's time to come home,” says Ngairo.

'My family and I have loved our time in the Waikato region, and I think a piece of our hearts will remain there, not just because of our whakapapa, but because of the relationships and the connection to the place that sustained us into adulthood and that gave our children their first start.

'What we look forward to is being among more whanau on a regular basis and growing our lives at home. The opportunity to have our children taught and to grow as people to this side of their whakapapa and getting to know who they are as Tauranga Moana people is an experience we couldn't pass up.”

As kaiako for Te Tohu Paetahi, Ngairo, who descends from Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngāti Pūkenga, and Ngāi Tūhoe, says he relishes the opportunity to contribute to a legacy which the University of Waikato has helped drive ─ revitalising te reo Māori as a living language.

The first intensive Māori immersion programme of its kind, Te Tohu Paetahi has paved the way for the regeneration of te reo Māori for more than 27 years.

The programme provides a unique Māori language immersion pathway and produces students who can fluently and competently speak in te reo Māori.

Over the years, the programme has been taught in Taranaki, Gisborne and Tauranga. In 2019, Te Tohu Paetahi returns to Tauranga Moana and will be available at the University's new Tauranga Campus.

'It's not easy,” says Ngairo.

'Learning a language will take you places you might never have dreamed, mastering a language will take you to positions only a few will ever know, knowing a language will teach you more about yourself then you might ever be told. Living a language makes you part of a community as old as human history.”

Ngairo initially studied a Bachelor of Arts in Te Reo Māori with Second Class Honours at the University of Waikato.

He recently completed a Master of Arts, also at Waikato, which looked at language planning within his tūrangawaewae at Huria Marae, home of Ngāi Tamarāwaho in Tauranga.

Throughout his career, Ngairo has worked in a number of teaching roles, including 17 years at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, where he says the greatest gift he received was becoming more politicised.

'Being at the forefront of Māori education in that context has enabled me to understand the tertiary sector in a broader sense while also entering opportunities to work and understand inner workings of this sector over four successive governments, continuous legislative development, whilst mixing this with the sustained desire for Māori to progress, grow and succeed.”

Ngairo was motivated into the world of teaching te reo after 'having some modest talent for languages and absolutely no talent for numbers. Teaching and furthering my own study in te reo seemed to be a path I knew I wanted to focus on.” And while he attributes his success to a number of role models throughout college and university, he says his greatest teachers in life have been his family.

'My wife Tineka has been my greatest support, as we met while still in school. My parents passed away when I was still young, and her parents, along with my dad [stepfather], were like my own and treated me as such.

'I can't mention any success in my life without thinking of these people. Having been privy to so many great teachers in my time, my best among these are our two children Mōwai and Mārire Te Ripo. I think you really don't know yourself until you have these little people displaying all your own personal attributes on a daily basis, sometimes to your horror!"

Ngairo will have a particularly special connection to the University's new home in Tauranga. As part of mana whenua of the land on which the new Tauranga Campus is being built, Ngāi Tamarāwaho, hapū of Ngāti Ranginui, have played an important role in the campus development and the University is privileged to share in the land of the hapū's historical home.

Despite his naturally shy personality, Ngairo is genuinely excited by his new role of kaiako of Te Tohu Paetahi.

'What greater honour is there for a teacher than to see their students fly?” he says. 'The connections to be made, the collegial sharing of knowledge and the ability to grow new communal knowledge only adds to my excitement.”

More information about Te Tohu Paetahi at the University of Waikato in Tauranga is available online or you can email [email protected]