It’s a significant week for the Tokelauan community in Aotearoa New Zealand as they celebrate Te Vaiaho o te Gagana Tokelau – Tokelau Language Week.
This year’s language week coincides with the centenary of Tokelau’s relationship with New Zealand.
There are 9822 tagata Tokelau living in New Zealand based on the 2023 Census, with a majority of those living in the greater Wellington region.
Gagana Tokelau is classified as severely endangered by UNESCO.
Tokelau Aotearoa advisory group chairman Reverend Tui Sopoaga admits the Tokelauan language is on the decline.
“Even though our language is on the decline but we are still trying our best because we love our language. And the theme of this year, Ke mauaka taku gagana Tokelau i taku aganuku, more or less is your language to be rooted by your culture,” he said.
Members of the Tokelauan community gathered in Porirua for a flag-raising ceremony supported by the Porirua City Council.
Reverend Sopoaga thanked the city’s Mayor Anita Baker for supporting the event and described Porirua as the capital of Tokelau in Aotearoa.
“Most of our Tokelau people are now living in Porirua, it used to be in Auckland. We have taken that role to be the capital of Tokelau and that’s where we are at the moment.
“Our community, Atafu, Fakaofo and Nukunonu, they mostly live here in Porirua but some of our people are in the Hutt Valley as well. So we are all over the place especially the Wellington region.”
During the flag raising ceremony, students from the country’s first Tokelau bilingual class based at Glenview School performed. The class was launched in 2023.
Glenview assistant principal Tufaina Faraimo told RNZ Pacific that the class will soon be at full capacity.
“Glenview school is a small school so we don’t have capacity to grow anymore than what we got at the moment so we currently have 16 students but our capacity is 18.”
Gagana Tokelau is now official NCEA curriculum subject focused on developing listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in the Tokelauan language
Faraimo said it was encouraging to see students interested to learn the language.
“We are really excited, we’ve gone up to Level 2 and 3 in the last couple of years and so it’s growing and we are excited for a pathway for our students.”
Events celebrating Gagana Tokelau and culture will take place in different parts of the country.
