

Jamie Cowell
Jamie says the personal pride she feels at having the ability to understand and speak te reo Māori is her motivation for studying it at AUT.
Learning about her culture and language has been life changing. “I grew up in a very Pakeha society,” she says. “Getting a grasp of te reo was about finding my roots.”
In her third year of a Bachelor of Māori Development, Jamie’s major is Māori media and she sees te reo Māori as the key to opening many doors in her future career.
She says the classroom environment at AUT makes learning enjoyable. “It’s fun and interactive and you’re not just learning out of a textbook. You actually end up learning a lot from each other,” she says.
Jamie says having used textbooks and cassette tapes to learn te reo Māori in the past, Te Ara Poutama’s new digital resources are another drawcard. “It’s great for so many reasons – it’s accessible, it’s affordable and it offers a visual dimension as well as the listening exercises.”