On Monday, the school raised it for the first time on its new flagpole.

The change was the brainchild of 12-year-old student and cultural leader Mitchell Wallace (pictured).

His goal for his final year at the school was to have a flagpole erected at the school to celebrate its diversity.

"For language weeks, most of the time we only did small activities, so I thought if we got a flagpole, we'd be able to hang those flags during the week," he says.

The first step was to write to the school's principal to get permission for the proposal. Principal Andrew Herrick agreed.

Then Wallace began a campaign to raise the $570 needed for the pole and its seven flags.

Wallace (Taranaki Iwi) planned to raise money by selling hangi and custard steam puddings during Matariki week.

To market the fundraiser, he put posters up around Upper Hutt.

Surpassing his initial target - to sell 100 hangi and 50 steam puddings - Wallace eventually sold 180 hangi and 78 puddings. He raised over $850.

Money left over from buying the flagpole was donated to the school to help with its breakfast club and lunch programme.

Wallace, with help from his father, chose the site for the new flagpole. He then poured the concrete base needed and assembled the flagpole last weekend.

The Tino Rangatiratanga flag was flown first to mark the start of Maori Language Week.

Flag etiquette

Wallace's collection includes flags for Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, Cook Islands, Matariki week, and the New Zealand Ensign national flag.

Wallace said the hardest part of the project had been learning all the rules about flag etiquette.

He found you can't fly or put them on the ground at night. Nor can you put up a ripped flag because it's seen as "disrespectful".

All 580 pupils from St Joseph's School turned out to celebrate the new pole with a blessing ceremony on Monday morning.

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The 19-year-old Maori speaker says she was shocked and saddened at the directive as she was keen to celebrate Maori Language Week.

Janine Eru-Taueki has been working at McDonald's for six months and was told last Thursday by a shift manager that the directive stems from complaints received by customers and staff.

"I grew angry then sad," said Eru-Taueki. Continue reading

In a goofy, inattentive way I learned Latin and French at school, unconvinced that I'd ever need either of them, so unwilling to put an effort into learning them properly.

Like many kids, I was an idiot about this. It doesn't matter if you never go to Paris or ancient Rome, or a marae. A language is deserving for its own sake.

I can still read and understand some French, in spite of myself, and even now use meagre Latin to nudge at the meaning of unfamiliar words.

I'm no longer convinced that Latin is a corpse with a rusty dagger through its heart because it survives in the language we use every day.

For that matter, most Pakeha already know and use far more Maori words than our parents did; we just balk at the idea that we should work at it. I get that. I'm lazy too.

No language is irrelevant or pointless, though, whatever you think as a stroppy 13-year-old. They are all worlds that open up new ways of thinking and understanding.

Pakeha thought we were bringing civilisation to savages, and back in the early 19th century missionaries - my ancestors among them - took great care to learn te reo so that Maori would become Christian.

But maybe to them, we looked like savages: we brought alcohol and guns as well as religion, and land wars that led to illegal confiscations of Maori land.

Americans make triumphant westerns out of such conflicts. I like to think we have been quietly ashamed. Continue reading

• Rosemary McLeod is a New Zealand writer, journalist, cartoonist and columnist

It is hoped the new translation will serve the next generation and be more accessible to young Maori second language speakers.

To date, the Gospel of Luke, two Epistles, Jonah, Genesis and Ruth have been completed in modern Te Reo Maori. It could take up to 12 years to complete the task.

Te Paipera Tapu was first published in 1868 with three further versions in 1889, 1925 and 1952.

The 1952 edition is the version most Maori communities and speakers have used for more than half a century.

In 2012 Bible Society published a reformatted edition of the 1952 text featuring paragraphs, macrons and punctuation to help readers understand the text.

However the current translation is very close to the King James Version," which in Bible-speak means it's quite formal language," said Brenda Crooks the Maori Bible Kaituitui Co-ordinator (Kaituitui means 'stitch together').

"The purpose of translating Scripture in the first place into mother tongues is to make it more accessible and to open up the treasure of scripture to all who want to seek it," she said.

"For Maori readers, we want to give them an informal translation that speaks to them in their own natural heart language,"

The project allows Crooks to combine the two passions of her life, Te Reo and the Bible.

She is one of only 5,000 people in New Zealand able to speak in the three official languages of New Zealand; Maori, English and Sign Language.

Maori is "the language of our country, it's beautiful, it's poetic and it's a window into this culture," said Crooks.

"There are things that can be expressed in Maori that can't be expressed in any other language."

Crooks said that even as a child she a desire to learn about Maori culture.

"I grew up on the West Coast of the South Island which is very European, so I believe my longing to learn about Maori culture was a God-given desire."

After completing a Bachelor of Arts in Maori Studies, Crooks joined Bible Society almost directly. She has been working on the Maori Bible ever since.

She spent 11 years modernising Te Paipera Tapu text with the addition of macrons, paragraphs and punctuation.

"When the current Maori translation was first printed in 1952, it didn't need macrons because there were native speakers. So marking the vowel length for today's readers is very helpful," she said.

More recently Crooks has worked on Taku Paipera, the first Maori Bible story book for children and Bible Society's first dedicated Maori Bible app.

The new translation of Te Paipera Tapu is now her main work.

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Supplied: New Zealand Bible Society

They turned to some of the most common - and possibly annoying - teen sayings and replaced them with their Maori equivalent.

It includes words and phrases such as 'yeeyah', 'whatever', 'holy moly' and 'better than nothing'.

And headmaster Kieran Fouhy said he didn't have to go far to find the right words.

"They came from the kids. In this generation it's just the words they use - 'hey bro, holy moly' - and it's in Maori."

Holy moly in Maori, according to the students is wekenui

Watch video clip for other phrases.

Fouhy said Maori culture was more than a haka and New Zealanders should realise the language was a wonderful gift we needed to treasure.

He said outside Maori Language Week, the school was making progress towards using Te reo Maori during the rest of the year.

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• m.nzherald.co.nz
• m.nzherald.co.nz Michael Craig